Pensacola, Florida - Goofy Golf #2

According to Tim Hollis, author of Dixie before Disney, Panama City Beach's Goofy Golf was opened in 1959, after a string of proto-Goofy Golf establishments in Ft. Walton Beach and Pensacola, FL. The Pensacola courses had fallen on hard times in recent years but we are happy to report that new owners are actively restoring the courses. Course #1 (which includes the dinosaur and alligator holes) was repainted this year and efforts are underway to begin work on course #2. Wood and carpet is being replaced. We found the course to be a good challenge and playing among the original creatures was great fun. [Wade H. Jeffrey, PhD, 09/02/2003]

[RA: March 2007: After damage suffered in 2004 during Hurricane Ivan, Goofy Golf was closed. Restoration is nearing completion and the attraction will re-open on April 6, 2007, according to newspaper account sent by Wade Jeffrey (he's such a Goofy Golf Freak). September 2003: Tim Hollis, author of Dixie Before Disney and his upcoming Florida's Miracle Strip: From Redneck Riviera to Emerald Coast, provides this updated info: Lee Koplin built the first Goofy Golf in Biloxi, Mississippi in 1957 or 1958 (later demolished, Koplin replaced it with a second one nearby that exists today as Magic Golf). The next Goofy Golfs were built in Ft. Walton and Pensacola (~1958); final evolution of the Goofy Dynasty was the attraction at Panama City Beach built in 1959. At Pensacola, 90% of the concrete figures on the course were actually added in the late 1970s, part of the "Sir Goony Golf" chain. Tim sez his new book has a whole chapter on FL's mini-golf saga...]