News

New Laura E. Corn Mini Golf Course opens

Former City Council member Jeff Miller helps Campbell Hodge play a round at the city’s new minigolf course.

By Amy McCraw, Published: October 20, 2023

Hendersonville’s Laura E. Corn Mini Golf Course opened Thursday to the excitement of children ready to play a round of putt-putt on the new course and local elected leaders who spent years making the project a reality.

“It was fun before, now it’s spectacular,” Hendersonville Mayor Barbara Volk said as she addressed a crowd gathered for the grand opening of the minigolf course at Edwards Park. “Change can sometimes be good — painful, but good.”
Volk joined other members of City Council, county government and school officials and interested neighbors to open the course.
She said in an interview that she thinks the new minigolf location, which includes a playground and concession stand, will allow more people to enjoy the area because it offers more than just putt-putt.
“It’s beautiful. They’ve done a wonderful job with the landscaping,” she said.
The new course is also more accessible to people with physical challenges that made playing the old course at Boyd Park difficult if not impossible.
Campbell Hodge, a 15-year-old who lives near the park, said she was looking forward to playing the new course because it was a challenge for her to play the old course from her wheelchair.
“I think it’s really cool,” she said as she waited to play a few holes. “I’ve not had a lot of experience.”
Campbell’s mother, Anne Hodge, said the new course will give her daughter and others with physical challenges, including elderly people, a chance to truly enjoy minigolf for the first time.
“It will be a huge asset to our community,” she said.
Former City Council member Jeff Miller, who also attended the grand opening, said Campbell was on his mind when he advocated for the new course to be accessible to people with disabilities.
“She was in my head,” he said. “I know her in the neighborhood. She’s always been in a wheelchair. It doesn’t slow her down a bit. But she couldn’t play the old course.”
Miller lined up golf balls for Campbell to hit as one of the first people to ever play on the new course. And a big smile spread across her face when she took her first few swings.
The effort to move the minigolf course from Boyd Park to nearby Edwards Park began more than a year ago when the city recognized it needed the space the putt-putt course occupied to build a new fire station. Eventually, the city exchanged property at Berkley Park with the county’s school board for the property at Edward’s Park off U.S. 25 North.
Some community members interested in preserving the putt-putt course at Boyd Park urged the council find a way to build the new fire station that did not require dismantling the old course. The city decided it had to move the course but committed to building a new minigolf course at Edwards Park that honored Corn and incorporated elements from the old course.
The new course includes features from the old course and new attractions.
Chipper, the beloved 4-foot-tall squirrel, made the journey across the street to the new course along with a fiberglass worm, a large black bear, the 700- pound Chimney Rock, the old church and the red loop-d-loop, according to Assistant City Manager Brian Pahle.
New attractions include a hole remembering Boyd Park, a hole honoring the Ninth Avenue School and a hole featuring a handcrafted train depot replica.
In honor of a canteen that operated with a jukebox at Boyd Park, the Shipman family helped create musical stepping stones and a harmony flower at the new course, Pahle said.
Corn’s granddaughter, Dena London, also attended the grand opening and thanked both the people who helped build the new course and the people who fought to keep the course at Boyd Park.
Her grandmother loved watching people enjoy themselves while playing the course, London said.
“My grandma was a very humble person and wouldn’t understand the recognition you all have given her. She would say that it is the generations of families that have made Laura E. Corn Mini Golf special, not her,” London said. “Our family was blessed beyond measure to have her and to create memories with her at Boyd Park. Everything she did, she did it with great love and she is why the park is so special to so many. The location will never change that.”
The minigolf course is open to the public from October 20 to November 19 on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Operating hours are from 3:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., with the last tee time at 9:00 p.m.
Admission prices are $3 per round for adults (18 and older), $2 per round for youth (3 – 17 years old) and free with a paying adult for toddlers (2 years old and younger).