Houston’s New Mini Golf Marvel Takes Over Discovery Green — Pixar Putt is Unlike Anything You’ve Played Before

My husband and I have been playing golf for some 20 years and while we are merely passable golfers, we love the sport. So we figured that the Pixar Putt pop-up miniature golf game — which opens at Discovery Green this Friday, December 17 — would be a childish snore. We were so wrong!

From the very first hole, we were laughing. By the second we were snapping Instagram pix. By the third, we were hooked.

The Sarofim Picnic Lawn in the downtown park will not be available for grassy romps now through March 20 but it will offer a load of whimsical fun as players navigate Pixar Putt‘s 18 challenging yet ridiculously fun interactive holes that are inspired by stories, characters and icons from some of Disney and Pixar’s most beloved films.

On our first hole, my husband scored an embarrassing 15. I didn’t even count my strokes or how many times my ball jumped out of the fairway.  As we were early birds to sample the challenges, we weren’t stymied by the maximum stroke limit that each hole instructions dictate. But after more than six attempts, it’s time to move on.

The fairways, if you will, are designed with all kinds of playful obstacles between the tee and the hole. For example, the Coco requires careful ball placement as it must cross over guitar strings and then over a slippery bridge. The Incredibles fairway presents a menacing Omnidroid that leads to multiple final holes. Particularly fun was Up in which all team players first hit their ball into the house. When all are in, an on-site aide cranks the house up in the air and over to the adjacent waterfall. Once the house is properly docked, the balls come spilling out onto the green for aiming at the hole.

Other films featured in the mini-course are Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, A Bug’s Life, Inside Out and more.

On weekdays, the course will be open from 3 to 10 pm with the last entry at 8:30, as it is estimated that to play the full course requires 90 minutes. Weekend hours run from 10 am to 10 pm. December 20 to 30, the gates open at 10 am. Adults-only (18 and older) sessions, dubbed Pixar Putt After Dark take place Thursdays through Sundays, 7 to 10 pm. The holidays will not halt play as the course will be open for limited hours Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.

Advance reservations (tickets are $33 per person) are highly recommended and are available here. Box office purchases are limited and it’s credit card only.

Produced by Rockefeller Productions and TEG Life Like Touring out of Melbourne, Australia, Pixar Putt comes to Houston following a four-month run in New York City.