Don't Be Afraid! Mini Golf Is Fun For The Whole Family

How far would you drive to play mini golf? If the answer is "not even down the block," then stop reading here. Go do the crossword.

If the answer is "I would drive to the ends of the earth to play a good mini golf course," then gas up the SUV, friends, because you're heading for Danielson. Monster Mini Golf is an 18-hole, indoor (and air conditioned), glow-in-the-dark, black light, monster-themed mini golf course in an old mill building in Danielson off Interstate 395. It is, as the old saying goes, fun for the whole family. The course is made challenging by the strategic placement of obstacles and the tricky placement of holes. The monsters are not so monstrous as to preclude even the toddliest of toddlers. The dance music coming over the PA system keeps the middle-aged demographic happy, and the arcade/video games spread around the course's perimeter are enough to make even the most sullen teenager crack a smile. Christina Vitagliano and her husband, Patrick, opened the business on Memorial Day weekend 2004 in a space that had previously housed her antique auction business. They built the course themselves. "I was looking for something to do that wouldn't consume my entire life," Vitagliano says. In her prior business, she worked long hours, and she was predisposed to workaholism anyway. So she thought an indoor mini-golf course would give her something to do but would not take over her life. Indoor mini golf "sounded kind of lame," so they came up with the glow-in-the-dark, black light concept. Then they decided to make it a monster theme because they could build all the characters themselves. Patrick had previous experience in a production company and so was familiar with sound, lighting and special effects. "To attract a kid these days, it has to be cool," Vitagliano says. It all comes together in 18 individually themed holes, including one that has a giant stuffed gorilla climbing the Empire State Building, one that prominently features Bruce the Shark from "Finding Nemo" and the 18th hole that sports an enormous clown face vaguely reminiscent of Stephen King's "It." We went on a blistering hot day in July when humidity was high and tempers were short. It was lunchtime, and we shared the course with a large group from the Stonington Community Center day camp and several families. Vitagliano says that last summer they depended on word of mouth for business, but this year she mailed their brochure to every day camp and day-care center she could think of. Business has been booming. "It's busy when it's hot, it's busy when it's raining, it's busy when it's cold," she says. "It's busy all the time." The place is configured so that large groups can be started at various holes, shotgun style, Vitagliano says. Indeed, the day we were there, even though there were probably 40 people on the course, it never felt crowded or rushed. Vitagliano is from Providence and her husband grew up in Norwich . They wanted to do something in Danielson "because there is nothing here for anyone to do," she says. She set her prices low on purpose, she says, because "I wanted it to cost less for a family than going to the movies."

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