[golf thwack] -Oh!
-When you get to the middle of the course, you forget
you're in the middle of a city.
[golf ball plunking]
This is an urban area.
I am touching grass.
I'm in nature.
-Oh!
[golf thwack]
Much better, Uncle Perry.
My name is Amy Faulkner.
I'm the operator at Green Lake Pitch and Putt.
[golf thwack]
-Yeah!
-We are the oldest continuously operating
pitch and putt in the United States.
We started in 1947.
This part of Green Lake was partially flooded, and it was
also a landfill that the Olmsted brothers, the same people that
developed Central Park, they designated that they would lower
the water level in Green Lake and make this a recreation area.
I would come here and golf just casually.
And I just saw this place as a diamond in the rough.
Like there's so much community around it.
You can look at everybody's chatting and having a good time.
When it came available, I submitted a proposal to the city
and we're seeing that continue to grow.
The biggest thing I saw was that it wasn't a super
welcoming environment.
We immediately improved the pro shop and found some
interesting challenges in that.
There's no hot water in the pro shop because it was built in
1947 and supposed to be kind of a primitive building.
But we painted, we put new flooring in because there
was disgusting carpet before.
-Next up to tee is
Shelby played in party.
-There you go.
Nice, nice.
-Pitch and putt started in Ireland in the 1930s, and it
was designed for people that didn't have the time or the
financial means to go spend five hours at an 18-hole golf course.
-Good shot, dude!
-Nice shot, Pear.
-It's a nine-hole course.
It's easy.
It's simple.
You could have fun.
and it's just great.
- You need two clubs, a pitching wedge and a putter.
It's really easy.
It's designed for people that want to work
on their short game and they're avid golfers,
but also people that are just like never golfed before.
[golf thwack] [cheering]
The rules are not as crazy as a golf course.
There's no special attire that you have to wear.
-Yeah. -It's designed for
people to learn.
So if you're not good, it's okay.
It's not about being the best golfer ever.
It's about coming out and having fun.
-It was supposed to go over the palm tree to
the hole, but oh well.
[chuckling]
-Greens take a whole lot of work to maintain and take care of.
and when you have maybe less experienced golfers,
they might take a little bit more of a beating
than at Pebble Beach, perhaps.
- The mom caddy, always important.
- We do scrambles, so you might be golfing
with people that you've never met before.
We do something called a short game social club.
It's all about, hey, you wanna come meet people?
They talk about the Seattle freeze all the time.
This is a great way.
Come out here, hit some balls around.
They might go in the right direction, they might not.
-The ball's in there somewhere.
-Just experiencing the community of it and feeling welcome
and making sure everybody feels welcome
and making sure that people that may not have had
the opportunity to golf get that opportunity.
-Look at that.
-Thank you, thank you.
So great to come here and see familiar faces
and know that we're part of their
lives and they're part of ours.
I feel like it is a weird calling,
but it's been so delightful and seeing the results
of it that I want to continue it for
a really long time.
It's just a fun place to be.
[golf thwack] -Ohhhhhh! Fore!
♪♪
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