Same game, only smaller...
Miniature golf is said to have its beginnings in the late 1800s in 
Scotland. Back then, it was unacceptable for a woman to swing a golf club past her shoulder,
therefore limiting how far the ball could be hit.
In the early 1900s, miniature golf was actually the short game of regulation golf. Often known as “garden golf,” the game was originally played with a putter on real grass. In the 1920s and 30s rails and bumpers started to appear, the precursors to the obstacles we know today.
During the 1930s, there were approximately 30,000 links throughout the country, with over 150 rooftop courses in New York City alone. The American population was hooked on miniature golf as not only a leisure game, but a sport in which any gender or age could excel without a handicap or being a well-conditioned athlete.
After the stock market crash of 1929, regulation mini-golf links became too expensive for most people to afford. Since the game was so popular, players had to come up with new, inexpensive ways to play. This ingenuity spawned what became known as “rinkiedink” golf. Players would use any space available to set up unique and crazy courses. Due to the need for light after darkness fell, many of these courses were built under an illuminated billboard sign with the playing surface made of clay or hard sand. Green dye was used to color the ground to look like grass.
Many new obstacles or hazard holes were created by using what could be scavenged, such as old tires, wagon wheels, stove or sewer pipes, barrels and rain gutters. Some of these became so popular that they were incorporated into courses across the country and were the models for the obstacle-laden miniature golf we know today.