A three-hole, mini golf course that will be free to play is still expected to be built at Parham Bridges Park in northeast Jackson.
The project celebrated a groundbreaking in October 2023.
The Park Golf Group is working on a timeline for construction, said Margo Coleman, executive director of the nonprofit First Tee-Central Mississippi.
The Park Golf project stalled but LeFleur East Foundation Board of Directors Chairman Clay Hays believes it will come to fruition.
Last year, the LeFleur East Foundation unveiled a master plan for Parham Bridges Park and has since made improvements that include transforming some of the tennis courts into pickleball courts and cutting down trees that needed it. Some tennis courts are being resurfaced and new wind shields added that note they are home courts of the Belhaven University tennis team.
The costs of building the mini golf course have risen, and additional funds are needed to pay for it, Hays said. About $150,000 of the $300,000 to $350,000 that’s needed has been raised, he said.
The course would be the first location in the country opened by Park Golf, a national non-profit with a mission of building free-to-use, equipment-provided mini courses in public parks or at existing golf courses where children can learn to play golf.
The mini course will be constructed west of the playground at Bridges and feature three 30-yard to 40-yard holes and utilize artificial turf. Robert Trent Jones II designed the mini course, which will not cost the city anything.
A caddy shack that will be manned will make low flight golf balls and beginner golf clubs will be available for use. A mobile app is expected to encourage further engagement.
First Tee-Central Mississippi was notified two years ago that it would be a pilot location for Park Golf.
Ignacio “Nacho” Giraldo, founder and a board member of Park Golf, said during a Dec. 7, 2022, interview on the Golf Channel, that it costs $300,000 to $500,000 to build a three-hole mini course and the design should ensure maintenance is low cost.
Park Golf wants to remove barriers such as a lack of time to play a traditional course that has 18 holes, the expense of paying to use a course and the cost of equipment and make golf more available to a wider audience.
Park Golf offers golf in its simplest form and provides excitement and value for a public park where a mini course is located, Giraldo said in 2022.
Jim Lowery, chair of First Tee-Central Mississippi, previously said the goal of First Tee lines up with that of Park Golf. “Our goal is to teach young people life skills through the game of golf,” he said. “We’re not a junior golf program.”
