
DATE: Sunday, June 15, 1997                 TAG: 9706130273

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 08   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: FUN IN THE SUN 

SOURCE: BY MARY ELLEN RIDDLE, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: KILL DEVIL HILLS                  LENGTH:  126 lines

MINI-GOLF MAKES A HIT WITH COOPED UP KIDS

The wind was howling when 6-year-old Zoe and I entered Professor Hacker's Lost Treasure Golf World.

Over the last year, we watched as the massive mini golf course was constructed in Kill Devil Hills. My daughter was fascinated by the 30-foot-tall, fake rock mountains, ledges and cascading waterfalls. So when we decided to spend our Sunday ``puttering around,'' there was no question in her mind as to where we'd do it - despite the presence of 12 other mini golf courses across the Outer Banks.

After paying $7 each; choosing between tall, medium, small and tiny golf clubs; and collecting our pastel colored balls, we boarded a wooden cattle cart train which took us up the mountain to the first hole.

We could choose from two courses here: the Diamond or the Gold, which descend side by side around the mountain. The train conductor said although both courses were designed to be about the same in difficulty, he thought the Diamond course was the tougher of the two.

Zoe was intrigued by the little boy who jumped off the train right in front of us. So we followed him into the Diamond cavern. Six-year-old Dylan Jackson and his family had driven all the way from Hertford for this adventure.

Like hundreds of other vacationing families, the Jacksons include mini golf as part of their Outer Banks adventure. Whether it's an alternative to all-day beach sitting or just a way to while away an evening with the kids, outdoor putt-putt courses offer at least an hour of entertainment for little more than the price of a movie. And there are several levels of difficulty to choose from.

Zoe and I spent about a half hour at Professor Hacker's following the Jacksons down the mountain, chasing balls through greens that wove in and out of water dripping caverns dotted with huge pickle barrels and wooden crates. The greens were clean, with varying degrees of swells - some sporting insidious curves, others with prominent hills and ledges. As we descended from hole to hole, we literally were swallowed up into Professor Hacker's wild world.

An ersatz anthropologist, explorer and part-time plumbing contractor from Chicago - as a sign says at the entrance to the mini golf haven - Hacker allegedly built the Kill Devil Hills course to recreate his adventures from a phony 1924 expedition that he lead on the Outer Banks. He was trying to unravel the mystery of the Lost Colony. And, legend has it, he was searching for Blackbeard's treasure.

Appropriate name for this place: Hacker, especially after watching many of the would-be golfers' styles. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson need to sign their son up for ice hockey. He swiftly moved the ball along, stopping it in mid-roll to line it up for a ``goal.'' In all fairness to Dylan, he did get a legitimate hole-in-one at least once.

At infamous hole number 12, I could hear laughter echoing from the bellows of the cave ahead. On the other side, rushing streams surrounded the green. Dylan purposely was aiming his ball into the rapids.

While the overall course actually is rather plain - despite the altitude and great views - all the water at Professor Hacker's place fascinates the kids. Dylan dutifully washed his club off in the swirling stream. Zoe, with one eye on me and one on the water, hit her lavender ball into the grated pool four times, retrieved it, then catapulted it across the stream onto the green.

From the novice to the near pro, mini golf makes a hit with just about everyone. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by DREW C. WILSON

Dylan Jackson, 6, of Hertford, gets ready to put on the first hole

at just one of dozens of Outer Banks mini golf courses that offer at

least an hour of entertainment for the price of a movie.

Graphic

HOW TO HIT 'EM

What: Professor Hacker's Lost Treasure Golf

Where: Milepost 7, on the bypass in Kill Devil Hills

When: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily

Cost: $7 per person, children 3 and under golf free. Second games

cost $4 each.

Call: 480-0142