There’s no denying that there’s something magical about miniature golf. Maybe it’s the intricate course designs intended to challenge and delight. Maybe it’s the nostalgia of childhood summers when picking your ball color was almost as important as playing the game. Maybe it’s the opportunity to spend time with friends and family. Definitely, it’s the opportunity to beat them at the game (because who doesn’t love a little friendly competition?).

But at Stagecoach Greens, a new 18-hole outdoor golf course in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood, it’s all that, plus a beer garden, food trucks, and a chance to learn about California history while putting for good cause.

Photo credit: Chris Weisler

A stroke of genius (and luck)

Mission Bay residents Jan and Esther Stearns have both have a life-long passion for mini-golf. “It’s a great activity for the family to do,” Jan says. “We have three kids and we’ve had a lot of fun playing mini golf with them. It’s something that’s silly, fun, and no pressure, and is an opportunity to put the phone down and spend some time together and connect.”

But it wasn’t until Jan and Esther were enjoying a warm summer evening with a friend near Donner Lake in Tahoe that the idea of becoming mini-golf proprietors even occurred to them. They were eating homemade ice cream from a new creamery when Esther realized, “You know what this place needs? This place needs mini-golf.”

The friend looked right at her and said, “You mean like on that empty lot across the street that’s for sale?”

That put the ball in motion (so to speak). Jan and Esther started researching miniature golf courses and shortly thereafter bought the land in Truckee with a plan to put in a course that could go up in the spring and come down in the autumn before the snow started to fall.

Photo credit: Chris Weisler

Photo credit: Chris Weisler

Little did they know that at the exact same time, Bay Area native and founder of food truck parksSoMa StrEAT Food Park and Spark Social SF, Carlos Muela, was working hard to get approval to build a miniature golf course in his new food truck park and beer garden on Mission Bay Blvd. between 3rd and 4th streets.

“Esther read in the local neighborhood email that there was going to be a vote on mini-golf in the Mission Bay meeting and we couldn’t believe it,” Jan says. While they still wanted to build a course in Tahoe, they couldn’t pass up a chance to bring their dream course — and the city’s first-ever outdoor course — to the neighborhood in which they lived. They reached out to Carlos and asked about his plan. He admitted that while he’d spent the last year trying to get approval to have miniature golf at Parklab Gardens, he didn’t actually have a strategy for when it happened.

Jan and Esther showed him their ideas for the course, Carlos loved them, and so, they put the Tahoe course aside temporarily, and the building of the “Boom and Bust” course at Stagecoach Greens began.

Photo credit: Chris Weisler

Photo credit: Chris Weisler

Eureka! Mining a golden idea

When Jan and Esther first started talking about building their course, they realized they wanted to tell the story of California and the cycles of boom and bust in the West. “We wanted to have a story that would convert to what we laughingly call ‘mini-golf language,’ as well as something that would appeal not only to kids but also to adults,” Jan explains. “San Francisco has such a varied and interesting history, and we wanted to touch on that, as well as try to be different from other mini golf courses.” With the help of their artist friends, Bret and Amy Conover, as well as 150 other designers, they did just that.

Though Jan admits all of the holes are her babies, she has two she calls favorites. One of them is the Barbary Coast Saloon where you putt your ball into the saloon, which you then enter through swinging wooden doors. “There are murals on the walls, including one of a bartender, so you can stand behind the bar with your drink and take a picture with the bartender while piano music plays.” She also likes “Alpha in the Air,” a hole that takes a close look at the ever-changing San Francisco skyline where the Transamerica Pyramid and the Salesforce Tower duke it out while Coit Tower watches wistfully and remembers days past.

Other holes include a moving stagecoach wheel, an homage to the bonfires at Ocean Beach, a Chinese dragon head, and a fortune teller named Eureka who came to San Francisco during the Summer of Love. Each hole has a Wayfinder that tells the story of the history behind it through text as sound, as well as its own set of challenges, and, of course, an Instagram opportunity.

Photo credit: Chris Weisler

Photo credit: Chris Weisler

The sweet spot

Jan says she feels so grateful and lucky that Stagecoach Greens is located where it is in Mission Bay. That’s not just because it’s near AT&T Park, the new Warrior’s stadium, and Spark Social SF, but because it’s also right across the street from Family House, a home away from home for families of children who are receiving treatment for life-threatening illnesses.

Stagecoach Greens supports Family House, as well as Braid Mission, a mentoring program for kids in the foster program that Jan and Esther helped found five years ago. They look at the course as an opportunity to give back, as well as be a place in the city for kids to come with their families and have fun.

“It’s so cool to see that happen,” Jan says. “There were a mother and son playing the course, and I told them ‘Remember to push the buttons because all of the holes have sound,’ and she said, ‘Oh, we know. We’ve been here every day since you opened.’ And to see kids from Family House and people in wheelchairs play [every hole is ADA compliant]—that’s the kind of thing that really makes it worth it. There have been several adults in wheelchairs that have had the opportunity to play the whole course with their friends and that is really the stuff that warms my heart.”

Stagecoach Greens, 1379 4th Street, is open 7 days a week from 11am to 9pm weather permitting.

Mini Tee Times, a 15-minute window during which you may use the priority line, are available if you buy your tickets online. The weekends can get busy, so if you can go during the week, you’ll have more time to really explore the course.

There is metered parking available, but public transportation or ride shares are encouraged.

Download the app from the Apple Store or Google Play before you arrive, as it’s the most exciting way to keep score (though a scorecard and pencil are also available).