Woody's Golf In Herndon Virginia Was Shweet Dude...Shweet

Two Sundays ago I ventured to Herndon, a town found in that crazy world known as Northern Virginia (NoVA). We met up with some friends for some exciting putt-putt action. We went to Woody's Golf after finding it to be one of the only places in NoVA to play mini golf and after reading a review in the Washington Post that called it one of the things you have to do as a DC resident. We figured it'd be worthwhile as long as there wasn't that backup to play each hole that often happens when kids are playing ahead of you.

Believe it or not, this isn't the most intricate hole on the course.

What we got for our 30ish minute drive was a weekend warrior's practice paradise. Besides mini golf, it had a driving range with a real grass tee area and some batting cages. I saw a basketball court there, but doubt it was used recently because the court has some potholes and was littered with sand. Nevertheless, we made our way to the first tee after watching some hackers at the range and paying the $8.50 entry fee/cover. Though it was a higher price than I was accustomed to for putt-putt, it was well worth it.

Yeah, just be careful when you play on this guy's part of the course. Perhaps you should get the crocodile hunter.

The course had a congo/jungle theme to it that was far more intricate than you'd ever expect. Either they (or someone they paid) are gifted craftsmen or they used leftover movie props and sets, because the detail of this course was phenomenal. From moving spiders and swinging monkeys to tribesmen shooting darts and talking mannequins, it was worth it just to see the design and hear all of the great sound effects. A word of warning, around the 10th (?) hole, several frogs will "spit" at you when you walk by the actual hole, so don't end up like one member of our party who appeared to have pissed him/herself when it was just frog spit. I kept wondering what would happen if someone was on a date and got nailed with water to ruin their clothes.

Blown darts by some tribesman? All par for the course (sorry about that pun (well, not really)).

The course itself was about average difficulty. Plenty of holes required us to walk from the tee to find the hole's location before starting, but we were none worse for wear. The variety of hilltop and valley hole locations, along with bumps, turns, and obstacles kept the variety going to ensure a high replay value if we ever come back. The only change I'd make to the course is to improve the border that's only made of small stones. Too often a ball would come off the course even after it wasn't hit all that hard. A few times we thought a ball was lost only to find it behind one of the rocks or just short of entering a pond. I sort of kept score and developed a system in which I'd only record someone's real score if they were at or below par. After that, everyone else would get one over par. I ended up winning to sort of continue my father's legacy as a putt-putt champion. Of course, in our group, the girls were the only ones to get hole-in-ones.

A river...such peace...such beauty...and such an easy place to lose your golf ball.

After golf, we walked to the batting cages where I was able to prove (yet again) that I never played Little League baseball by whiffing on 16 of 20 "slow" baseball pitches. I did a lot better on the way-to-slow softball so it's clear that my career as a pro baseball player will never get off the ground. This is unlike the other guy in our party who was regularly making solid contact on the "fast" (70 mph) and "very fast" (85 mph) baseball pitches. Despite my embarrassment in the cages, Woody's Golf was a great place, especially for mini golf and appeared to be offer a solid driving range thanks to real grass tees. Believe it or not, it actually made it worthwhile to drive out to NoVA...if just for the afternoon.