The Shack

The Shack   662 South Oak Street Manheim, PA 17545

After hearing about a summer American Mini-Golf Alliance tournament at The Shack (which we couldn’t attend), we knew we would have to make it a priority to get there on our next trip out to PA. However, just weeks after the tournament, we were surprised to find this sprawling park course in a bit of disrepair.

Immediately when we looked at the scores for the tournament, we knew we were in for a challenge, with the winner of the pro tournament carding a 61. The Shack is similar to some of our favorite courses like Pine Creek, but it also adds on a delicious restaurant that does a booming business. The course itself is about a mile long in terms of walking it, and has frequent elevation changes, so be prepared for a bit of a hike. Each hole is dotted with facts about the area where The Shack currently sits, which made our waiting a bit more enjoyable as the course was pretty crowded.

We got off to a really rough start, carding a 5 on each of the first three holes before settling in a little bit. The course does offer an easier hole location on 12 of the 19 holes, but we stuck with playing the original holes. Despite being more challenging, the course had a good mix of extremely challenging and just more difficult holes, featuring ten par 4s, five par 5s, and four 3s. The front nine plays a bit easier, with a par of 32, while the back 10 ups that to a par of 45.

Given that the course had just hosted a tournament, we were a bit surprised to find some large sections of turf that had been completely removed to expose the wood underneath. It didn’t have too much effect on our play, but was extremely odd. There were also a few holes that looked to have been recently replaced with a more spongey, light green carpet that we haven’t ever before seen on a mini golf course. We were also surprised that there were very few water features, and that a lot of water that present was standing water that was covered with a good layer of moss. There was one nicer water feature near the end of the course, but you really only encountered it for a few holes, and it didn’t have any effect on the game play. Finally, metal cups once again made play just a bit more challenging than it needs to be.

Pricing was very reasonable for a course of this size, as it was only $9.50/person, and $7.50 for those 12 and under. They have senior days on Tuesday for half-off seniors, and kids days on Thursdays for half-off the kids price. We were very surprised with the amount of kids on this course given it’s challenging nature, as that isn’t something you usually see on a course like Pine Creek. As for our scores, despite starting out quite terribly, we did settle in a bit. Par for the front 9 was 32, and that is exactly where we came in despite carding a 5 on each of the first three holes. Our back 10 was buoyed by a 2 on a par 5, and we were able to card a 35 against the back 10 par of 45. With more practice, we could probably spruce up some of our rougher holes, and we would definitely be interested in competing in a tournament here. However, even though we would return, we were surprised to find the course not in the best of shape, especially compared to other park courses we have played.