This photo of the former Putt-Putt Golf location near Northgate Mall was taken about 1980. It’s a family photo from the collection of Sam Hall, curator of ChattanoogaHistory.com.
“The Hixson Putt-Putt golf is a fondly remembered entertainment venue of my teen years,” Hall said. “It provided a fun and low-stress destination for many dates. One can tell a lot about another’s personality by how they interact in a game of miniature golf.”
The heyday of Putt-Putt in the Chattanooga area was in the 1970s when there were at least three locations: Lee Highway, Hixson and Cleveland, Tennessee. The Hixson and Lee Highway properties were sold at auction in 1985, according to newspaper reports.
The first location near the intersection of Lee Highway and East Brainerd Road was opened on June 3, 1959. Miss Putt-Putt U.S.A., Joan Honeycutt, of Johnson City, Tennessee, was flown in for the grand opening of the Brainerd-area course, according to press reports.
In a column in the Chattanooga Times, Honeycutt was quoted as responding to a gentleman who asked her for a putting lesson: “Gracious,” she said. “I didn’t win this honor putting. In fact, I am a poor putter.”