Wild greens?  Yes!!

Bob - true and thats why I am wondering what age range you can deal with on these courses (before the kids start to think the course is too short for them) - I would think after they get to about 13 the kids are hitting it too far, but for 6-7 year olds anything over 20 yards is a par 4.

For adults, I would think if you are a parent you would have a blast playing any sort of golf course with your kid - length of no importance.

There is absolutely no reason to have anything like par on a children's course. Par at least on a regular course has some meaning, but what would be a comparable number on a children's course? What someone at the USGA Junior Championship would shoot? They wouldn't even belong on a children's course. Build fun holes of varied lengths and let them set their own par.

Cheers,
Dan King

Golf is deceptively simple, endlessly complicated. A child can play it well, and a grown man can never master it. Any single round if it is full of unexpected triumphs and seemingly perfect shots that end in disaster. It is almost a science, yet it is a puzzle without an answer. It is gratifying and tantalizing, precise and unpredicatable. It requires complete concentration and total relaxation. It satisfies the soul and frustrates the intellect. It is at the same time rewarding and maddening - and it is without a doubt the greatest game mankind has ever invented.
  --Robert Forgan

Brett,

The best I've seen is at Celebration outside Disney. They have a 3 hole childrens course where the holes are 50-80 yards near the practice green. It's all mown at fw height except the greens. No rough.

From the experince w/ my 8 year old daughter taking her out this summer, that would seem about right in terms of length of holes. A couple loops around that would be just about right.

Looks like a great great place for the kids to play.

Peter Hay at Pebble - love it.

B. Mogg writes:
Agree 100% - and will argue as such - but we are talking about a relatively "new" golfing nation where creating golf courses without a par of 72 is a mighty struggle. Golf for its own sake is not understood at all.

I believe anyone trying to make money on an 18 hole children's course is going to lose money. Considering the land required, the maintenance, etc ... it is a crazy proposition.

We are talking about kids who have no problem watching the same episode of Hanna Montana 1,000 times. They do not need the variety of 18 holes. A six or nine hole course is perfect. It gives them opportunities to become familiar with a smaller course, so they can compare how they do over time, how much they improve. Kids that actually want to play 18 holes will get to see if they play a certain hole better on the second or third time through.  

The idea is the course must be cheap, reasonably easy, and with only a few hazards. My opinion, kids enjoy contours more than hazards. Many of their shots stay along the ground, and they love watching the ball run.

Cheers,
Dan King

The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things.
 --Plato

Thanks for all the comments. It sounds like a short, 9 hole facility with minimal bunkers and lots of crazy contours is the way to go. I know that what my kids would like....Cheers.