As soon as I ducked under the overturned yacht sheltering hole No. 8, I declared it my favorite.

My preference had nothing to do with cup placement, green condition, difficulty level, or anything mini-golf-related at all. I just appreciated the way the Chris-Craft Roamer's hull created a surprise private space, and how the sun streamed in through 100-some multicolored resin-filled holes, making it feel like you were putting inside a disco ball.

That's the type of art-meets-golf experience that Big Stone Mini Golf and Sculpture Gardens, on 17 acres in Minnetrista, was designed to deliver. Sculptures not only overlap onto the course, they are the course, with strategically placed logs, boulders and artwork mingling to create obstacles, challenges and fine places to sit. It's all shaded in enough pines and hardwoods to give a relaxing North Woods vacation feel. Add in farm animals, picnic spots, a free s'more setup and lots of outdoor games, and Big Stone holds the promise of hours well spent.

Big Stone is the vision, work and life of Bruce Stillman, who began selling sculptures at the Uptown Art Fair at age 16. In 1991, he laid eyes on the original farmhouse, hills and hayfield — "a blank canvas," Stillman calls it — of this former dairy farm on the metro's edge.

Stillman instinctively dreams up unique uses for things, which led to a revelation: Why not mini-golf holes as sculptures? "I decided to do an example at the farm, and once I started, I knew this is where it's got to be," he said.

He created hole after hole on intuition, skimming off a pile of felled trees to create Hole No. 1, aka "Dead Tree Forest," and stripping down and customizing the Chris-Craft standout, cheekily christened "Holey Ship." The course opened in 2004, and proceeds help finance the sculpture garden.

Just golfing a round

I arrived with my teenage son and three of his friends on a steamy weekday afternoon. The boys promptly began working the course, which meant not only golfing, but also occasionally stump-standing and boulder-climbing.

Parents pushed strollers and ran after young ones. A group of friends chatted and lingered in the dappled sunlight. One person issued a pep talk to the final golfer in their party who faced down Hole 6′s hollowed-out log, angled into a craggy boulder: "Grandma, you can do it!"

We made short work of the course, then explored the grounds. The boys got ice cream (available at the clubhouse, alongside $1 bowls of goat feed) and grabbed a Frisbee, then headed toward the giant checkerboard.

I wandered from sculpture to sculpture. There are more than 70, crafted by Stillman and 14 other artists. When I visited the goats, I glimpsed someone in the adjacent workshop laboring over what looked like a giant octopus made from strips of recycled tire. Yet another happy overlap in this creative space turned artsy mini-golf destination.

Big Stone Mini Golf and Sculpture Gardens is on County Road 110 in Minnetrista. It's open daily through October, from 9:30 a.m. until sundown. A round of golf is $14, or $12 for ages 8 and under. Big Stone does not accept credit cards (bigstoneminigolf.com).

9 more mini-golf spots

To whittle down a list of the region's best mini-golf, we turned to Tom Loftus, who along with his wife, Robin Schwartzman, founded A Couple of Putts, a Twin Cities-based mini-golf review, design and consultation company. The duo have played more than 500 mini-golf courses and competed on ABC's "Holey Moley," an extreme mini-golf game show. The couple's first date? Big Stone, where they eventually wed.

I asked Loftus to look past popular artist-designed city darlings Can Can Wonderland in St. Paul and the Walker Art Center's Skyline course to farther-flung options. Following are some of their favorites throughout Minnesota, plus a nice twosome in Wisconsin.

Kendahl Miniature Golf (Cloquet)

Here's a perfect road-trip pairing: This old-school $7 course, open since 1965, with kitschy obstacles including spinning windmill blades and a steamboat paddlewheel, plus a visit to the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed gas station a mile down the road.

Shaka Putt Mini Golf (Breezy Point)

Breezy Point Surf Co opened an island-themed course in June, with on-theme surfboards, tiki totems, faux palms and a cool mix of blue and green turf. They offer a seven-day all-you-can-golf pass geared toward local resort-goers for $25, or $20 for 16 and younger.

Wildwedge Golf, Mini Golf, Maze and RV Park (Pequot Lakes)

Wildwedge offers a host of golf experiences, including an executive par-3 course, a driving range and a neat, sweet mini course. Loftus appreciates the course variety and hole-in-one opportunities, for more serious players. Package rates include a 10,000-square-foot wooden maze.

Black Beach Mini Golf (Silver Bay)

Loftus recommends Black Beach, which debuted in 2021 as a leg-stretching pit stop on your way up the North Shore. "It's really smart, subtle and well built, and it plays really well," he says. Sweetening the deal: ice cream and locally famous Kettle River Pizza.

Walsh Golf Center & Riverside Amusement Park (La Crosse, Wis.)

Loftus recommends tackling these courses as a contrasting combo. Walsh is all classic Americana, with little bridges, a mini Eiffel Tower and a Ferris wheel loop. Four miles away, Riverside offers newer, nicely flowing holes alongside go-karts and batting cages.

Summerland Family Fun Park (St. Cloud)

Choose from two unique, nicely playing courses: Bear Kountry Golf, with ursine statues throughout; and the newer "The Lakes" Adventure Golf, a water-studded beauty where each hole spotlights a Minnesota lake. Other fun includes waterslides, bumper boats and go-karts.

Lilli Putt (Coon Rapids)

Loftus grew up playing Lilli Putt, run out of a stylized castle building, and he still regularly stops in for a round. There's a snack bar, rides and weekend nighttime glow golf, too. It's the site of the fifth annual Miniest Mini Golf Open, a tournament put on by A Couple of Putts and the American Mini Golf Alliance (coming Sept. 29).

Lark Toys Mini-Golf (Kellogg)

It'd be hard to get more kid-centric than a mini-golf course as part of an acclaimed destination toy store, which includes a hand-carved carousel, three mini-llamas, a bookstore and homemade fudge. The course is pretty standard, Loftus says, and re-turfed this year.