Bob Germain, the owner of Glacier Mini Golf, aims a shot through the lighthouse he constructed himself. Germain opened his business in the Mendenhall Mall this month.
Story last updated at 7/28/2010 - 12:11 pm
Bob Germain looked out towards the lighthouse he built with his own hands. It is constructed of wood and brick, stands about seven feet tall, and sports a rotating beam at the top made from parts salvaged from a flashlight, a police car light, and a disco ball.
"It's been sitting in my living room for eight years, and now the wife's glad it's gone of course," he said.
The lighthouse is one of the features of a new miniature golf course in the Mendenhall Mall. Germain, a 24-year resident of Juneau, opened Glacier Mini Golf earlier in the month. He said he is enthusiastic about the response to an indoor nine-hole course in Juneau.
Though the Mendenhall Mall location has only been open for a couple of weeks, Germain set up a portion of the course at the Gold Rush Days event in June. He said the response from the public was positive.
"It's the first of its kind here," he said.
Germain said his interest in the sport began nearly a decade ago when he won the Father's Day Miniature Golf Tournament at the Nugget Mall.
"I won five hundred Nugget Bucks," he said. "I gave my wife a wedding band. ... I bought a mountain bike with the rest."
Shortly after that, he built his first homemade green in his yard, using an old tire as a looped ramp. He said it lasted through several winters, but began deteriorating after the tarp covering it collapsed under snow.
"It's still there to this day, but it's got moss growing across it," he said.
The nametag Germain wears identifies him as "Owner and Golf Pro," the latter of which he said is a joke.
"I'm not really a pro," he said. "I can assist people if they're a beginner, I can show them how to hold the club."
Germain, who was born in Minnesota, said that his course is a Native-owned business, because he is one-quarter Chippewa.
He worked in Juneau as a professional painter for 18 years, but now looks forward to getting to "sit back, relax, and watch other people have fun ... and get paid for it."
The lighthouse served as a "reminder" over the years of his dream to build a course, Germain said.
"We turned it on every now and then, and didn't have T.V. on, nothing on, and it was kind of mesmerizing. ... We just shut it off, and you just listen to what's going on around, you know, peace. I do that from time to time," he said, as he sunk a hole-in-one shot through the large barn model.
The space in front of Germain's living room picture window has now been filled with a 52-inch flat screen television, though he said sometimes he misses the contemplative lighthouse.
The other eight greens, including an iconic windmill, were shipped to Juneau from Pennsylvania. Germain said they were in rough shape when they arrived, and required repairs and paint jobs. He also added various details, such as lettering on the "saloon," and stained glass windows in the chapel.
"It makes it more churchy," he said.
The walls of the business are still unfinished, but he has plans to paint a mural of a glacier. He is still brainstorming how to utilize a walled off section in the back, and mentioned possibly putting in pool tables or video arcade machines. The space could also be used for birthday parties, he said.
Germain can see himself running Glacier Mini Golf until his retirement.
"That was my dream when I built the lighthouse and the one hole, to own a business like this," he said. "I guess it's become a reality."
Glacier Mini Golf can be contacted by telephone at 988-GOLF, or via e-mail at b.germain@hotmail.com.
Richard Radford may be reached at richard.radford@capweek.com.
