Putt Putt Tour

Putt Putt Tour

Entrepreneur Bob Gaudreau has taken

miniature golf and made it mobile, marketing

it to companies, schools and organizations.

While getting ready to tee off, entrepreneur Bob Gaudreau once wondered: What is one way to capitalize on and broaden the appeal of golf without the expense of course construction?

His answer: Selling or renting a small course that can be moved anywhere and that is easy enough for anyone to play.

Almost three years ago Gaudreau, 57, started Portable Golf Solutions, a Valrico company that uses a 26-foot truck to rent and sell miniature nine- or 18-hole manufactured putting greens that can be moved to any location.

The product uses indoor-outdoor carpeting over paneling and offers four different sizes and shapes. With the help of about 10 people, Portable can set up an 18-hole course, covering 4,000 square feet, inside a high school gym or on a football field, in 90 minutes.

Gaudreau, a former college athlete and baseball camp coach, has been active in the golf industry with an earlier company, Leaderboard of Tampa, which puts advertising, corporate logos, golfers' photos and scores on a giant digital board at golf tournaments.

While running Leaderboard, he researched golf course development. Gaudreau found that land costs hindered entrepreneurs from building new courses. That's where he came up with the mobile course idea.

He found a manufacturer, developed a Web site and started the company intending to run it as a fundraising vehicle for charities. But businesses started calling.

Eventually, Portable Golf was doing corporate events and developed at least six revenue streams. One of those was a nine-hole event for a Centre Club business group in Tampa.

While building a portable golf course doesn't carry the price tag of a regulation course, buying 18 holes from Gaudreau is $32,000.

Renting it for two hours or a full day is $4,500 for 18 holes and $2,700 for nine. After setting it up, Gaudreau is there to help with the tournament.

"It's been a blast," he says. "I can't tell you how much fun people have."

Part of that is because putting is easier and faster than driving, chipping and tapping through 18 holes, or at least four hours of golf. Secondly, miniature golf is big overseas.

So far, Gaudreau has sold courses to a couple in Houston and businessmen in the Philippines and Bangalore, India. He is in talks with a potential buyer in Atlanta.

Some start with nine holes, get cash flow going and buy a second nine. Besides the course cost, buyers pay $6,000 for a training and licensing program.

The course does not look like the funland putt-putt courses with giant clown faces. Instead, they are more corporate, with basic green turf cut in different sizes. Portable refers to them as an "upscale mini course."

"We didn't want windmills," Gaudreau says.

Looking ahead, Portable Golf wants to develop a relationship with the National Mini Golf Association in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and eventually run a professional tour in Tampa.

Gaudreau is also working on a new concept: a compact nine-hole course, with 90- to 130-yard fairways, played with a limited-flight ball, that would take about an hour to play. He is talking to land owners, including parks and churches.

Portable Golf expects to make $250,000 in revenues this year, not quite double what it took in, in years one and two. It has paid off the loan used for startup capital and the company is profitable.

-Dave Szymanski