It's a fall day in Myrtle Beach in South Carolina, and a crowd has gathered on the green of a golf course to watch the final swings of an annual Masters tournament. The man putting is in a striped golf polo and he's staring

with laser focus, the ball.

The stakes are high and it has all come down to this moment.

Here's a test swing.

The winner will be decided on this final stroke.

As people wait with baited breath, they can hear the hiss of a turquoise waterfall in the background. And every 20 minutes, there's a volcano volcano spinning fire.

This is mini-golf. I'm Dylan Thuris and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange,

incredible and wondrous places.

And today we're talking about what is very possibly my favorite sport of all time.

We are talking about mini-golf.

Today's episode was produced in partnership with Visit Myrtle Beach

because they are the mini-gulf is not mini it is a sort of maximalist mini-gulf

heaven it is so over-the top. It is just glorious.

So today, we take a trip to what is at least according to me, the most important place in sport.

We're going to the mini-golf

capital of the world after this. When you just don't notice it but then when you start to think when you travel other places there aren't any other

miniature golf courses and if they are they're you or whatever. It's like well you know they're not

from Myrtle Beach they don't know better. This is Catherine Hedgepath born and raised

local historian of Myrtle Beach and the creator historian of Myrtle Beach

and the creator of the Myrtle Beach history trolley tour.

To know Myrtle Beach like Catherine does, it's to know mini-gulf.

I've sort of established that I'm actually a put-putt snob and I didn't even really realize it until I started putting my personal experiences when I'm in town to you know what I experience when I'm traveling you know either around the country or

...