Sean Howard always dreamed of having a garage and owning power tools. In 2019 that dream became a reality when he moved from a small 4th floor apartment in Seattle to a house in Walnut Creek. Bored, and too new to town to have made any friends, Sean built his first mini golf hole just to see if he could. Turns out, it was a lot of fun to build and even more fun to play so he built a few more.

During quarantine, Sean got restless and built a few more holes. Soon, his patio was very crowded but very exciting. The City of Walnut Creek discovered he had a fun, safe activity and asked if he would be willing to share with the community. He said yes and set to work building more holes (because no golf course is complete without at least 18 holes).

Soon after, all 18 holes were moved from Sean's backyard (and, by this time, his front yard too) to Cypress Street in downtown Walnut Creek. On September 18th 2021, Putter’s was officially open for business. Putter’s was only open a short while before being asked to shut down during the second wave of stay at home orders. Happily, it was soon reopened again along with the downtown restaurants.

After what seemed like decades, the world finally began to reopen and along with it, Cypress Street was ready to return to traffic. In the meantime, Sean had quit his job and become a full time mini golf course operator. He was really enjoying his new career and all the wonderful mini golfers he had met so he found a new home for Putters at 1275 S. California Blvd where it is now located, just a few blocks from the original space on Cypress Street--Come out and visit us there soon!

As more and more people visited Putter’s, we often heard ‘can you bring one of these to my town?’. So we did! Putter’s Mini Golf Martinez opened in 2022 with some of the original designs as Walnut Creek but some unique holes too. In 2023 Putter’s went back to it roots as “street golf” when our mini course was opened in Palo Alto on the car-free Cal. Ave. Sean still works full-time at his mini golf courses but is thrilled to now have a handful of amazing employees helping him out.

Our vision for Putters is continually changing but one thing remains consistent: we want people of all ages to be able to have a to have a fun outdoor activity where they can put down the electronics for a hour and just enjoy being together. We like nothing more than to watch people engage in a little friendly competition and bond over a timeless classic game of miniature golf while celebrating each and every hole-in-one.