The 18-hole black-light miniature golf course for sale on Craigslist is not from Glow Putt Mini Golf at Windward Mall, assured owner Gerry Houser.
"That wouldn’t be us," he said cheerfully. "This is our 12th year."
Glow Putt has been at Windward Mall in Kaneohe for eight years, following three years at Ala Moana Center. Its Maui operation, at Lahaina Center, has been running for 12 years.
He and partner Jim Bertoncino, a former professional golfer, established the first Glow Putt Mini Golf operations in Arizona, then Utah, "and we built ’em in Fairbanks, Alaska; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Houston; and Nashville … all over the mainland," Houser said.
It is not a national chain or franchise operation, though.
"We sell them as a turnkey (operation). We go in, give them the name, build them, show them how operations work because we know it’s proven already, and open the doors."
After reviewing the pictures posted with the online ad, Houser identified the equipment as being from a Maui operation that tried to compete against Glow Putt’s Lahaina operation and closed after "about a year."
The Craigslist poster, asking $14,995 for the course, returned email queries but did not want to be quoted.
On the Net: www.glowputtminigolf.com
HOW COOL ARE WE?
We are supercool, that’s the answer.
New website TravelOrMove.com placed Honolulu within its ranking of the five dozen best places on Earth to travel or relocate.
The website’s founder also plugs a locally shot network TV show that can use a boost, given its season three ratings thus far.
"Honolulu is a natural to be on any list of the world’s supercool communities," said founder Andy Brack of Charleston, S.C., in a statement.
"With its beautiful beaches, volcanic mountains and outstanding quality of life, how could we not rank the city of ‘Hawaii Five-0′ high on our list?"
Here’s another quote from Brack: "While Honolulu is the southernmost major city in the United States, don’t expect to hear a lot of ‘Southern’ people saying ‘y’all’ in this community originally settled by Polynesian immigrants in the 11th century."
TravelOrMove.com’s Honolulu page is frequently updated through a special Twitter feature that links tweets marked #TOMHonolulu to the page.
Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com, or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
