How about mini golf for Mother's Day?

Here's an idea: If the weather is cooperating, take Mom out for a round of miniature golf today.

In doing so, a family would be continuing a long-standing recreational tradition.

In a time in which Baby Boomers are lamenting the loss of things like drive-in movies, trampoline parks, the corner candy store or a Good Humor truck making its rounds through the neighborhood, we still have miniature golf courses.

And that means something, considering this recreational pastime has been with us in some form or another for nearly 100 years.

I spent a lot of time on miniature golf courses as a kid, mastering the game to the point where I actually won my first transistor radio in a mini golf hole-in-one contest at a place called Arnold Palmer's Putting Course in Naperville. I'm guessing it was 1962 or so.

It's quite comforting to see each town in the Tri-Cities area offers a mini golf course - Stone Creek Miniature Golf Course in Geneva at Wheeler Park; River Rock Mini Golf at Funway Entertainment Center in Batavia; and River View Miniature Golf Course at Pottawatomie Park in St. Charles.

Mini golf has been around so long, it is not easy to determine exactly where it all started. Depending on where you look for information on this topic, you can learn the game has likely been around since 1910 when golfers would find a place to simply practice putting prior to the start of their golf seasons.

But most agree that a fellow named Garnet Carter was the first person to patent the game of miniature golf when calling it "Tom Thumb Golf" in 1927.

He was a few years behind a guy who had an "unpatented" version of the game with a course on his Pinehurst, North Carolina, estate in 1916 that he called the Thistle Du.

But it seems Carter was more aggressive in his pursuit of mini golf as a new national pastime, founding an outfit called the Fairyland Manufacturing Corp., which by 1930 had sold more than 3,000 Tom Thumb mini golf franchises.

Our local courses generally have Mother's Day specials in which Mom plays for free, so the timing is good to think about mini golf today.

The River Rock Mini Golf 18-hole course at Funway is actually the new kid on the block, recently opening as the outdoor mini golf setting for the entertainment complex. The weather wasn't too conducive to mini golf when River Rock first opened a few weeks ago, but we have to think this is going to be a popular spot for kids this summer.

River View, which has been a part of Pottawatomie Park a few decades at least, offers a nice lure for grandparents to get on the course with grandkids. Grandparents play for free with paid admission of a grandchild between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m. Thursdays from June through August.

Stone Creek in Geneva has all sorts of similar deals, with the grandparents getting their "day" on Mondays.

Yes, it's tough to say goodbye to old-fashioned recreation options, but mini golf has stood the test of time. So take Mom out for mini golf - and enjoy a game that's been making people happy for generations.

Helping children's hospital:

Based on his past dealings with A Little Heart charity for children with heart conditions (a cause close to his own heart because his son experienced those health issues in the past), it was not surprising to see Chef Alain Roby of the All Chocolate Kitchen in Geneva smiling about a different donation focusing on kids.

He recently gave famous spokesperson Marlo Thomas a $25,000 check for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.

That money came from the Ooh La La Chocolate 5K and half marathon event, and the Insane Candy Cane Event that his store stages each year.

Two different 'rockings':

The Elderday Care Center in Batavia recently benefited from a fundraiser at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in which its board members went through a 36-hour stint of rocking in rocking chairs to raise funds for the center's adult care and memory services.

Now the center has a family-friendly spring fundraiser set for 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday, May 19, at the Global Brew Tap House in St. Charles.

The event features rocker-related raffles, games and prizes, while Drift Away plays live music and Dr. Dog's Food Truck provides the food.

The tap house is located at 2100 Prairie Street. Tickets in advance are $30 each, or $50 for two. A cash bar is available.

Information about tickets is available by calling (630) 761-9750 or visiting elderdaycenter.org.

That's good barbecue:

Sometimes it just takes us a little while to try one of the new restaurants in the Tri-Cities area.

So it is that I finally tried the pulled pork barbecue from Firewater BBQ in downtown Geneva.

Worth the wait?

You bet.

This is really good barbecue, so the other items on the menu are simply next in line for a future visit.

dheun@sbcglobal.net