Puttshack - St. Louis — Local services in St. Louis

My main critique is with the staff. They were not very helpful to my group of first-timers. I received a text to enter the facility about 10 minutes prior to our booking time. We attempted to open the doors but they were locked since our booking time was right when they opened. One staff member got pissy, opened the door, and told us they didn't open until 11. It was 3 minutes 'till. If they don't want us attempting to enter, maybe don't send a message ten minutes prior, advising to enter the building and find your course. Once we did enter, there was a mad rush of people and all the staff kept saying was "if all group members are registered, look at the TV, find your name, and it will tell you your course." My name was not up there. We spoke with 3 different staff members and none of them were helpful. I eventually went to the self-kiosk and pressed "register members" even though we had all done that prior to the event. Two of my group members weren't even on the screen. We found another staff member and explained this, she managed to find the two missing group members, but then explained that our course was the Sapphire Course, but she was confused because that course wasn't open until 1:00. She was like "well, just go to one of the 2 that are open and let them know you want a game." So we did, and the staff member handling that course was ALSO very unhelpful. He was confused because our group name wasn't on the screen for that course (because we weren't booked for that course) and we tried to explain the whole debacle to him for about 3-5 minutes. He eventually manually added our group to the course and we were finally ready to play. And somehow, he split our 8 person group into 3 groups, when it should have been 2 groups (you can only have 6 players max in one group). Overall, it was extremally confusing, and we spent about 15 minutes walking around, trying to figure out what we were supposed to do. The reason I made an 11 o'clock booking was because we wanted to be as out of the way as possible with other parties showing up. I was hoping doing it as early as possible AND having a time booked was going to reserve a bit more room for us since we had 8 people. I guess I misunderstood the point of a booking reservation. By the time we actually starting playing putt putt, it was around 11:20 and every other party was also playing and we had to maneuver around them. I didn't expect to be the only people there, that would be silly, but since there was a whole "reservation booking" process, I thought that meant there would only be so many people on each course. That was not the case. BUT, once we started playing, we had an absolute blast. The course was so fun (we ended up doing Emerald). We really did enjoy every single hole and we had a wonderful time playing. That being said, we will be coming back to play another course. However, we will cut our party down to 6 people max, and I probably won't book a time slot again because it was pointless. Hope they are okay with walk-in's because our 11 o'clock booking basically ended up the same as a walk-in, as there were no benefits to it. So overall, SUPER fun mini golf, not very...

Parking: We parked in the garage by Foundry and accessed the venue from there. It was free and easy. There are elevators and stair options in the garage and plenty of parking spaces available even at peak hours on a Saturday night!

Courses: We came here for a date night and were not disappointed! The atmosphere is both fun and sophisticated! There is an heir of nostalgia from the theme of the holes! They are named, designed, and played like classic arcade games such as Tetris and Pac Man! It was a blast to interact with the holes' animatronics, and the other players queued up, too! There are 2 levels in the venue, each featuring 2 colored courses. Check in is through a kiosk on the main floor. You just build a profile, add players, and wait for a text to prompt which floor you go to. Once there, you check in with the game host for your balls and clubs and head off to tee up! Each level has a bar which allows you to order your drinks to the hole you're playing, carry your own drinks to the course, or sit and sip. Each hole has a table for beverages to rest while putting. There are screens that tell you scores and names of the players. The coolest part I found was each ball has a microchip linked to your player profile so each time you place the ball down to putt, it lights up green, reads your profile, and tracks your putts/holes-in-one. I hate keeping my own score old-school, so this was fantastic! Especially if you're tipsy! It was all very futuristic, technologically advanced, and super neon with the lights all around. It gets really busy but the long lines for each hole are not overwhelming and my date and I rather enjoyed the socializing from it. Some of the hole designs were mind-blowing! moving parts and prize wheels! The only downside is that chip doesn't always read properly, and you have to restart the hole, otherwise, the next player cannot start. On Sapphire, Hole 9, the ball tends to get stuck at the end and you need to simply use your club to push the ball into the last hole under the ledge. Aside from that, we had ZERO QUALMS.

Dining: The dining on the main floor was exceptional IMO. It was a bit pricey, but you get a good portion of food for the price. I apologize for not taking photos, I was just so hungry I forgot! But I ordered the Korean Bao Buns (Jackfruit style over pork), and my date indulged the Pepperoni Buzz flatbread. We washed it down with the BEST Long Island Iced Teas I have ever tasted (courtesy of the 2nd floor bar). I was very impressed to see the menu had both vegan and gluten-free options available for almost every food item. This made choosing a post-game meal easy for me because I do not eat pork, but LOVE bao buns! They had pickled cabbage strips on top and a garlic aioli dip! The flatbread was a crispy, cheesy, and topped with a hot honey that really gave it a nice subtle kick of heat. We ended up taking leftovers if that gives you any indication of portion sizes. All in all, food was about $37.00. The drinks were $24 (two LIIT from the bar). I'd say that $50.00 is a...

Do not come here if you overheat easily, I’m on medications that make me sweat and I was already so hot just waiting in line for 20-25 minutes after my scheduled tee time to finally start the course. Everyone else in my party was as well.

The course is so insanely crowded, they could probably benefit from scheduling people every 20 minutes instead of every 10 minutes because I think people just get behind, get there late, or end up going to get drinks which pushes times back even more.

I got there at 8:40p for my tee time at 8:50p. I went to the check in table because this was my first time here and I had no idea what I was doing. The lady was very short with me and said “check the tee times.” It told me to register, so I finally figured out that you have to go to the screens on the wall next to the entrance to register.

Maybe I’m just getting older and I’m not as hip as I used to be, but I was so confused about where to go the entire time. After registering on the screens, the tee time screen said to go to the ruby course. I had no idea where that was, but finally figured out that it’s upstairs lol

Once up there, I went to the ruby section to wait for my turn to start at the first hole. It’s about 8:55p at this point, so I’m 5 minutes late for my tee time technically. But I still waited for another 20-25 minutes to actually start. I just think if I would’ve known what to do and where I needed to go, I would’ve been there right on time instead of just wandering around, but the staff were very curt, so I didn’t feel very comfortable asking questions.

This was a Saturday night, so I didn’t expect it to be empty. I knew it would be busy. It just feels poorly managed. I was basically just uncomfortable and sweaty the whole time so I didn’t have much fun. This definitely isn’t all their fault.

Once you’re in the course, there are very few places to put bags, coats, and drinks, so you’re basically lugging everything around. If there were lockers or storage, I didn’t know they existed. It was too hot to just wear your coat. Most people had them off and tied around the waist or sitting on the sticky floor. It is also hard to go back and forth between the bar to get drinks because of how crowded it is.

Positives are that I think the price is very fair at $14 per person. The mini golf courses were interesting. It is 9 holes.

I hope this helps someone else understand what to do when you get there or feel...