A funny, heartwarming memoir about saying goodbye to your childhood home, in this case a quirky, one-of-a-kind, family-run miniature golf course in the woods of Wisconsin

When June Melby was ten years old, her parents decided on a whim to buy the miniature golf course in the small Wisconsin town where they vacationed every summer. Without any business experience or outside employees, the family sets out to open Tom Thumb Miniature Golf to the public. Naturally, there are bumps along the way. In My Family and Other Hazards, Melby recreates all the squabbling, confusion, and ultimately triumph, of one family's quest to build something together, and brings to life the joys of one of America's favorite pastimes. In sharp, funny prose, we get the hazards that taunted players at each hole, and the dedication and hard work that went into each one's creation. All the familiar delights of summer are here—snowcones and popcorn and long days spent with people you love.

Melby's relationship with the course is love-hate from the beginning, given the summer's freedom it robs her of, but when her parents decide to sell the course years later, her panicked reaction surprises even her. Now an adult living in Hollywood, having flown the Midwest long ago, she flies back to the course to help run it before the sale goes through, wondering if she should try to stop it. As the clock ticks, she reflects on what the course meant to her both as a child and an adult, the simpler era that it represents, and the particular pains of losing your childhood home, even years after you've left it.

Contents / Scorecard

The Ticket Booth: Prologue            1

Front Nine

    1. The Rocket            14

    2. The Castle            33

    3. The One With The Hill In The Middle            44

    4. The Colored Light Thing            67

    5. The Horse            77

    6. The Swinging Pole            93

    7. The Water Hole            110

    8. The Wishing Well            124

    9. The Windmill            134

Back Nine

    10. The Outhouse            153

    11. The Covered Bridge            171

    12. The Barrels            190

    13. The Airplane (formerly The Clown)            205

    14. The Purple One            211

    15. The Ferris Wheel            229

    16. The Weird Blue Pipe Thing            245

    17. The Paddle Wheel Boat            261

    18. The Clown Face            280

The Ticket Booth: Epilogue            295

Acknowledgments            299