A mini golf course has sprung up across from the Math Building on the campus of Texas A&M University-Commerce thanks to the efforts of art students attending a summer course at the school.
Joseph Daun’s Public Art course has been working on the project for more than a month. Each student was tasked with designing and building a single hole of the eight hole course based on parts of the A&M Commerce experience.
One part of the course features books and pencils to signify A&M-Commerce’s history as a teacher’s college, while music notes on another course signify the music department, a course with multiple paths signifies the diverse course offerings at the university, and a course dedicated to the athletics department is also included. Once finished, the course will be open for the community to play on.
Daun told the Commerce Journal that there has been a large amount of effort put forward by the students to make this happen.
Daun added that the holes with moving parts will be powered by solar energy, to encourage the use of clean energy and also so they are not forced to hook up the golf course to the electrical system.
Daun said that he hopes to hold a grand opening ceremony the first week of the fall semester.
Tayci Wallace is one of the students working on the course. Her portion features a plinko board-style drop using rock climbing grips to bounce the ball around in many directions.
She says she used rock climbing grips to help represent some of the recreation opportunities available at the university.
“This hole represents the recreation center and its rock climbing wall,” Wallace told the Commerce Journal. “This is the first time I have ever worked on a monumental outside installation.”
Daun said that he hopes to add more holes to the course with another class sometime in the future, but stressed that it is not expected to be a permanent fixture on campus. The course is located near the Talbot Hall on the southeast side near Education Drive in Commerce.