The Winter Classic: An Origin Story
Ronnie’s Golf Hospital - 2016
The O-Street Mini Golf Winter Classic was created to fill a need to play mini golf in the off season. The Jersey Shore is saturated with mini golf courses up and down the coast, but once mid-October rolls around, most if not all the courses close down. The O-Street crew’s first Winter Classic started in January of 2016 and was an actual league comprising of eight games and four locations: DiDonato’s Family Fun Center in Hammonton, Ronnie’s Golf Hospital in Northfield, Sunset Beach in Cape May, and Keystone Mini Golf in Philadelphia. What made that first year so memorable were the games at Ronnie’s and Sunset Beach because of the snow. The games at Ronnie’s had snow falling throughout the game play, making it more difficult each hole you played. At Sunset Beach, it snowed the night before and was extremely cold, so all the holes were covered in ice. Players were literally using their putters as mining sticks to uncover the locations of the actual holes.
Aaron Kaminski, Avery Ducey, Rudy Reel, and Evan Rundgren at Putt U - 2018
This was also the first time that O-Street Mini Golf created a YouTube Channel and documented their mini golf adventures. Since that season, the Winter Classic turned into a two game tournament to determine who would take home the Winter Classic trophy. Last season O-Street brought back the Winter Classic league, a five game season that was separate from the actual Winter Classic results. Game 3 of this year’s league was one for the record books as players had to shovel about two feet of snow just to be able to play the course.
Evan Rundgren - Winner of the 2020 Winter Classic at Sunset Beach in Cape May, NJ
We like to consider the Winter Classic is the great equalizer. Only the strong and the brave will become victorious, while they battle the competitors, the course, and the conditions. The nostalgia from the 2016 season has grown into a mini golf cult following, that has continued onto its 7th season.
Details:
When: Saturday, February 12th, 2022.
Where: Offshore Adventure Golf in Rio Grande, NJ.
When: 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM.
Registration: $15 per person.
Past Winners:
Aaron Kaminski (2016) @ Keystone Mini Golf (Philadephia, PA)
Evan Rundgren (2017) @ Campbell’s Mini Golf (Rio Grande, NJ)
Aaron Kaminski (2018) @ Putt U Mini Golf (Center Valley, PA)
Evan Rundgren (2019) @ Haunted Mini Golf (Ocean City, NJ)
Jack Handshaw (2020) @ GoFish Mini Golf (Avalon, NJ)
Evan Rundgren (2021) @ Sunset Beach Mini Golf (Cape May, NJ)
