This summer, guests at the Morton Arboretum can enjoy a relaxing round of mini golf while getting some education.
The Morton Arboretum’s Wonder Woods Mini Golf is a nine-hole pop-up course that tells a story about trees and Illinois ecosystems. It is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. May 24 to Sept. 2. The last tee time is 5 p.m.
Meghan Midgley is the director of the Center for Tree Science and the Morton’s Soil Ecologist. Part of her job is researching how plants influence the soil beneath them and how humans, through their various practices, enhance or disrupt those interactions, she said.
“I ask, what happens when we use prescribed fire? How does that either reinforce these relationships plants, microbes and nutrients or disrupt those relationships, for example,” she said.
Educators and designers at the Arboretum were looking to entice new visitors this summer, especially for kids and families or couples having a date night, thus the idea of the Wonder Woods Mini Golf was born.
“They also really wanted to make sure our science content supported the designs of the holes,” she said. “They didn’t want to make just any regular mini golf exhibit, they wanted to make sure it showed off our research and our conservation work.”
For example, there’s one hole that is focused on roots and soil, her area of expertise.
“I said it would be really cool to show off some isopods — which are basically like roly-polies — and some other creatures in the soil that we study around the Arboretum. And our root biologist said we should also incorporate mushrooms,” she said.
“We sent them photos of different organisms that we thought would be really great to integrate in. So on the nerdy side of things, the mushrooms and isopods we have on this course are really accurate and what you might actually find in our region. That was our role, to give them direction on the design and help with the interpretation on each hole.”
Each of the nine holes has an educational component, Midgley said.
“They go from the benefit of trees and showing that they are important in urban ecosystems to highlighting some of these above-ground and below-ground interactions. We have one highlighting tree rings and how they teach us about climate change. We have one about the tool that we can use to see inside the tree and determine if there is decay happening. We have a DNA hole. We have nine holes and they all have a connection to our research and conservation.”
She thinks people will definitely enjoy the exhibit and might end up learning something along the way.
“Some people will come because mini golf is fun and that is great,” she said. “Some people will come and read the signs and learn a little but more about what we do at the Arboretum beyond what most visitors experience.”
The goal isn’t to create the exhibit like a museum, she said.
“We’re not trying to make people read a lot at each hole,” she said. “There are just a couple of fun facts. But if we can get people out doing something fun and they learn little something about trees or get excited about trees at the same time, that was our goal with mini golf.”
She excited for people to learn that trees are more than just a background or scenery filler, she said.
“Trees really enrich our lives in urban areas and also keep our planet healthy by providing habitat for all sorts of animals and that we also need to play a role in preserving and protecting these trees,” she said. “There really is an important human aspect in tree preservation and tree conservation.”
Midgley doesn’t know if mini golf will return next summer, it depends on crowd reaction, she said. She does know that people will learn lots of fun facts in the exhibit.
“One fun fact that I love is that in a teaspoon of healthy soil there are more micro-organisms than there are people on earth,” she said. “So there are more fungi and bacteria in a teaspoon of soil than there are people on the planet. Another fun fact is that we have a huge diversity of trees in the Chicago region and our last census found that it is home to 172 million trees.”
Mini golf is a fun activity for people of all ages and is a great summertime recreation activity, she said. The Arboretum offers a lot outside of mini golf as well.
“We have the Children’s Garden, we have the nearby Maze Garden, we have our new Grand Garden, which is a little more serene,” she said. “And then we have 1,700 acres of endangered trees of beautiful natural ecosystems, so I hope people will come and enjoy mini golf because it is an easy and fun thing to do. I hope they also explore the rest of our grounds so they get excited about trees and our conservation activities.”
Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
Wonder Woods Mini Golf
When: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. daily May 24 to Sept. 2
Where: Morton Arboretum, 4100 Illinois 53, Lisle
Tickets: $8-$10 for mini golf; plus Arboretum admission of $9-$17
Information: 630-968-0074; mortonarb.org
