When you own an amusement center, you are probably always on the lookout for new opportunities to increase your customer base. If you make a dramatic addition to the facility it will get plenty of attention. One of the hottest trends around today are miniature blacklight glow golf courses. They attract kids of all ages, are family friendly, and cheap to operate.

Unless you are planning to buy the equipment, along with the setup and marketing materials, outright, you'll probably need to borrow the money to get this new enterprise set up. That will involve a comprehensive business plan a lender will approve. The course manufacturers can give you a lot of help with this. They will have numbers on the financial projections, marketing strategies, staffing needs, and management issues.

If an addition to your existing facility is necessary, you are going to have to determine the kind of course to be installed and what other amenities you want to offer the public. For a nine hole course you are going to need at least eighteen hundred square feet with a thousand more recommended. A full eighteen hole course requires a minimum of thirty-six hundred square feet. The optimal square footage is fifty-four hundred.

Those who have made a success of these courses suggest adding enough space to include party rooms, arcades and a food service area. For those who want to make the course their primary business, the experts say that malls and tourist areas have been successful, in addition to the stand alone businesses that do very well. The actual facility is less important than the location. You have to be where the customers are.

Once you have the financing out of the way, you can start to work with the designers to create a course that meets your specifications and exact needs. You will receive layouts for the course, computer designed drawings, and the electrical specifications. You can choose a theme from a group that has proven to be the most popular. These include jungles, pirates, outer space, and the ocean.

You can make suggestions to the design team to modify an existing theme or have them build a new one just for you. Any theme you choose will include intricately cast fluorescent lights displaying the obstacles and props throughout the course. The shadows and eerie glow makes the game a fun challenge.

Actually installing the course usually takes a couple of weeks. A team will be assigned to come in and install custom curbing that will define the greens. After that they can begin the task of setting up the props, wall, arches, and other special effects that will create a unique environment. The carpet will be laid and the black lights installed as the final steps.

The entrance is a much a part of the entertainment as the course. The designers should create a gateway that excites customers. Glow-in-the-dark scorecards can be given out as customers enter. The carpets, which must be made of the most durable material possible, will glow in multiple colors marking the entrance to a great customer experience.