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There are those, hard as it is to believe, who like their mini-golf to be one with nature: with grass and flowers, shrubs and water. Thanks, but we'll take the clowns and windmills. And when April rolls around, one of the most imaginative mini-golf courses in the country reopens, as happy a harbinger of spring as any we know.

Located north of Chicago, the much-loved Par-King Skill Golf (originally called George's Gorgeous Golfing Gardens) has been around for over 50 years. Over time, the place has grown and changed (this isn't the original location, either) but it's retained its sense of fun and innocence. The holes include a roller-coaster course, the Super Looper pictured, a roulette wheel, Mount Rushmore and the Sears Tower. (There are actually two separate 18-hole courses with mostly different features).

As it happens, Par-King does a nice job with the landscaping, but we've never paid much attention to that – not so long as there are moving clowns to conquer.

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