Neon Mini Golf

Reading the course in Neon Mini Golf

A rolling ball, not a directed one

The course is 720 by 420 units and the ball has a radius of 8 against a cup radius of 15, so the target is a little under twice the ball’s width. Every putt is simulated in fixed steps at one one-hundred-and-twentieth of a second, which means the same aim and power always produce the same roll.

The ball loses speed continuously to friction and comes to rest when it drops below a threshold. It rebounds off the course walls, and those rebounds preserve most of the remaining speed — which is what makes bank shots a practical route rather than a novelty.

Each hole caps at twelve strokes. Reaching the cap moves you on rather than stranding you, so a single badly-read hole costs you strokes but never the round.

Speed decides more than line

On a course this size the direction that reaches the cup is usually obvious within a few degrees. What separates a par from a double bogey is how hard you hit it. Too soft and the ball stops short of the break; too hard and it either rattles out of the cup or rebounds off a far wall into worse position than you started from.

The cup is only a little wider than the ball, so a fast ball crossing it can pass straight over. Approach putts should be planned to arrive with the ball already slowing, which usually means aiming to stop a short distance past the cup rather than exactly at it.

Use the walls deliberately on the longer holes. Rebounds keep most of their speed, so a banked putt can reach positions a direct line cannot, far more repeatably than threading a gap at full power.

• On par 5 and 6 holes, play the first putt for position rather than distance; arriving with a clean line beats arriving close but blocked.
• When a wall sits behind the cup, a slightly firm putt is safer — the wall stops the overrun and often leaves a tap-in.
• Watch where a missed putt comes to rest; that tells you more about the hole than a successful one does.

The course and its pars

Nine holes with pars from 2 to 6 give a course par of 39. The early holes are short and tightly parred, so they punish carelessness; the later holes carry the larger pars and give you room to recover from a poor first putt.

Because scoring is strokes taken, the whole round is about limiting the worst hole rather than producing a spectacular one. A single hole taken to the twelve-stroke cap costs more than six holes played one over par each.

Common mistakes

Almost every blown hole comes from power rather than aim.

• Putting at full power by default. Excess speed carries the ball over a cup barely twice its width and rebounds it into a worse position than the one you started from.
• Aiming to stop exactly at the cup. A ball arriving with a little pace and stopping just past it holds its line better than one dying short of the break.
• Ignoring the walls. Rebounds keep most of their speed here, so a bank shot is a genuine and repeatable route on the longer holes rather than a last resort.
• Forcing a recovery. With a twelve-stroke cap the round is never lost on one hole, so taking a safe position putt after a bad one costs far less than another aggressive attempt.

What is different about this version

The ball is simulated at a fixed timestep rather than per animation frame, so a slow device produces exactly the same roll as a fast one and the physics cannot be changed by frame drops. Repeating a putt with the same aim and power repeats the result precisely, which is what makes bank shots learnable.

There is no aim assist and no snap-to-cup. Whether the ball drops is decided entirely by where it travels and how fast it is going when it gets there, which is why a fast ball can cross the cup without falling in — exactly as it would on a real green.

Written by the Silverweb Games team from this game’s own implementation. Last reviewed July 31, 2026.