By Brynna Williamson
If you’re like me, you may have passed by “Creekside Mini Golf” in Winnsboro a few years ago, and thought, “Hmmm. Interesting.” Now, however, under new ownership, a new name, and completely glowed-up look, you’ll stop and turn your head at Eagle’s Nest Mini Golf. Hmmm! Interesting!
What It Looks Like
The first thing to catch your attention at the Eagle’s Nest Mini Golf course may just be the giant Elvis head. Yes, I said giant Elvis head. Or it could be King Kong roaring down at the golf balls below, proudly surveying the territory of his putting green.
Perhaps it’s Lucille Ball in her iconic baker’s hat, waiting for you to hit the ball through the conveyer belt so that she can avoid some “splainin’.” Or maybe, for you, it’s a giant caricature of Texan Buddy Holly, who has several “Crickets” statues next to him.
You get the point: The props at Eagle’s Nest are American pop-culture themed and are straight-up awesome! But without seeing the loving design of the mini golf course itself, you just can’t feel the full impact.
Eagle’s Nest Mini Golf, which is housed right near downtown Winnsboro, Texas, has so much love, thought, and effort put into the theme of every single one of the course’s 19 holes. It is a joy to just walk around through it.
Stephanie Mees, who owns the Wood County, Texas course—along with her husband, Aaron—says that each one of the holes has a unique design, which are themed into several unique categories. “American Amusements,” “American Music,” “Classic Movies,” “Board Games,” “Classic TV,” “All Things American,” “A Tribute to our Military and First Responders,” and more are all featured in the Eagle’s Nest course.
I won’t spoil all the surprises of the individual themes, but seriously, these are so cool.
“We want to celebrate the things that have built our culture over the decades, so we do,” said Mees.
A description of the truly interesting course at Eagle’s Nest Mini Golf would not be complete without a mention of the beautiful “Route 66” mural on the side of one of the outbuildings. The mural, which was painted by the late beloved local artist Dennis Howard, features a backdrop of tie-dyed mountains, cacti standing tall and proud, and a perfectly blue sky above.
“Oh, my word. Six months we got to know him, and he made such a big impact in six months,” said Mees.
The Journey
About eight years ago, Aaron and Stephanie Mees ran a mobile mini-golf course in the Houston metro area. While they enjoyed the business opportunity—and enjoyed bringing a fun, interactive, portable set to their area—they soon realized that a set-in-stone location would not only be more lucrative, but would also be more their style. The Mees’ truly love the innocent joy of mini golf and wanted to bring it to a wider audience who would love it as much as they did, says Stephanie. “After all,” she added, “Mini golf is fun entertainment that is “still affordable to families.”
The only question for the Mees was where to locate the course.
At first, Stephanie and Aaron thought they would go to Huntsville, where they already had connections. They found some land, made a bid on it, and expected to build their course there. However, Stephanie found out on a Monday morning in June of 2024 that someone had “snatched up” the land that they thought held their hopes.
In her words, the unexpected falling-through of the deal left the Mees feeling “a little (defeated).” It was on the following Friday morning, however, just four days later, that Stephanie says God started doing something unexpected.
“You know when you’re just laying in bed, like it’s not time to get out of bed yet, so you just kind of scroll on your phone? I will never forget that day. It was about 5:50 in the morning, and God was like, ‘Stephanie, just look for mini golf for sale on Facebook.’ And I was like ‘You know, I’m just gonna search and see what comes up.’”
The mini golf course that the Mees now own came up immediately, at a price that was easily within their budget. Stephanie called about the property as soon as the office opened. The Mees drove from Houston to come tour the property and try the course just two days later on Sunday, prayed about the opportunity for a few days, and made an offer in the middle of the following week.
In less than a week, Mees says that God had made things “fall into place.”
“I want people to understand, when you choose God’s way, your life is so much easier,” she said. “You see how things just fall in line when you tell God, ‘Yes.’… It’s like He said, ‘Huntsville’s not where you need to be, it’s Winnsboro. This is where I’m sending you.’”
“And the rest is history,” she said with a smile.
In order to make the office building all they wanted it to be for their Wood County, Texas public, the Mees hired a local contractor to gut the entire building, even going so far as to replace the subflooring in some places. After that, they reconstructed with a modern, up-to-date, cozy front lobby, a back kitchen, a public restroom, and a back room for employees to relax. They combed over the course itself, repairing and re-doing all of the outdoor lighting, completely rebuilding all of the previously brick “bumpers,” installing 100% new turf, erecting new fencing, putting in sidewalks, and more. Finally, they completely re-did the theme of the course itself, completing it to the style that Stephanie had spent years designing herself.
All things told, the construction and renovations took four months. The newly-rebranded “Eagle’s Nest Mini Golf” opened on October 3, 2024.
Today, Aaron and Stephanie run the mini golf course basically by themselves. While they do have a few employees they bring in on an “as-needed basis,” Stephanie says their office is a “literal home away from home”—a place where they want to feel as happy as they try to make everyone else.
What They Offer
People really like Eagle’s Nest Mini Golf. According to Mees, their customers say they would stop in sometimes just to hang out, sit at the picnic tables, and eat food.
“You have the ones who come out and say things like, ‘I would pay just to come out here and sit and listen to the music alone: like just for that, it’s worth paying to come here!’” she said with a laugh.
In the course’s concessions, they’ve got oven-baked mozzarella sticks. They’ve got crisp, golden-brown corn dogs. They’ve got cheesy, crunchy nachos. Hungry yet?
And while the course is housed in Winnsboro, Mees says it serves even those far beyond Wood County.
“We’ve kind of not become just a mini golf course for Winnsboro; we have really become like the ‘East Texas Mini Golf Course,’” said Mees. “We are serving probably about a 60-mile radius regularly.”
Playing on the course itself is very affordable, and they’re open every day of the week except Tuesday (because everyone needs a day off!). The entire course is fenced, has sidewalks, cool, multi-colored lighting for evening players, landscaping, and it’s actually highly interactive.
“As a family, we enjoyed mini golf with our three kids. And the things we enjoyed the most–obviously, it was the bonding time between us—but it was also the courses that were interactive and weren’t very monotonous… (so) that was important to us,” said Mees.
The course was even designed so that “75 to 80%” of the course is handicap accessible—a feature that the Mees wanted to make sure was included!
And guess what? The Mees are actually nice people, too. That, as we all know, matters.
“This is more of a passion project for us than it is a business move. And that’s how I treat it every day. And I hope that people see that in our customer service, in the effort that we put into the course!” said Mees.
You step inside, and it smells inviting, like warm apple pie and vanilla. Chatting happily with the outgoing, personable Mees, you pay the small $5-$7 fee (is there anything else to go do this inexpensively nowadays?), grab your brightly-colored ball and putter, and step back outside. Music is playing (good old hits), and you smell yummy concession food. You step on the fresh turf, read the trivia on the new sign, enjoy the brand-new props, designs, and well-thought-out course, and you begin playing. It’s a good day, isn’t it?
“We’ll have four-generation families who come out here,” said Mees. “People love the space, they love the music, they love the lights, and they love the interaction on the course. We get a lot of happy customers, and that makes me happy. That’s what we do it for. The goal that we had in mind was a place where people can create memories. We’re seeing it. And we see it every day we’re open. And that’s the great thing.” “People ask us all the time, ‘What brought you to Winnsboro?’” said Mees with a smile and a shrug. “I’m like, ‘This!’”