Mini Golf tips: bank shots, water and reading the green

Reading the hole

Every hole is built new for the round. Barriers reach from one wall across the line to the flag and stop short of the other wall, and each one leaves its gap on the opposite side to the last. The result is an S-bend: the straight line to the cup is open on fewer than one hole in fifty.

Before you putt, trace the route with your eye from gap to gap. Par is worked out from that real route, not the straight line, so a hole that looks short can be a par 5.

Power

Drag back from anywhere and let go: the further you pull, the harder the putt. On a keyboard, the arrow keys aim and Space putts.

Near the cup, soft is safe. A ball that arrives too fast can run over the hole instead of dropping in, and it keeps rolling.

Bank shots

Walls and blocks bounce the ball, and a bank off the right wall is often shorter than going round a barrier. Aim at the wall, not the cup, and let the angle do the work.

Water

A rolling ball can't cross a pond: it goes in. That costs a penalty stroke, and you play again from where you hit it, so always take the route round the water.

Playing the bots

Rookie, Club and Pro all find the gap; what separates them is aim. Pro plays bank shots and rarely wastes a stroke, so beating it takes clean first putts. In solo play, beating par earns coins for new ball patterns.