When I was first offered a review copy of the Miniature Book of Miniature Golf by Mike Vago, I said no.

I wasn’t interested. It sounded like a gimmick. That’s what crossed my mind when I saw a press release about a golf book with a “golf course” inside.

Sometimes it’s better to open your mind than close it. Vago’s book has been an immediate hit in our house. My kids love it and I find it too creative not to like.

Vago, who supposedly spent his middle-school study hall mapping out elaborate miniature golf courses, has created a golf book that you can actually “play” instead of read. The small hard-cover book features nine miniature golf holes with themes you’ve probably seen on actual putt-putt courses: Things like dinosaurs, windmills, lighthouses and pirates.

Playing is simple. You drop a little metal ball into the hole in the front of the book and open to the first page, where it’s on the tee of a par-5, zig-zag hole called “the clubhouse.” Once your little plastic stick bats the ball into the first hole, you just turn the page for the next challenge and so on to the end. The par-7 sixth hole, named “Hedge Maze,” is the toughest hole, although going for the clown’s mouth at No. 9 could produce a score just as high.

My kids have learned you can “cheat” your way around the course by blasting over sand traps and water hazards, but you also risk flying off the page and adding penalty strokes. The book, published by Workman, is available for $14.95.

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