John Garnet Carter (Feb. 9, 1883, in

Sweetwater, Tennessee Sweetwater is a city in Monroe and McMinn counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the most populous city in Monroe County. The population was 5764 at the 2010 census and 6,312 at the 2020 census. Sweetwater is the home of the Craighead Ca ...

– July 21, 1954) was an American inventor and entrepreneur who is considered one of the fathers of

miniature golf Miniature golf, also known as minigolf, mini-putt, crazy golf, or putt-putt, is an offshoot of the sport of golf focusing solely on the putting aspect of its parent game. The aim of the game is to score the lowest number of points. It is played ...

. In 1927, Carter was the first to patent a version of the game which he called "Tom Thumb Golf". His course was built on

Lookout Mountain Lookout Mountain is a mountain ridge located at the northwest corner of the U.S. state of Georgia, the northeast corner of Alabama, and along the southeastern Tennessee state line in Chattanooga. Lookout Mountain was the scene of the 18th-centu ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

where Carter owned a hotel. Within a few years, thousands of Tom Thumb courses opened all over the United States. Carter eventually sold the rights to his patent and used his fortune to found the Rock City Gardens.

References

1883 births 1954 deaths Lookout Mountain People from Sweetwater, Tennessee 20th-century American inventors 20th-century American businesspeople Businesspeople from Tennessee {{US-inventor-stub