Our Story
The Origin
Peter Pan Mini-Golf was established by Clifford Leroy Dismukes in 1948 and has remained family-owned ever since. Well, that isn’t entirely true. Yes, Peter Pan Mini-Golf has been owned and operated by the Dismukes family since its inception, but that wasn’t in 1948. And we haven’t always been called Peter Pan Mini-Golf…
Our story actually began in 1939 when Clifford founded Varsity Miniature Golf Links at 2811 Guadalupe Street, right across from Dirty Martin’s (one of the few Austin establishments older than Peter Pan and still standing today). A lot of what happened in those early years has been lost to history, but Varsity Links was a simple setup—nothing like what you see today—that laid the foundation for what we would become later.
Three years after the war ended, things in America were changing rapidly. The booming economy had shifted from industrial manufacturing to consumer-driven after years of wartime rationing, leading to a surge in entrepreneurship and small-business ownership. Having started his business almost 10 years earlier, Clifford and Varsity Links were well-positioned to take advantage.
On May 11, 1948, Clifford took a gamble and brought Varsity Links to its current location at Barton Springs and Lamar. Today, that corner is prime real estate. Back then, it wasn’t. It was run down. Distressed. Nobody’s idea of an ideal place for business. But Clifford had a feeling, and he took a chance.
It’s safe to say that chance paid off.
Nobody really knows what might have happened had Clifford never relocated, but his decision to take a gamble on that small plot of land might have been the best decision anyone ever made for the sustainability of Peter Pan.
And so it went for almost 20 years. Varsity Links remained a cool spot to meet your friends and enjoy some laid-back fun, but it would undergo a gradual transformation, eventually blossoming into the course that many people recognize today.
On October 30, 1967, Clifford Leroy Dismukes passed away at the age of 55. Without Clifford, there is no Peter Pan Mini-Golf. He took a chance starting a miniature golf course almost 30 years before, and laid the foundation for what would inadvertently become an iconic establishment. One of the remaining few in Austin to this day. Cliff deserves all the credit in the world for getting Peter Pan on its feet. But the personality, the flair, the spirit? That part came from Glenn Dismukes.
The Transformation
When Glenn returned from World War II, he and his brother Jack Dismukes also got into the entrepreneurial game, but it didn’t involve Varsity Links. Together, they co-founded Dismukes Blind and Drapery in 1947, a business they would run together for 36 years. Their blind and drapery business paid the bills, but Varsity Links scratched an artistic itch for Glenn.
Starting in the early 1950s, Clifford began asking Glenn to build some simple obstacles for the golf course. Nothing extravagant, just something to add a little juice to people’s experience. Glenn was more than happy to oblige.
Glenn was an artist. He loved to make stuff. He loved building things. He’d build small clay molds in his garage and then scale them up into full-size figures in his backyard. A lot of these backyard projects would eventually appear at Varsity Links. Glenn could find inspiration anywhere. In fact, the very first figure to appear at the course, “The Shoe,” was based on the shoe from the old nursery rhyme “There Was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.”
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Glenn continued to build stuff as hobby projects. A pig inspired by an old piggy bank. A dog based on a dime-store figurine. A giant Peter Pan-looking figure based on the Jolly Green Giant you see on those green bean cans. The T-Rex? Well, Glenn just loved dinosaurs, and he had ambitions to construct a dinosaur exhibit, but those are stories for another time. Instead, he would have to settle for the most iconic figure at the miniature golf course his family has been running for over 80 years.
Not a bad consolation.
By Clifford’s passing in 1967, Varsity Links had several of Glenn’s original sculptures sprinkled throughout the course.
It’s fair to say that Glenn’s artistic spirit, at the time just a hobby, is what transformed Peter Pan Mini-Golf into what it is today.
After Clifford passed away, Glenn and Jack took over Varsity Links—while continuing to run Dismukes Blind and Drapery—and eventually renamed it Peter Pan Mini Golf in 1968. Together, they carried forward Clifford’s legacy. Glenn brought the soul, while Jack managed the business.
The transformation was gradual, but over the next 20+ years, Glenn redesigned and reconfigured the entire course to accommodate the 36-hole layout that exists today, and constructed all the original figures that slowly made their way in, taking the positions you see them in today.
Glenn Dismukes passed away in 1998. His brother Jack passed away not too long after that, in 2001. Together, they built upon the foundation laid by their brother Clifford and transformed Peter Pan Mini Golf into the Austin icon that it still is today.
Continuing the Legacy
Following Glenn and Jack’s passing, Glenn’s son, Mike Dismukes, took over day-to-day operations of Peter Pan Mini-Golf. His vision was simple: preserve and maintain the spirit of Peter Pan Mini-Golf.
And he did.
In the years that followed, Mike never strayed from what made Peter-Pan great—simple, laid-back, quintessential Austin quirk and charm—while updating and improving upon the character of the place.
Since 2011, Glenn’s original figures have been painted and maintained by local artist and Austinite Cheryl Latimer. In addition to bringing a new color palette to the original sculptures, she has added her own brand of whimsy and wonder to Peter Pan. Her original work includes Tinker Bell, the Singing Ants, the Horned Toad, and many others.
Today, the Dismukes family continues to maintain the legacy of Peter Pan Mini-Golf, with day-to-day operations overseen by Glenn’s daughter, Margaret Dismukes Massad, and her husband, Julio Massad.
Enduring Change
Austin has changed a lot in the last eight decades, but we haven’t.
We’ve always tried to keep this place what it was meant to be. A simple, affordable place for friends and families to come out, spend time together, and have fun.
Folks don’t come here because it’s the trendiest. They come here, and they come back, because it feels familiar. It’s nostalgic. It reminds them of a different Austin. They played here as kids. Now they come back with their kids, or even their grandkids. We’ve had first dates. We’ve had engagements. We’ve had wedding anniversaries.
We hear it all the time.
“I can’t believe y’all are still here. Never change.”
We haven’t. And we won’t, for as long as we have a say in it.
Because after more than 75 years, Peter Pan Mini-Golf isn’t just ours anymore. It also belongs to the people who’ve been coming here for generations. And the ones who will come after them.
