A few weeks ago, a guest left us a five-star review in Pittsburgh. Glowing. Named her bartender. Then closed with “@puttshack give this girl a raise and put her drink she created on the menu.” Wrong tag. Right bartender. We’re keeping her. For the record, different companies. Not even corporate cousins.
It happens more than either brand would admit. Honestly, fair. Two indoor mini golf bars with putt in the name opened across the country at almost the same time, in some cities on the same street. So here’s the comparison nobody else can write, because we run one of them. We’ll be specific, we’ll show our sources, and we’ll tell you when to book the other one.
The short answer: Puttery is a mini golf bar built around themed nine-hole courses, a scratch kitchen, and a full craft bar, with unlimited play as the standard admission. Puttshack is tech-infused mini golf built around Trackaball automatic scoring and points-based play. Same putter, two very different nights.
Quick comparison
| Puttery | Puttshack | |
|---|---|---|
| The Game | Stroke play across themed 9-hole courses | Points-based play with bonus targets and hazards |
| Scoring | Digital scorecards plus hosts on the course | Trackaball automatic scoring |
| Admission | Unlimited play is the standard ticket | Priced per game, with an unlimited upgrade at many venues |
| The Rooms | Built sets you walk into: Lodge, Library, Garage and more | Open floors, screens, arcade energy |
| The Bar | Hometown Heroes: rotating cocktails created by local bartenders | National signature cocktail list |
| Evenings | Most venues shift to 18+ or 21+ between 5 and 7 pm; varies by city | All ages until about 8 or 9 pm at most venues, then 21+ |
| Footprint | 10 U.S. venues | 20 U.S. venues listed as of July 2026 |
The honest differences
Start with the one everyone asks about. Puttshack’s Trackaball is genuinely clever. The ball knows who you are, the screens keep score, and nobody argues over a pencil. If automatic scoring is the thing you care about most, they built it and we didn’t.
We made a different bet. Our scoring runs on digital scorecards and actual humans: hosts on the course who keep play moving and take drink orders between holes. The budget that could have gone into sensors went into the rooms instead. In Pittsburgh, the Library course keeps a dimetrodon on the shelves, and the Lodge has a wall-length fireplace and a ski lift built for selfies. Every hole is a world you step into, not just play through.
The game splits the same way. Puttshack plays like a video game: points per hole, bonus targets, penalties for hazards. Puttery is stroke play, the game you already know, staged inside sets. We think stroke play is the better game. You’re allowed to disagree. In two cities, the other opinion is a short walk away.
Then the bar. Every Puttery menu carries three or four rotating cocktails created by our own bartenders in that market, a program we call Hometown Heroes. The Pittsburgh guest who wanted her bartender’s drink on the menu? That is literally how the menu gets made.
The clock matters too. Both brands run family hours and adult hours; we just flip earlier. Daytime is family-friendly at every Puttery. Most of our venues shift to 18+ or 21+ in the evening, between 5 and 7 pm depending on the city, and Kansas City stays all ages. Puttshack typically keeps all ages until 8 or 9 pm before going 21+. Kids at 7:30 on a Saturday: their lane. A sitter at 7:30 on a Saturday: ours.
And the ticket. Unlimited play is our standard admission: finish the Lodge, start the Library, replay the hole that robbed you. Puttshack prices per nine-hole game, with an all-you-can-putt upgrade at many venues. “The unlimited game play as compared to Puttshack is the cherry on top,” as one Miami guest put it on Google.
City by city
Five metros have both brands. One sort of does. Google ratings below were pulled July 31, 2026, from each venue’s public listing; they move, so check for yourself.
| Market | Puttery rating | Puttshack rating | Between them |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pittsburgh | 4.8 (3,084 reviews) | 4.3 (1,472) | 3 blocks, same street |
| Houston | 4.7 (4,152) | 4.4 (1,629) | about 1.2 miles |
| Miami | 4.8 (1,782) | 4.3 (1,459) | about 2.5 miles |
| Minneapolis | 4.7 (2,306) | 4.8 (157) | about half a mile |
| Dallas | 4.5 (5,468) | 4.7 (2,553) | about 9 miles |
| Chicago | Fulton Market | Oak Brook and Skokie | 14+ miles |
Pittsburgh. The main event. Puttery sits at 1415 Smallman St. in the Strip District. Puttshack Pittsburgh is at 1729 Smallman, three blocks up. When both opened, Pittsburgh Magazine ran a head-to-head and called our setting the more intimate of the two. One update since that story: we’re no longer strictly 21 and up. All ages are welcome Sunday through Thursday, and until 7 pm on Fridays and Saturdays; after 7 on those nights it’s 18+, and Pennsylvania liquor law requires guests under 21 to have a guardian who’s 25 or older. If you’re comparing mini golf in Pittsburgh, walk Smallman and look into both. Or take it from a guest who did: “I’ve now been both here and Puttshack and can confidently say this is the superior golf venue on the strip.”
Houston. We’re on Washington Avenue in Sawyer Yards; they’re downtown on McKinney. About 1.2 miles apart. One Yelp reviewer called us “… much more of a vibe than Puttshack, to be honest.” We didn’t write that sentence, but we’d frame it.
Miami. Wynwood versus Brickell, about 2.5 miles and two different moods apart. We’re the Wynwood one. That should tell you most of what you need. Here’s what a Yelp reviewer said about our Miami location, “Compared to Puttshack in Brickell, this was so much better. Not only is it more affordable, but theres an additional course, unlimited playing time, and the games take longer to play. Will definitely be coming back here!”
Minneapolis. Half a mile apart in the North Loop, and the closest call on paper. Their 4.8 rests on 157 reviews; ours holds 4.7 across 2,306. New venue, small sample. Ask us again next year.
Dallas. We’re at Grandscape in The Colony; Puttshack is in Addison, about nine miles south. They edge us on Google here, 4.7 to 4.5. Noted. We’d rather earn that back than explain it away.
Chicago. The simple one. Puttery is in Fulton Market. Puttshack’s Illinois venues are in Oak Brook and Skokie. If your night is in the city, geography already voted.
When to book Puttshack instead
Three honest cases. If automatic scoring is the point of the night, book them; Trackaball is the best version of that idea. If you want a 7:30 pm weekend round with your kids, their all-ages window runs later than ours. And if you’re in Atlanta, Boston, Nashville, Denver, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Scottsdale, Columbus, Louisville, or Dania Beach, they’re there and we’re not yet. Everyone else, keep reading.
Our take
We run a mini golf bar where the course is the destination, the kitchen cooks from scratch, and the cocktails come from bartenders you can actually meet. The courses don’t change. The vibe does. Family-friendly during the day, built for adults at night, on purpose. One Pittsburgh guest said it on Google better than our own brand deck: “Friendly, local staff. Attention to detail without that private equity feel.”
Ten venues across the country. One of them is near you. Find your Puttery and book a tee time.
