Go-Kart City’s Mystic Harbor offers a fully-par-2 course with a variety of hole styles, but could benefit from some updates.
A pirate ship, water features, and plenty of terrain.
Located at Port Orange’s Go-Kart City, the Mystic Harbor mini-golf course is a nice little gem in a less touristy piece of Volusia County. The beachfront courses tend to crowd up due to higher visibility, but Mystic Harbor is tucked into a residential area, making it a much less busy course.
The central feature of Mystic Harbor is their pirate ship. The course is built around the ship and the body of water it rests in. The surrounding land features multiple buildings with some vaguely port-like decor, including a fake fish market, but the best perk of the theming is the frequent shade. The course also traverses up and around a waterfall, which was not in service when we played but did create opportunities for some cool elevation-based holes.
The dock, ship, and inactive waterfall all make for unique hole terrain.
Ryan’s Review
The most noticeable aspect of this course at first is that it definitely needs maintenance. The greens are visibly worn down. However, that also (seemingly unintentionally) forces some fun strategy around each hole. Making choices about how powerful each shot should be became something Carson and I considered before every shot.
“Carson, make sure you get the downhill in the shot!”
Despite the need for some love, the hole variety was really strong. There are downhills, uphills, obstacles, direct shots, water hazards, rock hazards, and everything else you can think of. You also cannot undervalue the shade at this course. Florida courses can be brutal when you’re fully exposed, so having shady places to hide was very much appreciated. If you’re looking for something visually appealing that uses its surroundings to the fullest, Mystic Harbor is a great course for you.
Overall Rating: 3.5/5 golf balls
Carson’s Review
I liked the usage of terrain and decorations, but I feel like it could be more well-kept. I also think it had good scenery all around the course, like the swampy forest, the ship that one of the holes is on, and the stream running through the course. It also had a lot of trees and buildings, which gave us shade.
Taking on the pirate ship hole.
The greens were slow, so on some holes we had to hit it harder than usual. The people there were very nice and funny, so we had a good time. I would recommend this course to anyone who likes adventurous mini-golf.
— Carson
Overall Rating: 4.5/5 golf balls