Walkabout Mini Golf® Share The Love Contest

We were thrilled to receive your stories about how Walkabout Mini Golf has brought you and a parental figure or child figure closer together, no matter what that looks like for you! Several Coconuts poured over all of these stories, and we are proud to finally announces our winners!

As a reminder, the Official Rules are located here: http://bit.ly/42KwiFR 

The prizes are as follows: 
1. The Grand Prize will be two (2) Meta Quest 3S Headsets for you to use/share with a loved one of your choosing!
2. Our 3 honorable mentions will receive a $25 gift card to the Mighty Coconut Online Store to be able to give or receive some Walkabout Mini Golf swag!

You can see the entirety of the submissions here: https://bit.ly/WMGShareTheLove

WIthout further ado…here our our winning submissions!

Runner Up #1

"Lips pursed, our eyes darting around the table with glares of empathetic frustration, my sisters and I were coming to terms with the reality of our situation: four days away from our mother’s birthday, and we had all gotten her accessories for her desk. There was a heated blanket for her lap, a new cushion for her chair, a monitor stand, and a few small fidget toys. The mutual realization was clear; our mother was a workaholic.

Sitting at her desk five feet away from her bed had become her natural state. When she wasn’t working late into the night, well past the end of her shift, she was laying in that bed with the dogs, doom scrolling on Instagram. For a while I tried encouraging her to take up yoga, my sisters had invited her out on numerous hikes, but the thing about workaholics is their energy is monopolized. With every push to do something more involved than taking the dogs for a walk came a wave of excuses or indefinite delays.

So, sitting there with my sisters, looking at the common thread between all our gifts, it was hard to not feel like we had just accepted it. There was a quiet defeat hanging over us.

A few months later, mom walked into my room to share some work gossip, but when the story had reached its conclusion, she just sat there in silence. I asked her if something was wrong, and she confessed that she simply didn’t want to go back upstairs. She didn’t want to sit back down at her desk yet. I invited her to go for a walk, but when familiar excuses emerged, I wordlessly grabbed my VR headset and began strapping it to her head. At first she protested, but once I put the controller in her hand, she stopped and took in her surroundings.

One of the greatest joys of being a VR enthusiast is sharing that experience with others, and in that realm, Walkabout Mini Golf stands in a league all its own. Every course is as lovingly crafted as a hand-stitched sweater from Grandma, and in my 3,000 hours spent in a VR headset since 2018, no game has felt as soulful.

I still remember the gasps emerging from my mother as she looked up at the thundering clouds floating above Quixote Valley at night. I couldn’t remember the last time she expressed awe at anything. Then, came my awe, as I realized that my mom is somehow far better at minigolf than me. As she destroyed my hole records, she recounted stories of High School minigolf dates and how she’d always let the boys win to avoid hurt feelings.

Moving from course to course, from Cherry Blossom to Upside Town, giggling all the way, I began to recognize my own inner child reflected in the woman who made me who I am. There was a light in her that had switched back on, and after an hour, she was sitting on the floor flying around the outskirts of Thethys Station, remarking at how refreshed she felt.

Since that day, whenever she’s sad, stressed or drained, I put her in Walkabout. She always says she doesn’t have time for it until the strap is on her head. Recently I’ve been playing along with her on my phone, and since I’m moving to the city next year, my dream is to get her a headset of her own. Somewhere between sinking putts and quietly floating through tiny worlds, I found a way to bring back her wonder- and to remind her, gently, that life exists beyond her desk."

- @parkervalleyranch on Instagram

Runner Up #2

“It is difficult to bring together my thoughts and accurately portray the difference WMG has made to me and my family. My father-in-law, Ted had just been diagnosed with cancer. He and my mother-in-law had traveled from Florida to come spend some time with us in Texas. He had never experienced VR before and we ran him through a series of games, one of which was Walkabout Mini Golf. He took to VR like a fish in water. Growing up on a farm, the technology was mind blowing. My in-laws returned home and before I knew it, Ted had picked up a headset of his own. A man, who has trouble with email, was able to set the game up and get playing on his own. A few months later my parents joined in as well. We were able to spend more time together over the next year and a half, living states apart, then we had before. Up until then, the game had been a fun minigolf experience, but the social aspect caused it to blossom into something so much more. Better than a phone call we could talk to each other, see their faces, and do something low impact and fun at the same time. Sometimes we would even just sit around in a cozy virtual part of the course and chat. Ted quickly became the ring leader, organizing multiple games a week. Friends, neighbors, and other relatives joined in and soon we were regularly maxing out the "kitchen", our lobby. Ted and Star were able to meet our Texas friends, and they them. Incredibly, even the more tech challenged had no trouble with a learning curve at all. Walkabout Mini Golf was intuitive and easy to use. As Ted's illness progressed, and nausea started getting to him, we were able to pivot him to the iPhone version and keep socializing and having fun. When I think about it, it is truly incredible that Walkabout Mini Golf has allowed my wife and I to get closer to our family and friends in a way that nothing else could achieve. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for this game.”

- @TheRobotMartian on Instagram

Runner Up #3

“I joined the military when I was 18 and for the last 10 years of my life I have never been less than 3,000 miles away from my family for 99% of my life. This last Christmas, I went home and introduced my parents to the Meta Quest 3 and to show off what it can do I threw them into the Atlantis level of WAMG, my mom loves sea turtles and whales, and they fell in love. I bought them a headset and now I golf with them almost weekly. I’m still miles and miles away but golfing with them makes the distance not so hard. I’m now stationed out in Korea but every Sunday I hop on in the morning to play with my mom on her Saturday night so she isn’t lonely and still feels close to me. It’s been huge, I have never felt so close to my family before and it is all because of WMG.”

- @nathan.shelton97 on Instagram

Grand Prize Winner

“When my mom was 19, she gave up a promising music career to raise me on her own. It was a sacrifice that shaped both of our lives—and forged a bond that has only deepened over time. We’ve always been close, despite living in different states. For years, we stayed connected through regular visits and daily FaceTime calls. But when COVID lockdowns hit, everything changed.

My mom has COPD and was in extended isolation for over a year. The separation, the stillness—it took a toll. She grew withdrawn, her spark dimming with each passing day. I searched for ways to lift her spirits, to bring the world back to her in some meaningful way. Then she said something that caught in my chest: “I just wish I could swim in the ocean see all the fish.” That wish became a lifeline.

I used my savings to buy us each a VR headset and guided her through the setup so she could explore the ocean in VR. But it was when we discovered Walkabout Mini Golf that something extraordinary happened. You can imagine our joy when Atlantis came about!!

She had loved golfing before illness made it too difficult. Walkabout brought that joy back—and brought us back to each other. For the past five years, we’ve met in the game every single day for an hour of laughter, connection, and play. We rarely miss a day. This isn’t just a game to us—it’s a lifeline. We joke, cheer each other on, and even marvel at how it’s helped us both conquer our fear of heights (thanks, Seagull Stacks and Arizona Modern!). My mom swears it makes her feel like we’re truly together again. We even virtually “kiss” each other goodbye each day.

I truly believe Walkabout has extended her life. It restored her vitality, her joy, and our connection. She calls me first thing each morning to find out what time we’ll play that day. Her Quest 2 is aging now—glitchy and fading—but her love for this game, and our time within it, remains precious.

When I saw this contest, my heart skipped a beat. I can’t imagine a more fitting celebration than to share what Walkabout has meant to us. It’s not just a game. It’s been our shared world, our daily ritual, our quiet miracle.”

- @robinpanzerartstudio33