Cos Cob School Holiday Elf-Themed Mini Golf Course “Member/Guest” Event Sells Out Fast!

A year ago families of Cos Cob School students heard about how much fun their children had during PE class when they were surprised with an Elf themed mini-golf course in the gymnasium.

The holiday themed course was integrated into a PE segment on golf, where students learned basics of putting and how to grip a golf club. For example, in a session on putting from a distance of four feet, students learned about golf, including how to “GASP,” short for Grip, Aim, Stance and Posture.

This year, PE teacher Michael Fina said he and Philip D’Amato decided to add a “member/guest” outing and invite families to come play the mini golf course too.

Mr. D’Amato said a few weeks earlier he had re-watched the film, Elf, and realized – who can forget the scene with Will Ferrell as Buddy the Elf screaming as he goes round and round the revolving door at Gimbels – that the course was missing a revolving door.

“I sent Mike a text and asked, ‘How did we not do that last year?'” Mr. D’Amato recalled. “I asked him to cut the board to the shape of Gimbels and said I’d paint it. Then he suggested we put it on the CNC machine, (a computerized machining tool) so the windows are actually carved into the board and then painted.”

“This year we called in some reinforcements for help,” Mr. Fina said, explaining that PE teachers’ family members as well as the ALP teacher and tech teacher all collaborated on the addition to the course.

“Last year we had tried to keep it a secret from everyone,” he said. “We wanted it to be a surprise, but this year everyone wanted to know if it was coming back.”

There are other surprises and additions including the gumdrop hole.

And Jeff Santilli, a tech teacher at Central Middle School, who happens also to be the Golf team head coach at GHS, helped create the revolving door for the Gimbels store which has a motorized robotic arm.

Mr. D’Amato added, “The kids all went home and talked about it last year, so I sent out a SignUpGenius for families offering two days. That sold out within minutes. Then we offered more times on those two dates, and then an additional date.”

“We have 60 families signed up to play the course,” Mr. Fina said. “And we have a significant wait list.”