Designer Golf - It's golf on a miniature scale, but it's not miniature golf.

After 10 years of locally marketing Designer Golf, Scott Bassler is taking his little backyard game to a much bigger market. - The Internet. "It's really going full-tilt," said Bassler, 50, of Sheboygan, a former truck driver who developed Designer Golf, which includes nearly everything one needs to set up a realistic-playing 9-hole golf course in the backyard.  

The game includes cup rings that serve as holes, flags to mark the holes, tee box markers and scorecards. Players use their own plastic golf balls - not included with the set - and their own regular clubs to amble around the course, designed the way they want it.  

"The game is designed to stay right within the regimen of regular golf," said Don Colber, 47, of Grafton, executive vice president of Designer Golf. "You play it like you're golfing. It's golf."  

"You try to make it entertaining and also challenging," said Bassler, who shoots in the mid-80s in regulation golf.  Bassler said a person could set up a 9-hole course on an acre lot. Colber said he and some of his neighbors in Grafton, WI have gotten together to set up a course, using all their yards.  "That's the fun part about it, if you have neighbors and spread it out, it's just a blast," Colber said.

Golden, who was an assistant pro at the Bluemound Golf & Country Club in Wauwatosa from 1998 until October, calls Designer Golf a "scaled-down" version of the real thing, allowing players to use all their clubs.  "You can still work on getting it (the ball) into the air, you can still slice and hook a Whiffle ball," he said.  

Golden also said the game helps children and families get involved in golf, without having to spend hours and lots of money to take them out to a regular course.