Rounds Putt Lounge
Address: 3566 Jupiter Drive, Ste 19A
Telephone: 801-277-8128
Website: roundsputtlounge.com
District: Millcreek
“We do not make it about Oliver, but we would never be in this world of golf without him. He is a huge piece of this.” That quiet truth sits at the heart of Rounds Putt Lounge. Collin Dumke can easily talk about the mechanics of the business. He explains guest flow, capacity planning, automated scoring systems, and the difference between weekday and weekend demand with the calm precision of someone trained in analytics. But as the conversation continues, another story begins to emerge. Beneath the numbers and the logistics is something far more personal. The story of Rounds is really about family, about discovering possibility in unexpected places, and about creating a space where people can simply enjoy being together.
Collin is Salt Lake through and through. He grew up near Skyline High School and spent most of his childhood outdoors. Soccer games, rock climbing, biking up Millcreek Canyon, and shooting hoops filled his days. Golf was never part of the picture.
After high school, Collin briefly attended Westminster University before leaving on a mission from 2011 to 2013 in West Virginia. “It was a wild time,” he says with a smile, remembering both the challenges and the beauty of living in a part of the country he never would have otherwise experienced. Eventually, he returned home and enrolled at the University of Utah, earning degrees in finance and information systems in 2017. Curious by nature and drawn to understanding how things work, he continued straight into a master’s degree in quantitative management, focusing on business analytics and data science. Nothing about that path points directly to mini golf. But it does point to someone who understands systems, who enjoys solving problems, and who is naturally drawn to figuring out how all the pieces of something fit together.
Collin’s early career followed that track. At Pluralsight, he worked in sales and marketing operations, diving deep into forecasting and analytics. He later moved to Cricut, again working in sales operations, helping connect customers, marketing strategy, and sales teams. From there he joined Torus, a renewable energy startup still in its earliest stages, helping shape the company’s go-to-market strategy. Each step quietly built the foundation for something he had not yet imagined. His final corporate role was at PDQ, where an unusual perk - a four-day work week - gave him something rare - time. On Fridays, he started building Rounds.
Sales operations, Collin explains, are a bit like standing at the center of a wheel. Customers want to buy. Salespeople want to sell. Marketing wants to tell the story. Operations must make sure everything works the way it should. Learning how all those spokes connect turned out to be surprisingly good preparation for launching a business that involves staffing, reservations, compliance, food service, liquor licensing, and managing a 7,000 square foot space.
About a month before opening, Collin made the leap and left the corporate world behind. “This is not a side hustle,” he says simply. “This is a big business.” The idea itself began several states away. While visiting Arizona, Collin and his wife Lauren stopped at an indoor mini golf concept called Puttshack. Their oldest son Oliver was with them that day.
Oliver has a rare genetic mutation. He is the thirteenth person in the world known to have it. The condition brings cognitive and physical delays, and many traditional sports are difficult for him. Golf, however, is not. “Golf is something he is very good at.”
Over time, the Dumkes slowly became a golfing family because of Oliver. Anything connected to golf quickly became something they could enjoy together. When they visited that indoor concept in Arizona, Collin began looking at it through a different lens. Salt Lake City is a winter market. Outdoor mini golf is limited. What if there were an indoor version that felt modern, social, and welcoming for everyone? The idea stayed with him. At first, he and Lauren explored spaces downtown. Then this one appeared unexpectedly - just three minutes from their home, tucked off Jupiter Drive near Olympus Hills. “It felt like a miracle.”
The building itself carries a bit of local history. In the 1980s, it housed Starship Theaters. Later it became the Cove Gym. For years afterward, it sat largely empty, divided into corporate office spaces. What remained, though, were soaring ceilings and massive exposed wooden beams that give the structure warmth and character. Instead of stripping it down, Collin and Lauren chose to work with what was already there. Temporary office walls came down. The putting course system, designed in the United Kingdom, was installed. Slowly the space began to transform.
Today, Rounds feels both industrial and welcoming, the kind of place people discover and immediately want to tell their friends about. The nine-hole course is not traditional mini golf. Each hole features automated scoring. Players receive three balls per hole and take three shots. Instead of counting strokes, the game centers around a 100-point target. Miss the center and the ball drops into alternate scoring paths - Plinko-like channels and creative point zones that keep the game lively and unpredictable.
“The funnest part of mini golf is that first hit,” Collin says. Rather than one exciting moment followed by careful taps toward the hole, this format magnifies that thrill. Across nine holes, players get twenty-seven chances to land the perfect shot. By the second or third hole, strangers are cheering each other on.
Inclusivity was built into the design from the beginning. The course includes wheelchair-friendly putters with hinged handles so guests can roll up and play comfortably. Charity nights, corporate events, school groups, birthday parties, and date nights all share the same course. And something interesting happens when people finish. Many of them immediately want to play again. Rematch rounds are offered at half price, and a surprisingly large percentage of guests take advantage of it. “There is no other mini golf where people finish and say, should we go do it again?”
Beyond the course itself, Rounds offers an arcade with two-player games - Jurassic Park, Mario Kart, basketball, and skee-ball - designed less for isolation and more for shared moments of laughter. Upstairs, a bright private event room hosts everything from children’s birthday parties to company gatherings and team celebrations.
The food menu keeps things simple and approachable: pizza, chicken tenders, pretzel bites, sodas, beer, and seltzers under a family-friendly license similar to a bowling alley. It is not meant to be a bar. It is not meant to be a sprawling entertainment complex. It is meant to feel like a neighborhood gathering place. Collin likes to describe it as a “third place,” that space between home and work where people can gather, relax, and connect without needing a special occasion.
Rounds opened in November of 2025. Collin admits that the first months have been both exhilarating and humbling. Weekends are often filled with reservations. Weekday afternoons can be quieter. Learning the rhythms of demand - who wants to play mini golf at three o’clock on a Tuesday - is part of the ongoing education. But Collin approaches those patterns thoughtfully, always focused on the guest experience. Automated scoring allows staff to monitor course flow and prevent overcrowding. The goal is not chaos. The goal is fun.
Lauren is deeply involved in the operation as well, balancing the demands of the business while raising their three young boys: Oliver, John, and Cam. “It is fifty-fifty,” Collin says without hesitation. Family businesses are rarely simple. Add three children and a brand-new startup, and life becomes even more layered. Fortunately, the location helps. Being just minutes from home means the boys often stop by after school, and gatherings quickly turn into parties with neighborhood friends.
Collin is finding that guests are traveling from Park City and Utah County to experience Rounds. He is already contemplating a second location. The model with its approachable pricing, manageable size, and high replay value makes expansion possible. But growth is not the only dream. Collin also serves on the Salt Lake Parks and Recreation Board, where he advocates for spaces that bring communities together. Recreation, he believes, does more than entertain. It creates connection and belonging.
And Oliver remains quietly at the center of it all. Rounds Putt Lounge is about thrill shots, friendly competition, parties, and rematch rounds. It is about neighbors gathering just a few minutes from home and the laughter that comes when a perfect shot drops into the center. But Collin always imagined it as something even simpler. “I wanted it to be a place you feel like you can go,” he says, “even on non-special occasions.”
