How to Make a Hole-in-One Golf Course Sign with a Laser

Picture this: a customer walks up and asks for a gift for someone who just scored a hole in one. Or for their favorite NASCAR or F1 racetrack. Or for the stadium where their team plays. What do you make them?

Today I'm making a layered golf course sign of a real hole on a real course, using an app called Mapsmith from The Forge. Then I add a little extra at the end that turns it into a true hole-in-one keepsake.

Full Disclosure First

I'm using xTool equipment for this project, and I'm an xTool affiliate. I'm also an affiliate with The Forge. If you buy through my links, I may earn a commission. That doesn't change what I tell you. These are tools I actually use in my business, and the opinions here are my own.

Why Golf Courses Are a Hidden Gem for Makers

Golf courses are a hidden gem in the maker community. If you're not already looking at them, find the courses in your area and start catering to them.

There's a lot you can make for golfers:

• Golf ball markers
• Course maps, like the one in this build
• Hole-in-one signs
• Personalized golf clubs, if you can engrave on metal

There's plenty of opportunity, and Mapsmith makes the map part easy.

Two Beta Features Worth Knowing About: Racetracks and Stadiums

You can use Mapsmith for regular maps and lake depth maps. It also has a couple of new features that are currently in beta, and I've been playing with them.

Racetracks. My first test was the racetrack in Austin, Texas. I picked it because it's popular with both the NASCAR crowd and the F1 crowd. I printed this one entirely on my xTool O1 Omni. Mapsmith can export a file to build a frame for it too, but I'm putting this one in a regular store-bought frame.

Stadiums. I'm in the St. Louis area, and two things hold true here: we love the Blues and we love the Cardinals. Hockey season is rolling in, so I made the Enterprise Center in downtown St. Louis, home of the Blues. It's layered. I printed it on the O1 Omni and cut it on my M2. All those layers took about 35 minutes to cut. A CO2 laser would do it in a few minutes, but I wanted to test what the M2 could do.

The Build: Hole 10 at Cardinal Creek Golf Course

This is the one we're putting together. It's Cardinal Creek Golf Course, right outside where I live on the Air Force base next to us. I picked hole 10 because, from what I've been told, it's a favorite. There's a fountain by the lake, and from the clubhouse you can watch the fountain and everybody playing that hole.

The map would normally be five layers. I did it with four.

Inside Mapsmith

Mapsmith is one of the apps in The Forge from The Maker Foundry Company. When you open the golf course, you can explode the model to see each layer. Then you assemble it and zoom in to check the depth. That includes the lake, the fairway, the green and the trees, which I print on rather than cut.

You can pick the course you want and show just one hole or the whole course.

I'll be honest: I'm not a golfer and I've never played this course, so I'm not 100% sure which direction the hole plays. The map doesn't care.

Heads up on pricing: Forge pricing goes up on November 2nd, to $29 a month or $290 a year, and the Master Key goes up to $499. I have a Master Key and I'm loving it.

Staining and Painting the Layers

I cheat on simple pieces like this. Instead of buying walnut, which the project calls for, I use a stain pen. Mine is cherry. It's my favorite, and I like the red tint it gives.

For the green I used cheap craft paint from Michaels. Here's what I'd do differently:

• Score your paint lines first. I didn't, so I traced around the top layer with a pencil to see where the overlap would be.
• Mind your engraving. I'd engraved "10" on the top layer. It was deep enough that paint didn't get down into the lettering, which is good, because that was my worry.
• Dab, don't brush. For the sand traps I brushed on a base, then dabbed in a second color to give it texture. After all, it's sand.

Adding the Hole-in-One Stand

Here's the surprise I promised. In the software you can add the golfer's name, and even the witnesses, to the hole-in-one sign.

Then I made a press-fit stand to hold it. It fits nice and tight. If you're shipping it, I'd recommend one of two things:

• Ship the stand loose and tell the customer to glue it in, or
• Put double-sided adhesive on the back edge so it stays put for good.

How cool is that finished?

Lessons From This Build

• I showed my mistakes, as always. I painted green right over the sand traps, then had to go back and find them again. Then, while working on another layer, I got paint where it shouldn't be and into a sand trap. Pretty common mistake, to be honest.
• Close layers are hard to paint by hand. These areas are really close together. Honestly, this one would probably have been better UV printed. You can paint it, or run it through the O1 Omni like I did with the racetrack.
• Score before you paint. It saves you from tracing with a pencil after the fact.

Watch the Full Build

Watch the hole-in-one golf course sign build on YouTube

Your Turn

Do you make maps? Lakes, golf courses, racetracks, stadiums? I'd like to know what you're looking for. Tell me in the comments.

Now it's your turn. Go make something.