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HOPE MILLS - After more than nine years without a Putt-Putt, Cumberland County will once again have a place for people to play the iconic brand of miniature golf born in Fayetteville.

A Putt-Putt Fun Center - with batting cages, electric go-karts, indoor bumper cars, games and 36 holes of miniature golf - is planned for Millstone Village off Camden Road in Hope Mills.

It could open by August and will become the prototype and training center for all future Putt-Putt Fun Center franchises across the U.S., said David Callahan, president and CEO at Putt Putt LLC.

In 1954, Fayetteville businessman Don Clayton opened the first Putt-Putt under pecan trees near the intersection of Fort Bragg Road and Bragg Boulevard. He wanted to focus on putting skill rather than cutesy gimmicks.

By the time Clayton died in 1996, there were about 250 Putt-Putt locations. Fayetteville's last Putt-Putt closed on Owen Drive in 2001. Callahan moved Putt-Putt's corporate offices from Fayetteville to Chapel Hill about seven years ago. Today, Winston-Salem is home to its corporate office.

"I always had in my mind that someone would actually build a new Putt-Putt in Fayetteville," Callahan said this week.

But he and insurance executive Jimmy Smith, a friend who Callahan has known since junior high, got to talking about all the development that has gone on in Hope Mills.

"I moved from Fayetteville to Chapel Hill seven years ago and have been a bit out of touch," Callahan said. "Once I visited the site and took my key people to look at it, I knew that it was a good location."

The fact that Charlotte-based Stone Theatres thought enough about the area to build a 14-screen cinema there was a big deciding factor, Callahan added. Millstone opened in October.

Callahan is one of the investors in the Hope Mills Putt-Putt project. He said the others are Smith, George Armstrong, Tommy Bradford, Ralph Huff, Ron Huff, Kenneth Autry and David McCollister.

Callahan credits Smith for getting things rolling.

"I'll tell you, it's nice to do something that's fun again given all the news about the economy," Smith said. "We put a nice little partnership together and are excited to be doing this for Fayetteville and Hope Mills."

Smith played Putt-Putt as a child and remembers plopping down as a child in his pajamas to watch Billy Packer's commentary during the nationally televised Putt-Putt Golf Courses Championships.

"And I still have pictures of the kids' birthday parties at Putt-Putt," Smith said. "All the partners do. We all grew up with this."

The Putt-Putt Fun Center will join the mix at Millstone Village.

"We're going slower than we could be going so that we can get the right things in there," said Bradford, who is one of the developers for the Millstone project.

"Our thought was to start a lifestyle type center ... and this thing just fits in perfectly with that," Bradford said.

Eventually, a section of outdoor bumper boats might be added to the Putt-Putt Fun Center in Hope Mills. But that's not going to be part of the initial phase. "We'll get that up and then see what the market will bear," Callahan said.

Cumberland County's planning staff signed off on the site plan Tuesday. Callahan declined to discuss construction costs.

Not only will future franchises bring local putters to Hope Mills, but the plan is to attract regional and national Putt-Putt competitions.

Callahan said there are currently about 60 Putt-Putt locations. He said the drop in Putt-Putt numbers in recent years has been "by design" as Putt-Putt focused on making sure they had the right product and the right partners to continue the brand's success. He mentioned the plan for the new prototype at a convention in Las Vegas late last year and said interest from potential franchisees has since been huge.

For many years, Putt-Putt locations across the country could vary greatly from location to location, he said. After Hope Mills is built, all future Putt-Putt Fun Centers will look the same, Callahan said, adding that's important for brand integrity.

"It's a step forward for Putt-Putt," he said. "This will be our flagship location."