Marshall businessmen buy former Putt-Putt Golf and Games in Longview
Published 10:55 pm Sunday, October 19, 2025
Marshall residents Robert Parkison and Jerad Perry have purchased the former Putt-Putt Golf and Games in Longview, which they plan to call Tapshot when it reopens next year.
While they’re planning big changes at the more than 40-year-old Longview business, the signature zoo animal statues will remain part of the miniature golf course.
Parkison owns Texas Truck Outfitters in Marshall, and Perry owns Perry’s Hometown Flooring in Marshall. Parkison and his wife, Angelina, have two adult sons; Perry and his wife, Rachelle, have two sons ages 9 and 12.
The two men said they’ve tackled lots of construction projects before, but this will be the first time they’ve taken on this kind of project.
And while they’re Marshall residents, they’ve loved Putt-Putt over the years. The Barnhart family started Putt-Putt in Longview in 1981.
Parkison and Perry said they would come to Longview to play miniature golf when they were younger or on dates and, now, with their children.
“So in the last few years, we saw it kind of fading and going downhill,” Perry said, and an idea began to emerge.
“Could we bring this place back?” he asked.
The Perry family was at the entertainment center right before it went on the market. Soon after, the two families were together, talking about “how cool it would be to buy and renovate” the miniature golf business, Parkison said.
The next day, they saw a Facebook notice that the property was up for sale.
“It was so coincidental,” Perry said.
They plan to “liven up” the outdoor golf course, including a redesign of the course layout. They say keeping the animal statues is something the public has let them know is important to them.
“We have already pulled out the bumpers, and we’re going to use the existing concrete and then redesign the layout so that it looks new, but it’s utilizing the original format,” Parkison said, but they’re considering new themes on the course.
Tapshot will not have an arcade. Instead the room where the arcade was will offer ax throwing, and the former party room will feature a shooting simulator with a 12-foot screen with different games for adults versus children. The parking lot and drainage will be addressed as well.
“We’ll have pizza … and then we’ll have both beer and fountain drinks and water,” Parkison said.
Other changes are in the works as well.
They’re going through with the permitting process with the city of Longview to begin work on the property. Parkison said they’re aiming to be open by the first of spring.