If the ball is at 3 squares from the hole and the dices get's a 4, I'd allow to end the game. It's more fun to navigate the obstacles than to try to get the exact number to finish.
Ah, that explains why I thought I was getting very lucky to be able to get a hole in 3, and shortly afterwards, even a hole in 2.
Is it possible to get a hole in 1, or are levels constructed so as to prevent that?
I think it's more interesting if you have two kind of obstacles, so there are more tricks and path to try (but not as difficult as chess). This looks easy to implement.
Also, as an untested idea, it would be nice to have two dices and be able to select one of them or the other or the sum. Perhaps both dice then disappear, or perhaps the unused dice goes to the next round like in scrabble. The idea is to have more possibilities to think in each step (like make a small jump and aim to a nice diagonal, or go to the shore and hope a big hit next turn). This reduce the nasty effect of getting a 1. But I'm not sure if any of these variants are more fun, and all of them take a while to be implemented.
it's mini golf. it's in the title of TFA as such. in mini golf, the ball only rolls. the ball does not roll across water. it does not roll over trees even from the fairway. if your ball leaves the ground with a putter, something is very very wrong