Buc the Pirate

Hampton, New Hampshire, United States

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

This Big Thing is recorded as still being here.

Buc the Pirate is a 27-foot-tall, 15-foot-wide fiberglass pirate at the Buc's Lagoon mini golf course on Ocean Boulevard, Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. He has stood at the course since 1981, and as of 2010 his wooden leg blocked the final hole.

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Buc the Pirate

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Site-level location · 42.9038° N, 70.8120° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

A 27-foot pirate with a wooden leg towers over a mini golf course on Hampton Beach, New Hampshire, and in 2010 his peg leg blocked the final hole.

Buc the Pirate is 27 feet tall and 15 feet wide. According to the Hampton Union in 2004, his body is a pipe frame with steel crossbeams and a fiberglass outer shell, and a person can walk inside him with ease. The paper called him a Hampton Beach landmark for 35 years, and the owner said he had stood at the course since 1981. In 2010 the Hampton Union added that he began as part of an earlier mini golf course on Ashworth Avenue and came along when the then-owners moved the course.

The course's then-owner, John Schertell, told the paper in 2010 that he bought the course in 1997, remodeled it around the pirate and named him Buc after buccaneer. He added caves, waterfalls, palm trees, pirate flags and skeletons.

Wind has been the pirate's main enemy. In 2004 a wind the paper estimated at 50 mph toppled him onto the course over Memorial Day weekend, after an earlier fall in early May. Schertell said rusted underground pipes and the figure acting like a sail were to blame. He considered letting the pirate go, but he recalled in 2010 that so many people asked for him back that the course repaired him; Schertell recalled the estimated cost as more than $10,000, though the 2004 article put the foundation work at about $2,500.

Parade magazine named the pirate number 41 among 50 "American Original" sites in July 2010. Schertell said couples have had wedding photographs taken beneath him. A Hampton Union piece in August 2025 called the course home to the statue.

The course sits on the Hampton Beach strip at 59 Ocean Boulevard, and its website lists mini golf and ice cream.

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PRACTICAL

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WHAT TO EXPECT

Buc stands on the grounds of Buc's Lagoon, a mini golf and ice cream business at 59 Ocean Boulevard on the Hampton Beach strip. The course's website lists longer hours in summer than in the early season; a 2010 report said his wooden leg blocked the final hole.

ACCESS

On the grounds of a commercial mini golf course at 59 Ocean Boulevard, Hampton Beach. Hours vary by season, per the course's website, and playing the course requires paying admission.

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Characters and mascots

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0.6 km away

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