Showing posts with label Dave Lovatt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dave Lovatt. Show all posts

Saturday, August 08, 2020

A Mini Golf Apocalypse

A look back at the Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London.


Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London

As we're in the midst of a pandemic I thought it'd be interested to look back at an apocalypse - the Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course from 2012.

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London

Looking back to 2012

We played the Golf Apocalypse miniature golf course back in August 2012. The layout had been created as part of the London Pleasure Gardens, an area set-up to tap into the passing trade between the DLR and the London 2012 Olympic Games at the ExCel centre.

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London

Obey street art in London
A BIG piece of OBEY street art in the distance

Golf Apocalypse was the first really really really mad-cap pop-up course we played on our travels.

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London
What a sight!

A crazy set-up

The layout contained all manner of strange minigolf obstacles and we found ourselves playing through the fuselage of a crashed aeroplane, around a pinball machine, a snooker table and into a volcano.

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London
What a thing to putt through

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London
Pinball wizard

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London
Snooker loopy

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London
The End

Pop-up crazy golf

The pop-up miniature golf course was the first to use reclaimed materials in its construction. Something that has become commonplace these days and we've seen and played a number of funky, junky, scrap, ghetto, trash, garbage, graffiti, wreck and art-based courses since.

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London
Playing hole 2

Competitive minigolf

In our minigolf match-up Emily picked up the win with a score of 25. I was second with 26, with Gareth Holmes third with 27 and Alan Norman on 28.

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London
Emily playing hole 3

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London
22 was a very good score to get on the 9-hole course

The course’s designer and owner, Dave Lovatt, was also responsible for the 9-hole Crazy Golf course that staged the Welsh Open Crazy Golf Championships as part of the Newport Big Splash Festival in 2010. Following the 2012 pop-up in London the course moved on to Bristol.

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London
Crazy golfing at the end of the world - from l-r Gareth Holmes, Richard Gottfried, Emily Gottfried, Dave Lovatt, Alan Norman

Our challenge match with Dave went to a sudden-death play-off between Dave and Alan after both players had shot rounds of 22. Dave picked up the win on the deciding hole to take the title. I had finished on 24, Gareth had a 25 and Emily had shot a 29.

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London
Alan snookered

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London
Gareth putting on hole 1

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London
A different sort of podium

Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

The 9-hole Golf Apocalypse course was the 304th course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

More photos of the Golf Apocalypse course.


Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London

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Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Golf Apocalypse - a Crazy Golf course at the end of the world?

The 304th Miniature Golf course gets played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!

This year has seen some new Minigolf courses opening up in London and on Saturday 11th August we headed to the latest addition to the capital’s Crazy Golf scene - the 'Golf Apocalypse' Mini Golf course at London's Pleasure Gardens, near Pontoon Dock DLR station.

Crazy Golf in London - the Golf Apocalypse
The crazy Minigolfers at the 'Golf Apocalypse' Mini Golf course. From l-r: Gareth Holmes, Richard Gottfried, Emily Gottfried, Dave Lovatt, Alan Norman. The course, much like the sign above, is like something out of Mad Max! Unlike Barter Town the course accepts cash payments to play.

Fellow BMGA Tour Pro Gareth Holmes had texted me with some snaps of the course after he had spotted it when leaving the Excel centre on Friday and with some free time on Saturday we decided to head along and give it a go.

Crazy Golf in London - the Golf Apocalypse
All aboard GA airlines

The course’s designer and owner, Dave Lovatt, was also responsible for the 9-hole Crazy Golf course that staged the Welsh Open Crazy Golf Championships as part of the Newport Big Splash Festival in 2010. Unfortunately we happened to be in Newport a week too early to play that course!

Crazy Golf in London - the Golf Apocalypse
None of us could beat the 'Golf Apocalypse' course record!

We’ve been looking forward to playing his latest layout and it certainly is crazy!

The 9-hole course has all manner of strange Minigolf obstacles and you find yourself playing through the fuselage of a crashed aeroplane, in a pinball machine, on a snooker table and into a volcano!

Crazy Golf in London - the Golf Apocalypse
Emily plays the 3rd hole - a Loop-di-Loop made of a series of tyres!?

Hole 4 is a Pinball machine hole where you have to use the flippers to get the ball in the hole once you've teed-off!

Crazy Golf in London - the Golf Apocalypse
Playing a tee-shot on hole 4 - a hole-in-one is still possible even if the ball misses the hole on the first pass! See video below...


When we arrived at the course Dave showed us a few lines (but not all of them, the cagey player that he is) and we saw he had certainly mastered the course. He told us that the very best score he had shot was an 18. Very impressive considering the bizarre nature and layout of many of the holes. The course Par is listed as 32 with many of the holes par-4 and the last being par-5.

Crazy Golf in London - the Golf Apocalypse
Dave Lovatt shows the Pro players how to play hole 5

In our 9-hole shootout Emily picked up the win with a score of 25. I was second with 26, Gareth was third with 27 and Alan was one shot further back on 28 in our very closely fought match.

Crazy Golf in London - the Golf Apocalypse
Richard tries out his potting skills on the 7th hole of the Golf Apocalypse!

After a short break we headed out for our challenge match against Dave who was itching to play against the Pro players. The ‘Golf Apocalypse’ course rules state that if the ball leaves the course at any time it must be replaced at the point it was hit from (rather than the BMGA rule of replacing it at the point of exit). This rule would prove to be a bit of a game changer when faced with the long 9th hole!

Crazy Golf in London - the Golf Apocalypse
Richard putts through the fuselage of a crashed plane!

With the exception of Emily who scored a 29, we all had better second rounds. I scored a 24 while Gareth scored 25. Dave and Alan tied with a score of 22 and so a sudden-death play-off was required!

Crazy Golf in London - the Golf Apocalypse
Brewery Minigolf Champion Alan 'Stormin' Norman gives Richard's second shot the thumbs-up!

The hole to play the decider on was the 9th and Alan played first, scoring a 6. Dave stepped up and despite hitting the ball out of bounds with his first two shots managed to shoot a ‘par’ score of 5 to win the match.

Crazy Golf in London - the Golf Apocalypse
Dave Lovatt tees-off on the very tough 9th hole

The course is unique and very very crazy. It's well worth a play.

After visiting over 500 Miniature Golf courses you might think that we'd seen pretty much everything there is to see on a Crazy Golf course. But the Golf Apocalypse has certainly shown us that there is still much more to be written in the long history of Minigolf!


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