The Himalayas Putting Course at St Andrews, Scotland

Visiting and playing the world's first Miniature Golf course!

On Sunday 8th April 2012 Emily and I visited St Andrews in Scotland to visit and play the world’s first Miniature Golf course!

The Ladies' Putting Green (The Himalayas) at St Andrews, Scotland

The Himalayas Putting Course, also known as the Ladies’ Putting Green, is part of a private club run by the St Andrews Ladies’ Putting Club. In 1867 the course was created and the St Andrews Ladies’ Golf Club was formed.

Evidence of the founding of The Ladies' Putting Club at St Andrews in 1867 - the World's First Miniature Golf Course and Club!

As part of our tour of Scotland we had visited Minigolf courses in Helensburgh, Bannockburn, Perth, and Broughty Ferry before arriving at St Andrews for the most anticipated course visit since we first heard about The Himalayas!

Richard & Emily Gottfried at the World's First Miniature Golf Course - The Himalayas Putting Course in St Andrews, Scotland

Luckily on our visit the course was open for play by the general public. It’s open from April to September, but there are some ‘members only’ reserved times. We quickly paid for a round and hit the links!

Richard Gottfried playing a shot at the World's First Miniature Golf Course - The Himalayas Putting Course in St Andrews, Scotland

In our match I defeated Emily 47 to 59 on the very well maintained and difficult course. The course is incredibly good value and it costs just £2 per person to play the 18-holes

The Himalayas Putting Course - Information and Local Rules Board

The 18-hole Himalayas Putting Course in St Andrews, Scotland

The course has been on our ‘to visit and play list’ for some time and was a definite activity on our tour of the north of England and Scotland. A bonus find when we arrived was that there is not only an 18-hole course, but also a 9-hole layout! This is only £1 a round!

The 9-hole Himalayas Putting Course in St Andrews, Scotland

In the 9-hole contest the match was much closer. I won the game with a score of 26 to Emily's 28.

Emily plays a shot on the 9-hole Himalayas Putting Course in St Andrews, Scotland

Both of the Himalayas Putting Courses were incredibly testing and the grass on them was as good as any felt we’ve played on a Minigolf course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour to date!

Richard plays a shot on the 18-hole Himalayas Putting Course in St Andrews, Scotland

After having a walk around St Andrews we returned for another couple of games and I finally managed to score a hole-in-one – on the 6th hole of the 18-hole course.

Emily plays a shot on the 18th hole at The Himalayas Putting Course in St Andrews, Scotland

The two courses at The Himalayas became the 292nd and 293rd miniature golf courses played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since September 2006!

Richard playing on The Himalayas Putting Course in St Andrews, Scotland

Richard playing the 9-hole Himalayas Putting Course in St Andrews, Scotland

The Himalayas Putting Course has a Course Record of 34(-2) held by a G. Anderson - that's some top Putting!

Himalayas Putting Green

Video - Crazy World of Minigolf Tour visit to the world's first Miniature Golf course - St Andrews - 1 of 2 - Introduction

Video - Crazy World of Minigolf Tour visit to the world's first Miniature Golf course - St Andrews - 2 of 2

There were two other Putting Greens that we spotted while we were there. One is strictly for Old Course Players, while the other (the Bruce Embankment) is open to the general public. Unfortunately it was closed on our visit.

If you’re a fan of Minigolf and/or Golf then St Andrews is a must visit place. We can’t wait to return. Hopefully we’ll have more time to spend there next time. I’m also looking forward to visit the British Golf Museum as it was closed when we visited.

Visit the St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club website for more information.Visit the St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club website for more information.

Related Blog Posts:

- The Himalayas Putting Course at Kingsway Golf Centre, Melbourn, Cambs - course played #196

- Visiting a further 49 Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in England and Scotland

- Unplayed Minigolf Courses on our Roadtrip to Scotland & Back

- 495 Miniature Golf course locations visited to date!

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Links:
- St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club website

- St Andrews Links, the Home of Golf
- St Andrews - Local Golf Clubs

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