Sunday, September 30, 2012

Six Years on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Visiting 509 Minigolf courses since the 30th September 2006.

Today marks the sixth anniversary of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour that began on the 30th September 2006 when we played the Victory Trail course at Treasure Island Adventure Golf in Southsea, Hampshire. Since that first course we’ve visited a further 508 courses and played 306 of them.

Minigolfing at the Dunton Hills Golf centre's Minigolf course

Our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour came about after Emily and I set out to visit every UK seaside. After visiting Southsea we were somewhat hooked on Crazy Golf and discovered the excellent Minigolf resource MiniatureGolfer.com. That website, run by five-time World Crazy Golf Champion Tim 'Ace Man' Davies, has a list of pretty much every course in the world on it! Through MiniatureGolfer.com we found out there are some 618 courses in England (& Islands), Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We've also since found that this is an ever changing figure as each year some courses are closed down, while new courses open up!

Emily playing the Windmill hole at the Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course at Waterloo Place in Bognor Regis. This was the 275th course played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Since our coastal travels began in 2006 we've managed to get to 172 seasides, visiting or playing 111 Mini Golf courses while we were beside the sea. We have also widened our travels and have now been to 379 different places in the UK, ranging from big cities to towns, villages and hamlets.

Playing through a BIG minigolf windmill at Selsey's Crazy Golf course
In the last year we’ve played 38 courses and revisited some too. These have included Adventure Golf, Crazy Golf, Swedish Felt Minigolf, Grass Putting, Minigolf, Eternit Miniaturegolf and Miniature Golf courses in England, Scotland and Wales.

Playing hole 2 of the Basingstoke Golf Centre Minigolf course

Minigolf courses come in a variety of types and styles. While some are more conventional 'Putting on a Green Playing Surface' courses, there are others that are a bit more odd, unusual and wacky. In the last year we've Putted amongst beer barrels at the Camden Town Brewery, played through a crashed aeroplane fuselage at the Golf Apocalypse, played at a multi-sport event in Oswestry and played a number of times on a 'London Landmark-themed Crazy Golf course built in cake form(!?)' on the roof of Selfridges London!

The Golf Apocalypse in London (now in Bristol!) - standing outside the crashed aeroplane on the course as the 'passengers' Alan 'Stormin' Norman, Dave Lovatt and Gareth Holmes look on

We've also been to Wonderland in Telford. The 9-hole course there was our 300th course played and 500th visited overall and the layout featured a mixture of felt, concrete and wooden playing surfaces!

Playing hole two of the Wonderland Pirate Adventure Golf in Telford - the 300th course played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!

In April 2012 we took a 1,178 mile roadtrip up to the north west of England, a bit of Scotland and back down to Luton from the north east of England. During our trip we visited 49 Minigolf courses and were able to play a 'lucky' 13 of them.

Emily Putting at the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course in Scotland

One of the courses we played on this roadtrip was the world's first Minigolf course - The Himalayas at St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club in Scotland. It's a great 18-hole Miniature Golf course and is well worth a visit. There is also a 9-hole course next to it that is equally as testing and tricky.

Playing the 9-hole Miniature Golf course at the Ladies' Putting Club at St Andrews, Scotland

A running theme of our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour has seen us visit a lot of courses that we've found to be unplayable. Nothing has changed in this respect in the last year as we have visited 65 courses that we haven't been able to play!

The Crazy Golf course in Perth's South Inch Park was in a state of semi-dereliction when we visited. Hopefully it will be renovated soon as there is some investment being put into the park and leisure activities
Many of these were on our trip to Scotland and back and quite a few were in Littlehampton.

 Miniature Golf courses played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since the 1st October 2011
269 Gosport (Stokes Bay) - Solent Springs Adventure Golf
272 Hunston (Chichester Golf Centre) - Swedish Felt B-Run Crazy Golf

Putting through a Dolphin going through a hoop at Chichester Golf Centre
273 Bognor Regis (Hotham Park) - Crazy Golf
275 Bognor Regis (Waterloo Place) - Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf
276 Felpham (Blakes Road) - Putting
278 Bluewater - Pirate Cove - Adventure Golf (Pirate Course) - Note: Built on the site of the Minigolf "Pro Tour Putting" course - see also #80
279 Bluewater - Pirate Cove - Adventure Golf (Smugglers Course) - Note: Built on the site of the Minigolf "Pro Tour Putting" course - see also #80

With a crocodile, or alligator, at Bluewater's new Adventure Golf course
280 Manchester (Birdies Pop Up Golf) - New Business Launch Event - Pop Up Portable Minigolf Course
281 Milton Keynes (Abbey Hill Golf Centre) - Pirate Island Adventure Golf
282 London (Alexandra Palace) - Crazy Golf - See also #155 & #155b
283 Basingstoke (Basingstoke Golf Centre) - Minigolf
284 Basingstoke (Basingstoke Golf Centre) - Putting Course
285 Forton, near Garstang (Zumo Cafe) - Crazy Golf
286 Brockhole - Crazy Golf
287 Ambleside (White Platts Recreation Ground) - Crazy Golf
288 Keswick (Hope Park) - Putting
289 Carlisle (Bitts Park) - Eternit Crazy Golf
290 Perth (Noahs Ark Golf Centre) - Adventure Golf Putting
291 Broughty Ferry, Dundee (Castle Green) - Eternit Crazy Golf
292 St Andrews (The Himalayas - St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club) - Miniature Golf - The world's first Minigolf Course
293 St Andrews (The Himalayas - St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club) - Miniature Golf

At the Himalayas Miniature Golf course in St Andrews - the world's first Minigolf course!

294 Dunfermline - Fife Leisure Park - Adventure Golf Island - Adventure Golf (Pirates Cove Course)
295 Dunfermline - Fife Leisure Park - Adventure Golf Island - Adventure Golf (Treasure Island Course)

Emily at the Adventure Golf Island course at Fife Leisure Park

296 North Berwick (East Links) - Putting Course
297 Seahouses (The Bunker) - Crazy Golf
298 London (Selfridges) - Bompas & Parr Rooftop Crazy Golf
299 West Horndon, near Brentwood (Dunton Hills Golf Course) - Miniature Golf
300 Telford (Wonderland at Telford Town Park) - Crazy Golf - Also the 500th Minigolf Course Visited Overall!
301 Oswestry (Oswestry Games at Oswestry Leisure Centre) - Putterfingers Portable Mini Golf

Putting on the portable Crazy Golf course at the BMGA & Putter Fingers Oswestry Games Minigolf Championships

302 London (Camden Town Brewery - The Brewmaster's Open) - 5-hole Temporary Mini-Golf course

Playing the UrbanCrazy portable Minigolf course at the Brewmaster's Open tournament at the Camden Town Brewery in London

303 London (Clarence Way, Camden) - Crazy Golf
304 London (Golf Apocalypse) - Crazy Golf - Update: September 2012 - course has moved to Bristol
305 Dunstable (The Disability Resource Centre) - Mini golf - supplied by the Dunstable and District Disabled Sports (D.A.D.D.S.) Group
306 London (Tintype Gallery) - Crazee Golf Art Exhibition (and playable hole!)

Many thanks to everyone who has tipped us off about a Minigolf course that we weren't aware of. We've met some great people along the way and made some great friends through playing Minigolf for fun and on the national and international competition circuits of the British Minigolf Association and World Minigolf Sport Federation. Thank you to course owners, builders, managers and staff everywhere for being in a great industry and for their great hospitality and welcome to their Crazy Golfing customers.

If you know of a Minigolf course we should check out do let us know via the comments below. Also, if you have any suggestions on what we could do with the next six years of our lives we'd welcome your comments too.

You can find lists and details of Minigolf, Mini Golf, Crazy Golf, Miniature Golf, Grass Putting and Adventure Golf courses worldwide at the excellent minigolf website MiniatureGolfer.com.

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1 comment:

Lemony said...

I suggest we spend the next six years revisiting the courses from the first six years and seeing how they've got on :)

1:15 pm

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