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Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Crazy Golf at Valley Gardens in Harrogate

Playing the 328th miniature golf course on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Valley Gardens Crazy Golf course in Harrogate
Playing hole 3 of the Valley Gardens Crazy Golf course in Harrogate

On Saturday 22nd March 2014 Emily and I visited the spa town of Harrogate in Yorkshire.

While there we visited Valley Gardens and found the park is home to an 18-hole Crazy Golf course, a Pitch & Putt variety of Minigolf and a Disc Golf layout.

Of the three courses only the Crazy Golf was open for play.

Video: Minigolf visit to Valley Gardens in Harrogate
 



The course cost £2.30 for adults to play and with the weather about to take a turn for the worse I paid for a round, with Emily on video and photo duty.

The course was the 328th played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 547th visited overall since 2006.

The layout is reminiscent of the European-style of miniature golf courses - often referred to as 'Eternit' courses. We've played official types of these standardised layouts in international tournaments in Finland and Sweden, and we've played some of them here in the UK too.

Valley Gardens Crazy Golf course in Harrogate
Playing the Pyramids hole at Valley Gardens

Speaking with the man in the hut he said the course had been in Valley Gardens for at least 20-25 years. it was quite a tricky course to play, as is often the case with all-concrete courses tackled with a low bounce golf ball.

Playing hole 7 of the Valley Gardens Crazy Golf course in Harrogate

For a quick round of Crazy Golf it was fun, and it was interesting to see the variety of Eternit obstacles realised in solid concrete obstacles.

Photos of the 18-hole Crazy Golf course at Valley Gardens in Harrogate.

























Related blog posts:
- Not playing the Pitch and Putt Mini Golf course in Harrogate
Ripon Spa Gardens
Knaresborough Conyngham Hall
Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Link:
Valley Gardens, Harrogate

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:25 pm

    Wow! Some of those holes are really recognizable. Bet if Emily had played she'd have beaten you Rich!

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  2. Thanks 'Anonymous' ;-)

    It was actually tougher than 'real' eternit!!!

    Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

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  3. Fellow minigolf golf enthusiasts Alex Hyman and Henri Myers recently sent over some snaps of the Crazy Golf course in Harrogate's Valley Gardens. It looks quite different to when Emily and I played the course back in 2014.

    There's some great information about Valley Gardens and its history on the Friends of Valley Gardens website.

    - Miniature Golf (of the grassy Pitch & Putt variety) has been played in the park since 1924.

    - In 1965 three of the greens on the course were moved to make way for a new children's play area.

    - The Miniature Golf course (of the Crazy Golf kind) was created in 1970.

    It's brilliant to read about the history of the park, it's also superb that the courses are still open and available to play after all these years.

    We're looking forward to our next visit to Harrogate.

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