The Mini Masters miniature golf competition in Manchester

Looking back at the 'Mini Masters' miniature golf tournament in Manchester.

I won the 'Mini Masters' miniature golf tournament in Manchester back on the 11th April 2009. Time certainly flies!

Mini Master

The Mini Masters was the first of two tournaments I won on the 9-hole Championship Miniature Golf course at what was then Playgolf Manchester. The second event being the Miniature Open in July 2009.

Lining up a big minigolf win

My Mini Masters scores.

I won the Mini Masters with a three round total of 81 (-24) after scoring 26, 27, and 28.

Playing a very long tee-shot over and past several obstacles!

Our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The course was the 84th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. Back then the course wasn't one of our local layouts as we still lived in Luton, Bedfordshire and travelled up for the events.

We've now been to 1,116 courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since 2006.

Emily putting on the big miniature golf course

Championship Miniature Golf in New Brighton.

The Championship Miniature Golf course is no longer at the centre, but you can find an expanded Championship Miniature Golf layout with two 18-hole courses in New Brighton. We've played both layouts there.

The Trafford Golf Centre.

The location is no longer a Playgolf venue either. It's now known as the Trafford Golf Centre and is home to two 18-hole dinosaur adventure golf courses. I won the Dino Falls Masters Adventure Golf competition there in 2018 too! Visit the Trafford Golf Centre website for more information on the courses.

The Cyberdrome Crystal Maze game experience

Memories of playing The Cyberdrome Crystal Maze game experience in Tenby, Wales.

We played The Crystal Maze game at the CC2000 tenpin bowling & entertainment, near Narbeth in Wales back in 2009.

The Crystal Maze was a staple part TV diet during my childhood and teenage years, and it would've been brilliant to go on the show.

During our minigolfing road-trip around the Welsh coast in 2009 we took a break from playing Crazy Golf to visit the Oakwood Indoor Family Entertainment Centre - where we entered The Crystal Maze!

At that time it was the last remaining example of the 'Cyberdrome Crystal Maze' games in the UK. Sadly it closed for good in June 2010. It would've been brilliant to return for a few more games there.

The Cyberdrome Crystal Maze was absolutely superb to play. We think more of them should have been built back in the day. There were only ever eight built - five in the UK, two in Japan, and one in Dubai.

Just like the TV show, games were played in four themed zones - Aztec, Futuristic, Medieval, and Ocean. But unlike the TV show players were guided around the maze by Merlin - a computerised Maze Master.

Aztec Zone

Futuristic Zone

Medieval Zone

Ocean Zone

We managed to win six of the nine games we played, and in the Crystal Dome itself we collected 103 Gold and 28 Silver 'tokens' for a grand total of 75. So we didn't win the "super-duper" prize.

In the Crystal Dome

However, we were first on the leaderboard for the day and got "1st of 1" printed on our souvenir certificate!

At that time the Cyberdrome Crystal Maze was the closest you could get to playing the real Crystal Maze. Now you can play The Crystal Maze LIVE Experience in London and Manchester. The Manchester venue is so close to us that we really ought to get a team together for a game there!

Christmas Crazy Golf in 2009

A look back at a festive pop-up crazy golf course in London.

Back in 2009 there was a Christmas-themed Minigolf course at Devonshire Square in London.

You had to putt into Santa's mouth - look in the photo above to see where it exited!

We'd played the course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in October of that year when it was a 'normal' pop-up.

Related blog posts:

• Christmas
• Father Christmas
• Santa Claus
• Crazy Golf
• Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Crazy Golf at Riverside Gardens in Maidenhead

A look at the Crazy Golf course at Riverside Gardens in Maidenhead, Berkshire.

We visited the Crazy Golf course at Riverside Gardens in Maidenhead, Berkshire on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour back in May 2009.

The 18-hole crazy golf course was similar to the 'Eternit' type of Miniature Golf. However, the concrete playing surface wasn't anywhere near as smooth as an official Eternit Miniature Golf layout.

With Humpty

Tee Off Mr Bean.

The crazy golf course at Riverside Gardens in Maidenhead was made famous in the classic episode of Mr Bean - 'Tee Off Mr Bean' - which was filmed at the location!

Playing the course.

No cups on this hole!?

Photos of the course.

Find out more.

You can find out more about the crazy golf course and Riverside Gardens on the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead website.

Our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The course was the 97th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour travels. We've now been to 1,099 courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since September 2006.