4D Cosmic Golf at Xplore at the Xscape Centre in Castleford

A look at the glow-in-the-dark Cosmic Golf courses at the Xscape Centre in Castleford.

Xplore at the Xscape Centre in Castleford, West Yorkshire is home to two indoor Cosmic Golf glow-in-the-dark courses.

One is the Search for Atlantis. A 6-hole layout with an underwater theme.

The second course is the Curse of the Mummy in 3D (or 4D depending on which sign you read).

This is a 9-hole courses and one where you need to wear 3D glasses to enjoy the full effects as you putt around the layout.

The Xplore courses were the 199th and 200th visited on our travels back in 2010.

Check out the Xplore website for more information, opening times and prices.

The two courses at Xplore were among the 20 courses we visited in the first 20 days of 2020.

The entertainment, leisure and retail area at Junction 32 of the M62 in Castleford is a real minigolf hotbed.

There are six miniature golf courses with a total of 87-holes to play.

Mar's Mini Golf in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Finding out about Mar's Mini Golf - a 3D Glow in the Dark course in Saskatoon, Canada.

As I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting minigolf courses and stories I found out about Mar's Mini Golf in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The 3D Glow in the Dark course recently celebrated it's 5th birthday.

The undersea theme at Mar's Mini Golf

You need to putt through this shark's mouth

A skeleton pirate captain

We've putted through some whales on our travels

I'm a BIG fan of glow in the dark minigolf courses although there aren't very many in the UK. Some new indoor minigolf courses are applying glow in the dark elements, or have a few holes that are blacklit, but not many go all out on it.

The 200th course we played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour was a 3D glow in the dark course - the only one I've played - it's in Castleford, Yorkshire.

It'd be brilliant to revisit Canada - we had our honeymoon in Toronto and Niagara Falls.

Check out the Mar's Mini Golf website and photo gallery for more information.

The Midlands Minigolf Club Ball of Fame

The Midlands Minigolf Club has a Ball of Fame!

Following the Midlands Minigolf Club's victory in the BMGA British Club Championships this year the club had the honour of producing a Ball of Fame to mark the achievement.

The Midlands Minigolf Club's Ball of Fame!

The Midlands Minigolf Club (MMGC) was formed in 2005 and are two-time national team champions, winning the title for the first-time at Stratford-upon-Avon in 2008 and regaining the title in Hastings in March.

Playing in the national final in Hastings

I'm proud to have been a member of the MMGC since my debut season in 2007 and have been a member of both winning teams alongside Chris Harding (2008), John Moore (2008 & 2015), Jam Trubridge (2008), Michael Smith (2015) and Seth Thomas (2015).

The winning Midlands MGC team of Seth Thomas, John Moore, Michael Smith and Richard Gottfried

The Midlands Minigolf Club's Ball of Fame (BoF) was produced by 3D Minigolf in Germany. Details of other Balls of Fame can be found on the 3D Minigolf website.

When playing in minigolf-sport competitions players can choose to use a wide-variety of specialist balls. Each has a a different property in terms of hardness, weight, bounce, surface and size. In the last 70 years more than 10,000 minigolf balls have been produced!

The Midlands Minigolf Club's BoF has the following properties: Bounce 5cm, Shore 37, Weight 45g. It's a low bounce ball and is slightly softer than average. It's good for direct shots and our club captain Michael Smith has highlighted some holes on the Pirate Golf course in Hastings and the Star City Adventure Golf course in Birmingham where it could be useful. The MMGC BoF costs £15. To secure one of the limited edition balls please get in touch via the MMGC's Facebook page.

The MMGC consists of a dedicated group of crazy minigolfers from around Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the USA. For more information check out the club's Facebook, Twitter, and other MMGC-related blog posts.

The 2015 BMGA British Club Champions in Hastings. From l-r Seth Thomas, Michael Smith, Brenda Smith, Paul Johnson, Owen Johnson, Richard Gottfried, John Moore, Chris Smith

Around the world there are over 900 minigolf clubs and 38,000 competitive minigolf players registered with the World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) via the 55 member nations. For further info on the sport of minigolf and essential kit and equipment check out the WMF's Starting out in Minigolf guide.

Links:
- Midlands Minigolf Club on Facebook
- Midlands Minigolf Club on Twitter
- 3D Minigolf 

Related blog posts:
- Midlands Minigolf Club
- Crazy about Mini Golf Balls
- Minigolf Clubs in the UK

“Mr October” on a Minigolf Calendar!

Featuring on the 2014 Fun-Sports & 3D ‘All Around Minigolf’ calendar.

The 2014 3D & Fun-Sports 'All Around Minigolf Calendar'

The team at Minigolf businesses Fun-Sports and 3D have created a 2014 Wall Calendar featuring images from ‘All Around Minigolf’ and I’m Mr October!

Mr October (Herr Oktober) in the 3D & Fun-Sports 2014 Minigolf Calendar

The photo was taken by international Minigolfer Willi Hettrich from Germany at the 2012 BMGA British Open tournament held at Strokes Adventure Golf in Margate, Kent.

There are some great images from the world of miniature golf in the calendar featuring a range of courses, equipment, players, championship events and action.

The calendar will be hanging up in the Gottfried household throughout next year and is definitely a future exhibit in the Crazy Golf Museum. 

Links:

- 3D

- Fun-Sports

- Minigolf Kids Foundation

- Willi Hettrich

- Strokes Adventure Golf