Our last pre-pandemic minigolf course visit

The last pre-coronavirus pandemic lockdown minigolf course visit we made was to The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course in Bolton's Market Place shopping centre a year ago today.

That trip to Bolton was our last day out before lockdown.

It'll be great when we can once again get out and about on our travels.

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia

A look at The Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in the Market Place shopping centre in Bolton.

It was the last course we visited before the social distancing lockdown commenced.

Back in December 2016 it became the 420th course played and 720th visited overall on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

We've now been to 948 courses since September 2006.

I wonder where number 949 will be?

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course at Amazonia in Bolton

A look at The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course at Amazonia in the Market Place Shopping Centre in Bolton.

In 2016 The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course at Amazonia in Bolton became the 420th course played and 720th visited overall on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

We revisited on Saturday 14th March.

  

Check out The Lost Valley Adventure Golf website for more information.

Do read my blog posts about the growth of shopping centre minigolf and minigolf courses in Greater Manchester.

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course in Bolton

A visit to The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course in Bolton's Market Place shopping centre.

We swung by The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course at Amazonia in Bolton's Market Place shopping centre on Saturday afternoon.

I played the 18-hole indoor course back in December 2016. Time flies!

The course was built by the team at HM Adventure Golf.

It's a nice layout and I really liked the attention to detail with the themed pathway on the course.

Visit the Amazonia website for more information, opening times and prices.

Take a look at my blog posts about miniature golf courses in Greater Manchester and the growth of shopping centre minigolf.

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton

A visit to the Lost Valley Adventure Golf course at the Market Place in Bolton.

On the 21st December I headed to Bolton to visit and play the new 18-hole Lost Valley Adventure Golf course located indoors at the Market Place shopping centre.

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course

It's a superb minigolf layout and a great location for a course. The 'Lost Valley' can be quite easily discovered as it's well signposted from ground level!

Bolton's Market Place shopping centre - and the indoor Adventure Golf course - are well worth a visit

I was invited for a round at the Lost Valley by Simon from HM Adventure Golf who designed and built the course. We'd picked a good time to tee-off as we were able to get well into the swing of our round before the course began to get busy around lunchtime.

Five and a half of the holes are in the lower section of the course. The theming and lighting is great throughout

On the 5th green. This is in the lower part of the course

In our round I managed to pick up the win 45-48 with Simon carding a ruinous 6 on the 18th hole to scupper his chances of victory.

Teeing-off on the 10th

I was very pleased with my hole-in-one on the 15th and I'm sure with a bit more practice on the course there are some rewarding aces to be had on the tricky but fun layout.

Holing out on the 13th

The scorecards at the Lost Valley are some of the largest I've seen. Once opened the scorecard is 41.5cm wide!

Looks normal enough...

But then when you open it up!

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course at Amazonia in Bolton's Market Place shopping centre was the 420th course played and 720th visited overall on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Hole 1

Snakey

A festive hole 2

The very small but tricky hole 3

Hole 4

Hole 5 begins upstairs

But ends downstairs

Hole 6 was the toughest hole for me

The green on hole 6

Hole 7

Hole 8

Hole 9 and another festive character

Hole 9

Hole 9

Hole 10

Hole 10

Hole 11

The green on hole 11

The nice surprise on hole 11

Hole 12

Which is the best hole to putt into?

The green on hole 12

There are two routes to the cup on hole 13

Hole 13

Hole 13

Hole 14

Hole 15 - the scene of my hole-in-one

Hole 16

Hole 17

Hole 17

There are two cups inside the mouth of the treeman on hole 18

Hole 18

As a bonus there was also a Miniature Train ride in Amazonia!

The Jungle Express

The Miniature Train ride runs along the edge of the Adventure Golf course

Check out the Lost Valley Adventure Golf course website for opening times and prices.

The flooring throughout the Lost Valley is fantastic - I'm not sure arachnophobes would be quite so keen!

It was great finding out about some of the other miniature golf courses the team at HM Adventure Golf are working on. Emily and I reckon there are around 50-odd more courses for us to visit in the UK, but with new courses opening all the time there is likely to still be 50 for us left to visit this time next year!

I'm looking forward to a minigolf match against Emily on the Lost Valley course

Head to the HM Adventure Golf website for further details on their projects. Their latest course opened at Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan, Lancashire this month. We're looking forward to a game there soon. I understand that the old course - the 521st visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - is still in the park too.

Related blog posts:
- Indoor Adventure Golf
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Links:
- The Lost Valley Adventure Golf
- HM Adventure Golf
- Bolton Market Place

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