Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf in Nottingham

Playing Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf at the New Art Exchange.

Last summer our friends and minigolf rivals Gareth and Lhurlyn Holmes were lucky enough to visit Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf course at the Venice Biennale. This year the course came to England.

Playing Pleasure Seekers by Candice Jacobs

Last week the art-installation Crazy Golf course became the 401st played and 682nd visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

One of two holes I scored an ace on - The Turkey Shoot Galactico by John Akomfrah

It was brilliant fun to play and very well built. It was also pleasing to defeat another minigolf rival and friend Jam Trubridge in our match-up. At just £2 per player it was a bargain to play too.

Jam playing the first hole on the street in Nottingham

Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf is at the New Art Exchange in Nottingham until the 19th June. It then moves on to the Derby QUAD.

Hole 1 was unique to the New Art Exchange's layout of Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf

Definitely an Alligator

Jam on the hand cranking 9th - Coloured Processor by Hetain Patel

Playing the 9th

Putting through a hole in the wall

The Bridge of Konigsberg by Eyal and Ines Weizman - very interesting as you automatically score a zero!

A view of Putting a Hole in the Wall by Yara El-Sherbini and three other holes

Doug Fishbone's Costa Concordia hole

 

We both scored a 20

We found there is a knack to playing the 'Life Raft' hole by Ellie Harrison. It's quite different to how the hole was last year in Venice

There was some great minigolf merch on sale at the New Art Exchange too

The beermat scorecards and branded balls & pencils look excellent

On our travels around the world we've played some interesting courses, including some designed for art shows, exhibitions and as playable sculptures.

We've played art-based minigolf at the one-day only M!MS Mini Golf course in Bedford, Crazee Golf at the TinType Gallery in London, the Bompas & Parr food architecture course on the roof of Selfridges and Putt Putt #2 by TURF Projects in Croydon. We've also not played art courses in Clerkenwell and Folkestone - where the remnants of the old Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course were used to create a series of beach huts!

We were also recently involved in the London Design Festival's Kickstarter campaign to build a Crazy Golf course in Trafalgar Square.

Links:
- New Art Exchange (NAE)
- Doug Fishbone

Related blog posts:
- Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf
- Art
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Nottingham

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems.

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London Design Festival Crazy Golf course in Trafalgar Square

Visionary Crazy Golf course heading to London's Trafalgar Square.

London's burgeoning Crazy Golf scene is hoping to expand further with a Visionary Crazy Golf course set to takeover Trafalgar Square later this year. It'll be futuristic, functional, fun and free for the public to play from the 16th to the 22nd September during the London Design Festival 2016.

The iconic Nelson's Column with a concept design by Atelier Bow-Wow - this hole reminds us of a couple of net and hoop based holes we've played while competing for the GB team in Finland and Sweden

For years there's been a bit of a dearth of places to play Crazy Golf in London - although we've managed to search out, find and play a great many of them - so it's marvellous to see Mini Golf undergoing something of a renaissance in the capital with some great new indoor, outdoor and rooftop miniature golf layouts opening this summer.

We've seen - and been pestered by - a lot of seagull's on our Crazy Golf travels, but we've not played through anything like the Pigeon hole designed by Ordinary Architecture!

Paul Smith, is the curator and ambassador for the project. Other design teams include the late Zaha Hadid, Tom Dixon and Mark Wallinger as well as Camille Walala, Ordinary Architecture, HAT Projects with Tim Hunkin, NEON, and Atelier Bow-Wow.

Camille Walala’s Visionary Crazy Golf installation brings the kaleidoscopic colour of her signature designs to a dynamic 3D landscape

The team at the London Design Festival say that "Each will create a miniature pavilion that makes an entertaining, playable statement about the future of architecture, filling the square with Pop Art colours and inventive forms that will amuse and inspire both adults and children alike." Looking at some of the early designs and sketches it looks like it'll be a truly one of a kind course to see and play!

Zaha Hadid has designed an undulating course with two levels that traces the shadow of Nelson’s Column

The Visionary Crazy Golf course needs £120,000 to become a reality and the Kickstarter campaign is well underway with over 300 backers and almost £15,000 pledged at the time of writing.

The NEON Kinetic City hole - that will take some playing!

During the planning stages for Visionary Golf I was pleased to be asked for my involvement and I can't wait to play the course when it opens in September. If you're lucky/rich/foolish enough you can receive the auspicious 'reward' of playing a round with me at 6pm on the very first day the course is open!

Check out the Visionary Crazy Golf course Kickstarter page to see how you can play a round with me!

You'll also get your name on the Visionary Golf course Wall of Fame webpage. Find out about all the rewards for supporting the campaign on the Visionary Crazy Golf course Kickstarter page. I love the Wall of Fame idea - when I won the Putt Park Invitational Miniature Golf tournament in Las Vegas I received a place on their Wall of Fame and it gives you a very nice feeling indeed.

A fine minigolf victory at the Putt Park in Las Vegas back in 2011

There are some brilliant rewards for backers of the course and they range from just £5 - for a 'virtual hole in one and your name on the Wall of Fame' up to £5,000 for a chance to meet Paul Smith and receive a tour of his studio.

Paul Smith's design for the first hole

The campaign closes on June 6th so check out the Visionary Crazy Golf Kickstarter page before then.

I like the look of this LOUD musical hole by Tom Dixon

It's great to see Tim Hunkin involved in the Visionary Crazy Golf course design - he's the madcap character behind the alternative amusement arcade 'The Under the Pier Show' on Southwold Pier in Suffolk and 'Novelty Automation' in Holborn.

Hat Projects and Tim Hunkin explore functionality and lifecycle in Downfall

Having a game on one of Tim Hunkin's crazy contraptions at Novelty Automation

First staged in 2003, the London Design Festival is one of the world's most important annual design events. The Festival programme is made up of over 400 events and exhibitions staged by hundreds of Partner organisations across the design spectrum and from around the world.

In 2013 we had a walk up, down and around the 'Endless Stair' that was part of the London Design Festival and designed by dRMM Architects, 2013, supported by the American Hardwood Export Council

A very enjoyable piece of design

On our travels to over 670 courses around the world we've played some interesting courses, including some designed for art shows, exhibitions and as playable sculptures.

We've played art-based minigolf at the one-day only M!MS Mini Golf course in Bedford, Crazee Golf at the TinType Gallery in London, the Bompas & Parr food architecture course on the roof of Selfridges and Putt Putt #2 by TURF Projects in Croydon. We've also not played art courses in Clerkenwell and Folkestone, where the remnants of the old Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course were used to create a series of beach huts!

Putt Putt #2 by TURF Projects was a temporary art installation minigolf course in Croydon

Miniature Golf certainly lends itself to art events as the options for design are almost limitless. There are so many weird and wonderful layouts around the world as well as new courses opening all the time, so who knows what unique and bizarre themes we'll see and play next!

The '18 Holes' Crazy Golf art installation by Richard Wilson in Folkestone

Last year our friends over at A Couple of Putts created an art-installation course called Sparkle City Mini Putt in Spartanburg, South Carolina. While the team at The Putting Penguin have seen and reviewed a number of art-courses over the years. Last summer my friend and crazy golf rival Gareth Holmes visited "The BEST Mini Golf Course in Venice" at artist's Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf - That course is now open in Nottingham!

For more information on the Visionary Golf project check out the London Design Festival website. You can also follow and use the hashtags #VisionaryGolf and #LDF16 on Twitter, and you can back the campaign and course on the Visionary Crazy Golf Kickstarter page.

Links:
- London Design Festival website
- Visionary Crazy Golf Kickstarter page

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Art
- Kickstarter

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems.

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Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf course is in Nottingham this summer

Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf course is heading to Nottingham this summer!

The course was first on display at the Venice Biennale last year and you'll soon be able to play the course when it's set up in the main gallery at the New Art Exchange in Nottingham from the 2nd April to the 19th June.

Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf in Venice last May. Photo by Gareth and Lhurlyn Holmes

Our friends Gareth and Lhurlyn Holmes were lucky enough to visit the course in Venice. Check out their guest blog post for more pics.

We can't wait to give it a play on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Links:
- New Art Exchange (NAE)
- Doug Fishbone

Related blog posts:
- Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf
- Art
- Gareth Holmes
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Nottingham

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems.

You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

Mini Gulf minigolf at Dismaland

Photos of the miniature golf course at Banksy's Dismaland Bemusement Park.

The oil caliphate themed crazy golf course at Dismaland

Our fellow minigolf enthusiasts Matt and Helen Dodd recently visited the seaside resort of Weston-super-Mare and went along to the Dismaland theme-park created by renowned street artist Banksy. They were kind enough to send along some photos of the five-hole Mini Gulf course which features an oil caliphate theme.

A flamingo looks on

When I asked Matt, the reigning Surrey Invitational Minigolf Champion, what the it was like, he said "It was a dreadful course."

The corner of the flamingo hole

"But it's Dismaland after all." he added.

It might've been dismal, but it was only a quid a go. Although for five-holes after you've already paid to go in and it doesn't look so cheap. That grey sky looks bleak too

With the Dismaland site closing this weekend it's a course we won't ever get to play on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. But it's great to know that plenty of people got to have a go on the layout before it shut down.

Some barrels

A green

Matt and Helen recently hit 102 minigolf courses visited on their travels! Their landmark 100th course visit was the Tropical Trail course at Treetop Adventure Golf in Cardiff, Wales. That's another course on our 'to play' list! Matt also let me know there's an Adventure Golf course at Fishers Farm Park in Wisborough Green, West Sussex - that was their 101st course played.

Minigolf explorer Helen Dodd putting through an old tyre obstacle. In the Dismaland battle of the Dodds the result was a draw with a score of 18 apiece. There was no official par for the course. Nor were there scorecards

The Dismaland Bemusement Park was built on the site of the old Tropicana Lido on Marine Parade in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset. You can watch the Dismaland advert on YouTube to see what you've missed.

Weston-super-Mare has some permanent mini and crazy golf courses that we have played. We've also played a few art installation miniature golf on our tour too.

Link:
- Dismaland website

Related blog posts:
- Banksy's Dismaland Bemusement Park
- New indoor adventure golf course in Cardiff, Wales
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Banksy's Dismaland Bemusement Park

New temporary Bemusement Park open for the summer in Weston-super-Mare.

Renowned street artist Banksy has created a dystopian theme park on the site of the old Tropicana Lido in Weston-super-Mare called 'Dismaland', and the park features a Crazy Golf course.

We love visiting the British seaside and while there are some top spots for fun and entertainment, we've seen our fair share of dismal seaside resorts and deteriorating fun parks and amusement arcades amongst the 200 we've been to.

Having visited 669 Crazy, Mini and Adventure Golf courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour we have come across a large amount of derelict and abandoned courses.

One of the many many many derelict and abandoned miniature golf courses we've found on our tour

We've even played the Crazy Golf course at the end of the world!

What's more dismal, dystopian and crazy than playing a minigolf obstacle made of old tyres next to another that is made of the fuselage of a crashed plane. This was 'Golf Apocalypse' during the summer of 2012

Minigolf has been used in many artistic creations so it's not surprising to see a course pop-up at Dismaland. The 'Mini Gulf' layout features an oil caliphate theme, and the course is constructed from the old hockey pitch at Cheltenham Ladies College.

On our tour we've played art-based minigolf at the one-day only M!MS Mini Golf course in Bedford, Crazee Golf at the TinType Gallery in London, the Bompas & Parr food architecture course on the roof of Selfridges and Putt Putt #2 by TURF Projects in Croydon. We've also not played art courses in Clerkenwell and Folkestone, where the remnants of the old Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course were used to create a series of beach huts!

The '18 Holes' Crazy Golf art installation by Richard Wilson in Folkestone

Putt Putt #2 by TURF Projects was a temporary art installation minigolf course in Croydon

This year our friends over at A Couple of Putts created an art-installation course called Sparkle City Mini Putt in Spartanburg, South Carolina. While the team at The Putting Penguin have seen and reviewed a number of art-courses over the years. Earlier this summer my friend and crazy golf rival Gareth Holmes visited "The BEST Mini Golf Course in Venice" at artist's Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf.

Dismaland does look well worth a visit. Hopefully we'll get along before it closes for good on the 27th September this year.

As big fans of Crazy Golf we also run The Crazy Golf Museum - itself featured in the book Crap Days Out!

While you're in Weston-super-Mare there are plenty of other traditional seaside amusements to visit, along with three miniature golf courses.

Fella's Crazy Golf course near the pier in Weston-super-Mare

The old grass Putting course and Miniature Railway we visited in 2011 was removed a couple of years ago, but I've recently heard it's re-opened and called 'The Putting Shed'.

Putters Junction Signal Box

At Dismaland there are a limited number of tickets available each day, with 4,000 punters allowed in at £3 per person, which sounds reasonable. Check out the Dismaland website for more information, opening times and a site map.

Back in 2011 our friend and minigolf rival Kevin Moseley took us for a tour around Bristol and we spotted the Banksy artwork Well Hung Lover on Park Street

If you like your entertainment options to be unique and weird then I highly recommend a visit to the Novelty Automation arcade in London and the Under the Pier Show in Southwold, Suffolk too.

Link:
- Dismaland Bemusement Park website
- Banksy website
- The Crazy Golf Museum website

Related blog posts:
- Art
- Art Gallery
- Art Installation
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Weston-super-Mare
- Crazee Golf Art Exhibition to Open at the Tintype Gallery in London
- M!MS Empire Sunset Nine Hole Mini Golf course in Bedford
- Crazy Golf Course visited but not able to be played - Folkestone (Seafront) - 18-holes Art Installation
- Playing Bompas & Parr's Minigolf course on the roof of Selfridges
- Not playing Crazy Golf at Clerkenwell Design Week 2014
- Putt Putt #2 Crazy Golf in Croydon
- Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf
- Novelty Automation arcade in London
- Sparkle City Mini Putt in Spartanburg, South Carolina
- Crap Days Out - at The Crazy Golf Museum?
- Miniature Golf Putting at Weston-Super-Mare, plus a Miniature Railway
- Fella's Crazy Golf in Weston-Super-Mare
- Crazy Hills Putting Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf Course in Weston-Super-Mare

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter.

Sparkle City Mini Putt in Spartanburg, South Carolina

I recently received a nice surprise in the post - some great merchandise and ephemera from my fellow minigolf bloggers at A Couple of Putts!

What a fine array of minigolf merch

This year Robin Schwartzman, one half of the A Couple of Putts team, has been the Hub-Bub Artist-in-Residence and created a brilliant looking and free to play miniature golf course called Sparkle City Mini Putt in downtown Spartanburg in South Carolina, USA.

The scorecard from Sparkle City Mini Putt looks great

Sparkle City Mini Putt sounds like a marvelous idea. Hopefully one day we'll get to play the layout on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Visit the A Couple of Putts blog to follow the travels of Tom Loftus (aka Mr. Tee) and Robin Schwartzman (aka The Pink Putter) on their minigolf travels.

Check out the links below for more details on the 9-hole minigolf course. To play the course you can take along your own putter and ball, or call in at one of five local business where you can borrow some equipment for free.

Links:
- A Couple of Putts blog
- Sparkle City Mini Putt website
- Sparkle City Mini Putt on Facebook
- Sparkle City Mini Putt / Hub-Bub on Twitter
- Sparkle City Mini Putt – Spartanburg, SC blog post on A Couple of Putts

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter.

Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf

Minigolf blog post about "The BEST Mini Golf Course in Venice".

Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf in Venice

Running from May to July 2015 Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf is a fully playable art-installation minigolf course in Venice.

The layout is is described as "The BEST Mini Golf Course in Venice"

While Emily and I won't be able to make it over to play this time, our friends Gareth and Lhurlyn Holmes were recently on holiday in Venice and luckily for them they were able to play the course on the trip!

Crazy Golf controversy with a Costa Concordia hole!

Lhurlyn plays tees-off on hole 4 - John Akomfrah's 'The Turkey Shoot Galactico'

  

While Gareth is a Pro-Putter it was Lhurlyn who came out the winner. by one-point. Gareth informs me that he had been playing while refreshed from a few beers. Here he is playing the 'Pleasure Seekers' hole by Candice Jacobs

Gareth and Lhurlyn both took a dreaded seven on the last hole (Ellie Harrison's 'Life Raft') as they hit their balls into the water

The EM15 project is a collaboration between artist-led organisations and institutions including the Beacon Art Project in Lincolnshire, One Thoresby Street in Nottingham, New Art Exchange in Nottingham, QUAD in Derby, Nottingham Trent University and The University of Nottingham.

The holes in Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf have been designed by John Akomfrah, Yara El-Sherbini, Doug Fishbone, Ellie Harrison, Candice Jacobs, Hetain Patel, Lindsay Seers, Yinka Shonibare MBE and Eyal Weizman.

So, why was Mini Golf chosen for the art installation? Well, the 56th Venice Biennale called for responses to 'The Leisure Principle' - and what better way to spend your leisure time than putting around a miniature golf course.

The Leisure Principle considers the concept of tourism and trade as a metaphor to explore current global economic complexities through one of the defining principles of leisure - that of consumption - and how this consumption shapes our identity.

EM15 is a collective from the East Midlands region of the UK and aims to inspire a new generation of artists, curators and audiences, as well as representing diverse cultures and perspectives, and creating long-lasting impacts for the arts ecology in the Midlands and throughout the UK. For more information visit the EM15 website.

For more information on Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf and the Venice Biennale check out the links below.

Minigolf is a popular theme for artists, so whilst on our travels we've played a few art-installation pop-up crazy golf courses.

In 2012/13 Doug Fishbone and friends created a 9-hole Crazy Golf course called 'Adventure Land' which was playable at music & art festivals and galleries around the UK. Unfortunately we were never able to make it. Although we were at The Arnolfini in Bristol just before the controversial course arrived.

Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf course has got a great scorecard, branded pencil and button badge.

Links:
- EM15 website
- EM15 on Twitter
- EM15 on Facebook
- Venice Biennale / la Biennale di Venezia website
- Venice Biennale / la Biennale di Venezia on Twitter
- Venice Biennale / la Biennale di Venezia on Facebook
- Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf

Related blog posts:
- Art
- Gareth Holmes
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Photos courtesy of Gareth and Lhurlyn Holmes.

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems.

You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.