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.

Where there was once a Crazy Golf course

A look at the site of a one-day only art pop-up crazy golf course in Bedford.

Alexandra Road, just off Midland Road, in Bedford was once the site for a one-day-only art installation minigolf course. There are plans for the vacant site is to be used for residential and commercial premises

Related blog posts:
- M!MS Empire Sunset Nine Hole Mini Golf course in Bedford

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

- Bedford

Mini Golf courses in Knaresborough

Playing minigolf at Knaresborough's Castle Yard and a revisit to Conyngham Hall.

Mini Golf grass Putting at Knaresborough Castle

Back in September 2010 we visited Knaresborough in North Yorkshire and enjoyed an afternoon wandering around the town and playing some Mini and Crazy Golf at Conyngham Hall. Last March I found out that on that visit we'd actually missed the other miniature golf course in the town! It's situated in the Castle Yard.

Emily putting at Knaresborough's Castle Yard course

Note the interesting sign on the drainpipe

The Castle Yard Putting course in Knaresborough is an 18-hole layout

The course is the first we've ever played that had a sallyport and secret tunnel running underneath it!

The tunnel was built in the late 13th or mid 14th century and was large enough for a small group of armed men to leave the castle secretly at night and launch an attack on any besieging troops.

The sallyport on the left and hole 8 on the right. While we were playing, the sallyport was opened up for a group on a tour

On this trip to Knaresborough we spent the night in the town before heading back home. On our arrival it was very nice to receive a special welcome from Andy at Art in the Mill!

Andy Grinter from Art in the Mill is a local businessman and minigolf enthusiast. Ahead of our arrival in town he'd chalked up a message for us on our visit to Knaresborough

The grass Putting course at Knaresborough's Castle Yard became the 357th course played and 591st visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. It was also the second course in a row that was played near a castle, as last month we played Crazy Golf in Tamworth's Castle Grounds.

Hole 1 and Knaresborough Castle in the background. A very nice location for a round of minigolf

Putting on the 13th hole

In our minigolf match-up on the Castle Yard Putting course I beat Emily with a score of 43 to 49.

As well as the Putting you can play Bowling on a nice looking green at the Castle

While in Knaresborough we also revisited Conyngham Hall grounds where you can find a grass Putting course, Crazy Golf and a Pitch & Putt layout.

Crazy Golf at Conyngham Hall

The Pitch & Putt layout at Conyngham Hall

When we arrrived at Conyngham Hall only one of the flags was still out on the Putting Green - it was about to close, so it's a good job we'd played the good little layout five years ago

We're looking forward to our next visit to the town already.

Knaresborough Castle

A view of the viaduct in Knaresborough from the Castle Yard

Our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour has taken us to other courses in the Harrogate district, including Harrogate itself and Ripon's Spa Gardens.

Putting at Knaresborough's Castle Yard costs £2.30 per adult. You get to use some odd headed putters for your game!

Links:

- Sports and Games in Harrogate and District

- Games in the Park - Knaresborough Castle Yard

- Games in the Parks - Conyngham Hall

- Art in the Mill

Related blog posts:

- Knaresborough

- Conyngham Hall, Knaresborough, Yorkshire - Minigolf courses played #201 and 202

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Putt Putt #2 Crazy Golf in Croydon

Visiting and playing the Putt Putt #2 art installation Crazy Golf course in Croydon.

The colourful TURF Projects Putt Putt #2 Crazy Golf course at Platform Ruskin Square in Croydon

Over the summer the Croydon-based art group TURF Projects has had a playable art installation set-up at Platform Ruskin Square just outside East Croydon train station.

With just three days before the course was packed away I managed to make it down to give the course a visit. It was well worth it.

Hole 1 of Putt Putt #2 - by WELCHWHITAKER

Hole 2 of Putt Putt #2 - by W A V E Y B O Y Z

Hole 3 of Putt Putt #2 - by Natalie Finnemore

Hole 4 of Putt Putt #2 - by Holly Hendry

Hole 5 of Putt Putt #2 - by Nicolas Henninger

Hole 6 of Putt Putt #2 - by Mark Scott-Wood

Hole 7 of Putt Putt #2 - by Liz West

Hole 8 of Putt Putt #2 - by AV Co-op

Hole 9 of Putt Putt #2 - by Iain Haines

The course had a real mix of playing surfaces - felt, concrete, plastic, metal & gravel!. The artist's designs led to the creation of some very tricky obstacles. I really liked the look of the course and the scorecards were nicely designed too.

TURF Projects began in October 2013 and last year the nomadic artist-run project team of artists, filmmakers and architects created a temporary Mini Golf course in Croydon.

The aim of the TURF Projects group is to shine a spotlight on the diverse, rapidly changing cultural landscape of Croydon, and provide opportunities for local residents and visitors to be involved.

The Putt Putt #2 art Mini Golf course is curated by Alice Cretney and David McLeavy and features work by artists including AV Co-op, EXYZT, Natalie Finnemore, Iain Hales, Holly Hendry, Mark Scott-Wood, W A V E Y B O Y Z, WELCHWHITAKER and Liz West.

Chatting to Alice at the course she told me that Putt Putt #2 has proved to be really popular with a real mix of people giving the course a play.

You can read all about the Putt Putt #2 installation and the story behind it on the Turf Projects website.

The course was the 345th played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 578th visited overall since September 2006.

Playing hole 8 at Putt Putt #2 in Croydon

Hole 1 - Easy Hole - not as easy as it looks!

Playing hole 5 of the Putt Putt #2 art installation - a very long and winding hole built around the rocks

Since July 2008 Emily and I have visited 43 (and a half) Minigolf, Crazy Golf, Miniature Golf, Adventure Golf and Putting Courses in and around London, playing 27 (and a half) of them.

Thank you to Alice for taking the action photos of me playing the course.

For more information on Putt Putt #2 and other art projects, events and activities from the Turf team check out the links below.

The course is free to play and is open until Saturday 30 August 2014.

Links:
- Turf Projects website
- Turf Projects on Twitter
- Turf Projects on Facebook
- PUTTPUTT#2 event on Facebook
- Platform Ruskin Square

Related blog posts:
- Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in and around London
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour list of courses visited and played
- Art
- Croydon
- Minigolf and Art in Croydon

Minigolf and Art in Croydon

Art-based miniature golf course opening in Croydon this summer.

Croydon-based art group TURF Projects is once again creating an art installation in the form of a playable Crazy Golf course.

The Minigolf course will be open every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday from Saturday 19th of July until Saturday 30th of August.

TURF Projects began in October 2013 and last year the nomadic artist-run project team of artists, filmmakers and architects created a temporary Mini Golf course in Croydon.

Sadly we heard about last year's event after it had happened, but we're looking forward to visiting and playing the new course.

The aim of the TURF Projects group is to shine a spotlight on the diverse, rapidly changing cultural landscape of Croydon, and provide opportunities for local residents and visitors to be involved.

The Putt Putt #2 art Mini Golf course will be curated by Alice Cretney and David McLeavy and will feature work by artists including AV Co-op, EXYZT, Natalie Finnemore, Iain Hales, Holly Hendry, Mark Scott-Wood, W A V E Y B O Y Z, WELCHWHITAKER and Liz West.

The Minigolf holes will be built using a variety of materials including marine plywood, pulped cardboard, concrete and glass, and the artists hope to produce a stunning backdrop to the traditional game of crazy golf.

On Saturday 2nd of August the team at Turf Projects are also organising a Minigolf team tournament on the course. For more information about the course and event get in touch with the Turf team on the links below.

Links:
- Turf Projects website
- Turf Projects on Twitter
- Turf Projects on Facebook
- PUTTPUTT#2 event on Facebook

Related blog posts:
- Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in and around London
- Art

M!MS Empire Sunset Nine Hole Mini Golf course in Bedford

Playing a Minigolf course 'sculpture' set-up for one-day only!

With nothing planned for Saturday 27th July I was looking forward to sitting down and not doing much at all. However, a couple of early morning tweets from Northamptonshire-based Cider & Perry Maker Mark Shirley alerted me to a Minigolf course that he'd spotted being set-up in Bedford! What’s more, it was only going to be in the town for one-day!!!

After shooting a round on the temporary course

So, rather than lounging about I did a bit of research and found out the M!MS Empire Sunset Nine Hole Mini Golf course would be open from 3pm until 11pm.

A view of the M!MS Mini Golf course from hole 7

The M!MS team hard at work on hole 4

The M!MS art collective is based in Bedfordshire, with M!MS standing for “Maximum Irony! Maximum Sincerity".

I arrived in Bedford at around 1.30pm which gave me a chance to see the final preparations and site-clearing being done before the course opened for play.

The course looked brilliant and was a great use of a long vacant plot of land in the town’s Midland Road.

A view from over the road

The idea came from artist Andy Holden who designed (and with the help of the M!MS team) built the ‘playable sculpture’ using simple and cheap materials to create the innovative and very playable course.

Photos of the course.

M!MS Mini Golf - in Bedford for one day only!

Hole 1 of the M!MS Mini Golf course

Hole 2 - from the tee

Hole 2 - this one worked really well and the ace shot was very satisfying

Hole 3 - up and over

Hole 5 - a tough loop-di-loop - I had a mixed bag of scores here

Hole 7 - a 3 here was a good result

Hole 8 - a tricky pipe hole

I played two rounds, shooting a 19 followed by an 18 in a match against Andy (who scored a 30). After the course had closed forever I was told that my round of 18 was the best of the day – a course record that will stand for the ages!

Playing hole 9 - the rotating sun

The course not only looked interesting, but it played incredibly well – even more impressive considering it was mostly made out of old pallets! The mix of easy, hard and fun hole designs meant there were some great hole-in-one opportunities, as well as some testing obstacles and second putts.

A view of the course, an art deco building and some old advertising on a building - you could almost be in the 1930's...

The course harked back to 1920’s depression era USA when vacant lots were often turned into improvised Miniature Golf courses.

The M!MS Mini Golf layout, aka Mini Sculpture Golf, was the 533rd course visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 320th played since September 2006.

The M!MS Empire Sunset Mini Golf course scorecard

The scorecard - very well designed and quite large too

Andy Holden and the M!MS team will be showcasing their work – Towards a Complete History of M!MS – at the Zabludowicz Collection in London from the 26th of September to the 15th of December 2013. I’m looking forward to seeing the final collection and film. All of the M!MS events are filmed and by attending them you become part of the work! 

Links:

- Andy Holden Artist & M!MS

- Bedford Creative Arts

- Bedfringe

- Lost Toys

- Zabludowicz Collection

- Stanley Picker Gallery

- Crazy Golf Museum

- Rockingham Forest Cider

Related Blog Posts:

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

- Putting Green / Mini Golf in Bedford - Crazy World of Minigolf course played #184
- Types and Variants of Miniature Golf visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Art & Minigolf Related Blog Posts:

- Mini Golf by Simon Martin

- Playing Crazee Golf at the Tintype Art Gallery in London

- Playing Minigolf on the Selfridges Rooftop Crazy Golf course!

- Arts & Crafts Blog Posts

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