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