Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf

A look back at Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf.

Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf at York Art Gallery

I played Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf on two occasions in 2016 and 2017. The first was a round at the New Art Exhange in Nottingham, the second was at York Art Gallery.

Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf at the New Art Exchange in Nottingham

As today is International Beer Day it's worth taking a look at the ace beer mat scorecard the course had.

Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf course first appeared at the Venice Biennale. It then toured the UK for a while.

I bought the ace merch on sale at the art pop-up

Branded minigolf merch - always superb to see

It was an interesting art installation and a nice, playable miniature golf course.

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Leisure Land Crazy Golf at York Art Gallery

Playing Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf course at York Art Gallery.

A look at the first three holes

On Sunday 3rd September we swung by York Art Gallery to play Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf course. The 7-hole layout became the 451st we've played and 763rd visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since September 2006.

Playing hole 2

In our match-up on the course I picked up the win with a score of 16 to Emily's 38.

My score was enough to top the leaderboard - the previous best on the day had been 26. Although when we walked back through the gardens just as the course was closing a score of 15 had been made later in the day

Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf

The minigolf layout consists of holes and obstacles created by different artists from the contemporary art world.

Hole 1 - Reactor - Alligator Resort

Hole 1

Hole 1

Hole 2 - Yinka Shonibare MBE - Football Cloud

Hole 2

Hole 3 - Eyal and Ines Weizman - The Bridge of Königsberg

My favourite hole - it's always great to score less than 1 on a hole!

Hole 4 - Hetain Patel - Coloured Processor

Hole 4  not the easiest hole(s) to play!

Hole 4

Hole 4

Hole 5 - John Akomfrah - The Turkey Shoot Galactico

Hole 5

Hole 5

Hole 6 - Doug Fishbone - SOS

Hole 6

Hole 6

Hole 6

Hole 7 - Ellie Harrison - Life Raft

Hole 7

X marks the spot

The green on hole 7

Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf course was open at York Art Gallery throughout the summer following its installation as part of an Art Happens campaign to bring the course to York. It was originally created for the Venice Biennale in 2015 and last year was in Nottingham and Derby. I played the course in Nottingham - it was 10-holes then. And indoors.

Who knows where it'll be installed next...

Emily playing hole 2

Minigolf is a popular theme for artists and we've played a few other art-installation pop-up crazy golf courses on our travels. Our friends of at A Couple of Putts have also created a few holes, obstacles and courses for art galleries and shows!

Visit the York Art Gallery website for more information on the exhibition.

Links:
- York Art Gallery

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

Videos of the course:
- Hole 1
- Hole 3 - scoring a '2'
- Hole 3 - scoring another '2'
- Hole 3 - scoring a hole-in-none!
- Hole 4
- Hole 5
- Hole 7

York Art Gallery to host Leisure Land Golf this summer

Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf travels to York Art Gallery.

York Art Gallery will be hosting Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf this summer, with the Crazy Golf course open from the 3rd June to 3rd September. The miniature golf layout consists of holes and obstacles created by different artists from the contemporary art world.

Our friends and minigolf rivals Gareth and Lhurlyn Holmes were lucky enough to play Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf course at the Venice Biennale in 2015, while I got to have a game on the course in a visit to the New Art Exhange in Nottingham with another friend and rival Jam Trubridge last summer. The art-installation Crazy Golf course became the 401st played and 682nd visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Alongside more traditional collections, York Art Gallery endeavours to bring a variety of artworks to the gallery including contemporary pieces by cutting-edge artists.

Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf will be open to the public from the 3rd June to the 3rd September 2017 in the Artists Garden. Created during York Art Gallery’s recent refurbishment, the Artists Garden is a free public space used to display a changing series of art installations, offering a place of reflection and inspiration in the heart of the city centre.

York Art Gallery recently ran an Art Happens campaign to bring the course to the city. Entry to the Artists Garden is free. For a small fee, or for those donors who selected one of the higher rewards in the Art Happens campaign, visitors can play a round of crazy golf during garden open times.

We're looking forward to playing the course in its new location this summer. Emily and I love visiting York and Yorkshire. Now we live up north we're hoping to visit the area even more in the coming weeks, months and years.

Check out the York Art Gallery website for more information on Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf.

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

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