Urban Street Golf at Gravity Max in Liverpool

A look at the Urban Street Golf course at Gravity Max in Liverpool.

Our friend and minigolf rival Gareth Holmes recently visited Gravity Max and sent these photos of the Urban Street Golf course there.

We visited Gravity Max on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour during our last trip to Liverpool last November. The course looks superb lit up in the daytime, and looks stunning in the evening.

Visit the Gravity website for more information on Gravity Max, Gravity Active and Gravity Social.

A Mini Golf Apocalypse

A look back at the Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London.

As we're in the midst of a pandemic I thought it'd be interested to look back at an apocalypse - the Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course from 2012.

Looking back to 2012

We played the Golf Apocalypse miniature golf course back in August 2012. The layout had been created as part of the London Pleasure Gardens, an area set-up to tap into the passing trade between the DLR and the London 2012 Olympic Games at the ExCel centre.

A BIG piece of OBEY street art in the distance

Golf Apocalypse was the first really really really mad-cap pop-up course we played on our travels.

What a sight!

A crazy set-up

The layout contained all manner of strange minigolf obstacles and we found ourselves playing through the fuselage of a crashed aeroplane, around a pinball machine, a snooker table and into a volcano.

What a thing to putt through

Pinball wizard

Snooker loopy

The End

Pop-up crazy golf

The pop-up miniature golf course was the first to use reclaimed materials in its construction. Something that has become commonplace these days and we've seen and played a number of funky, junky, scrap, ghetto, trash, garbage, graffiti, wreck and art-based courses since.

Playing hole 2

Competitive minigolf

In our minigolf match-up Emily picked up the win with a score of 25. I was second with 26, with Gareth Holmes third with 27 and Alan Norman on 28.

Emily playing hole 3

22 was a very good score to get on the 9-hole course

The course’s designer and owner, Dave Lovatt, was also responsible for the 9-hole Crazy Golf course that staged the Welsh Open Crazy Golf Championships as part of the Newport Big Splash Festival in 2010. Following the 2012 pop-up in London the course moved on to Bristol.

Crazy golfing at the end of the world - from l-r Gareth Holmes, Richard Gottfried, Emily Gottfried, Dave Lovatt, Alan Norman

Our challenge match with Dave went to a sudden-death play-off between Dave and Alan after both players had shot rounds of 22. Dave picked up the win on the deciding hole to take the title. I had finished on 24, Gareth had a 25 and Emily had shot a 29.

Alan snookered

Gareth putting on hole 1

A different sort of podium

Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

The 9-hole Golf Apocalypse course was the 304th course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

More photos of the Golf Apocalypse course.

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Pizzaman - Winner of the European Gluten Free Pizza Championships

My mate Gareth Holmes was recently travelling on a number 21 bus through New Cross and spotted a sign for gluten free pizza! It was quite a specific sign too - proclaiming that the takeaway was the Winner of the European Gluten Free Pizza Championships 2015.

I never knew such a tournament existed!

Pizzaman - Championship winning pizza

Although having had a cursory glance on the Internet I can't find the full results of the competition...

You can find Pizzaman at 207 Lewisham Way, New Cross, London.

Minigolf litter

Spotting some minigolf ephemera on the streets of London.

My mate and minigolf rival Gareth Holmes has turned up another piece of minigolf ephemera - this one quite literally from the streets of London - as he found a discarded scorecard from the Battersea Putt in the Park course on the pavement outside The Latchmere Pub at 7am!

The front of the abandoned scorecard that Gareth found on his travels

Looking at Player 2's score we think they should consider turning pro.

The scores from the AME vs CON match-up played sometime before 7am on the 22nd June 2017...

Gareth has also recently spotted minigolf adverts on the tube and at bus stops in the capital. He's now the official Principal Public Transport Minigolf Advertisement Spotter of the blog and The Crazy Golf Museum.

Gareth lending our friend and minigolf rival Alan 'Stormin' Norman a helping hand to retrieve a golf ball at Wandsworth Park

There are three Putt in the Park minigolf courses in London. We've played the Wandsworth Park and Battersea Park courses, but have yet to hit the Acton layout.

The Battersea Park minigolf course

Link:
- Putt in the Park

Related blog posts:
- Gareth Holmes
- Crazy Golf in London
- Putt in the Park Minigolf at Wandsworth Park, London
- Minigolf with The Putting Penguin at Putt in the Park
- Putt In The Park Mini Golf at Battersea Park in London

Another Crazy Golf advert in London

Another minigolf advert spotted on London's public transport network.

Gareth Holmes has done it again, this time he's spotted an advert for the Minigolf course at Columbus Courtyard in Canary Wharf, London.

The course was originally open until the end of June, but on the website it's an ongoing activity

The Minigolf course at Columbus Courtyard opened in May this year. The 9-hole course is FREE to play! Check out the Canary Wharf website for more info.

Related blog post:
- Crazy Golf in London

Junkyard Golf Club on the London Underground

Spotting another advert for London's Junkyard Golf Club on the London Underground.

My mate and minigolf rival Gareth Holmes has spotted another advert for the Junkyard Golf Club while travelling on the tube in London.

Junkyard Golf Club's latest advert for its London Crazy Golf courses

There are four Crazy Golf courses at Junkyard Golf Club in the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane.

The brand also has two courses in Manchester Piccadilly - although the Manchester venue is moving to a new site in August.

Junkyard Golf is heading to Oxford too, with a new location opening at the redeveloped Westgate shopping centre.

Visit the Junkyard Golf Club website for more details on the venues, opening times and prices.

Related blog posts:
- Crazy Golf in London
- Junkyard Golf
- Junkyard Crazy Golf on the tube

Post-Apocalyptic Minigolf at Somerset House

Play a Post-Apocalyptic Minigolf course at the Now Play This festival in London.

My mate and minigolf rival Gareth Holmes spotted a piece in Time Out about the Now Play This event taking place at Somerset House in London from the 7th to the 9th April. The festival of experimental games design will feature a post-apocalyptic minigolf course!

The Now Play This miniature golf course has been created by Gary Campbell and Jeannine Inglis Hall and is called 'Anthropo-Scenic Golf'. It will be available to play on Saturday 8th April.

Back in 2012 our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour took us to East London where we played at the Golf Apocalypse. That was indeed a crazy game of minigolf.

Playing the 'Golf Apocalypse' Mini Golf course at London's Pleasure Gardens, near Pontoon Dock

Now Play This coincides with the city-wide games initiative, the London Games Festival. Check out the Now Play This, London Games Festival and Somerset House websites for more information.

If you're visiting the event you may want to check out some of the other miniature golf courses in London while you're in the city.

Junkyard Crazy Golf on the tube

Spotting an advert for London's Junkyard Crazy Golf on the London Underground.

Thanks to my mate and minigolf rival Gareth Holmes for sending me this snap of an advert for London's Junkyard Crazy Golf course he spotting on the tube earlier this week.

The Junkyard Crazy Golf advert on a Northern Line tube train

We haven't been to the four London Junkyard Crazy Golf courses at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane yet, but the Manchester courses are two of our most local minigolf layouts and were the 718th and 719th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

One of the holes at Junkyard Crazy Golf in Manchester

Check out the Junkyard Crazy Golf website for further details, opening times and prices.

It's always nice to see minigolf advertising. Last year we saw an advert for the Shanklin Seafront Crazy Golf course on an Island Line tube train.

Related blog posts:
- Crazy Golf in London
- Playing Junkyard Golf in Manchester

Link:
- Junkyard Crazy Golf

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. Please do sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter too.

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.

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.

Lyle & Scott's Hole-in-One Challenge

Playing the special Minigolf Hole-in-One Challenge at Lyle & Scott's Carnaby Street shop in London.

All this week the clothing brand Lyle & Scott has had a special Hole-in-One Minigolf Challenge set up at the flagship store on Carnaby Street. The layout has been supplied by Urban Crazy.

On my lunch-break yesterday I popped along with fellow Minigolfer Gareth 'Osmosis' Holmes and my old Dodgeball rival 'Rowdy' Russell Fenner as we tried our luck on the tricky challenge that had been set-up as a promotion for The Masters golf tournament.

Adam from Urban Crazy was on-hand at the hole to instruct players about the challenge and we saw him knock in a couple of good holes-in-one.

Urban Crazy's Adam on the Lyle & Scott Hole-in-One Challenge hole on Carnaby Street

Each player was given three attempts to register a hole-in-one and win a prize. Both winners and losers could make use of a discount on the day too for purchases in-store.

Tee-ing up my shot

Gareth Holmes failing to get an Ace as Adam and Russell look on

Small swing and a big miss for 'Rowdy' Russell on the Lyle and Scott challenge

Unfortunately none of us managed to score an Ace - and we won't be sporting a Lyle & Scott polo shirt this weekend. We did see a couple of other players manage the feat though, to a ripple of applause from the crowds in the bustling street.

You can still play the special Hole-in-One Challenge hole this week. Follow Lyle & Scott and the Lyle & Scott Golf Team for more info.

Back in October 2012 Lyle and Scott and The Campaign for Wool created a special Woolly Golf course in Covent Garden for that years Wool Week. That course became the 511th visited and 307th played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since 2006.

Links:

- Lyle & Scott

- Lyle & Scott Golf

- Urban Crazy

Related blog posts:

- Lyle & Scott’s “Woolly Golf” Mini-Golf course in London’s Covent Garden

- Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in and around London

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour