Playing the 9-hole Mini Golf course in Letchworth Garden City’s Garden Square Shopping Centre's ‘seaside experience’.
.jpg "The Mini Golf course at Letchworth Beside The Seaside") |
| The Mini Golf course at Letchworth Beside The Seaside |
While in Letchworth Garden City on Friday 30th of August I walked through the Garden Square Shopping Centre and noticed some red flags in the distance and was surprised and excited to see they were part of a Minigolf course set-up as part of the shopping centre’s ‘Letchworth Beside The Seaside’ event!
.jpg "The Mini Golf and Games course gets the thumbs-up from me") |
| The Mini Golf and Games course gets the thumbs-up from me |
The 9-hole Swedish Felt type of Mini Golf had been in Letchworth for the week and would be closing at 5pm on the very day I happened to be there!
.jpg "Hole 1 - the loop-di-loop") |
| Hole 1 - the loop-di-loop |
A round of Crazy Golf was a reasonable £2.50 to play so I headed out for a round with the gaze of the shoppers on me as I attempted to have a good round on the tough type of Miniature Golf course.
.jpg "A view of the obstacle on hole 3, hole 7 in the middle and hole 8 in the distance") |
| A view of the obstacle on hole 3, hole 7 in the middle and hole 8 in the distance |
The layout was of the smaller, more portable type of Swedish Felt but still had some very tough obstacles and fiendishly small holes to putt into.
.jpg "Hole 4 of the nice and bright Minigolf course in Letchworth Garden City") |
| Hole 4 of the nice and bright Minigolf course in Letchworth Garden City |
I started with some OK twos, but hit a four at the third. However I recovered and hit a nice ace on the seventh to a ripple of applause from some of the shoppers enjoying the lovely sunny day and taking a break on the benches near the course. I also aced the ninth to score a total of 20(+2).
.jpg "Hole 7 - a hole I hit a sweet ace on, even if I do say so myself") |
| Hole 7 - a hole I hit a sweet ace on, even if I do say so myself |
After my round I had a chat to John from Mini Golf and Games who has been setting up the course at a number of events over the summer. The course is available for hire and more details can be found on the Mini Golf and Games website.
The course was well laid out, with a nice consistent playing surface and with felt in very good condition. It was well worth a play and with a second round played on the same day half price it’s worth challenging yourself to beat your previous score. I tried, but failed to best my 20 and even though I started well with an ace on the first (a loop-di-loop obstacle – a nemesis of mine) I could only manage a 20 again, as I hit a three on the last.
.jpg "Hole 9 required a shot that was nicely played and slightly angled to the right to score the ace. Or a wall shot rebound.") |
| Hole 9 required a shot that was nicely played and slightly angled to the right to score the ace. Or a wall shot rebound |
I’m looking forward to playing the Mini Golf and Games course in future and it’ll be nice to have a challenge match against Emily on it.
.jpg "The Letchworth public enjoying a round of Minigolf on the course at the Garden Square Shopping Centre") |
| The Letchworth public enjoying a round of Minigolf on the course at the Garden Square Shopping Centre |
The course was the 321st played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since September 2006 and the 536th visited overall. Interestingly the 535th course visited was also a Swedish Felt variety and the last new course played was also fairly close to home as it was in Bedford.
I also learned a bit of Swedish while playing the course as the scorecard had the line "Högsta antal slag per hål: 7" luckily I didn't score a seven while playing the tricky layout!
Back on the 29th September 2007 I played a Putting Green course in Letchworth Garden City – it was the 38th course played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour – unfortunately it’s no longer there.
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