Mini-Golf at Hastings Miniature Railway in Alexandra Park

Hastings Miniature Railway in Alexandra Park, Hastings, East Sussex has opened a new 9-hole mini-golf course.

World Crazy Golf Championships 2023 in Hastings

Entries are now open for the World Crazy Golf Championships 2023.

The 2023 World Crazy Golf Championships will be taking place on the Crazy Golf course at Hastings Adventure Golf in Hastings, East Sussex, England on the 9th,10th & 11th June.

Entries are now open via the Hastings Adventure Golf website.

We both made our debuts in the 2007 edition of the event back when it was known as the Virgin Money World Crazy Golf Championships. It was Emily's first ever miniature golf tournament.

Playing hole 2 at the 2014 edition of the World Crazy Golf Championships

The competition is played on the 18-hole Crazy Golf course at Hastings Seafront. The layout is of the Arnold Palmer Putting Course variety. The course was the 39th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour back in October 2007.

The World Crazy Golf Championships began in 2003. The current champion is Adam Kelly who is enjoying his first reign as world champion.

World Crazy Golf Championships 2022

Entries are now open to the 2022 World Crazy Golf Championships in Hastings.

The World Crazy Golf Championships tournament will be held at Hastings Adventure Golf in East Sussex, England on the 10th, 11th and 12th June.

You can find out more about the event and entry details on the Hastings Adventure Golf website.

Emily playing in the World Crazy Golf Championships

Emily and I both made our debuts in the 2007 edition of the event when it was known as the Virgin Money World Crazy Golf Championships. It was Emily's first ever minigolf tournament.

The competition is played on the 18-hole Crazy Golf course at Hastings Seafront. The layout is of the Arnold Palmer Putting Course variety.

Richard Gottfried playing in the final of the 2009 World Crazy Golf Championships

The course was the 39th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour back in October 2007. We've now been to 982 courses.

Richard Gottfried playing in the World Crazy Golf Championships

The World Crazy Golf Championships began in 2003. Three-time World Crazy Golf Champion Marc 'The Force' Chapman will be defending the title in the 19th edition of the event.

The World Crazy Golf Championships at Hastings Adventure Golf

Good luck to all of the players in the 2021 World Crazy Golf Championships.

The weekend of action tees-off with a team event at Hastings Adventure Golf tomorrow, followed by the two-day main event on Saturday and Sunday.

Visit the Hastings Adventure Golf website for more information.

We both made our debuts in the 2007 edition of the event back when it was known as the Virgin Money World Crazy Golf Championships. It was Emily's first ever miniature golf tournament.

Playing hole 2 at the 2014 edition

The competition is played on the 18-hole Crazy Golf course at Hastings Seafront. The layout is of the Arnold Palmer Putting Course variety. The course was the 39th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour back in October 2007.

The World Crazy Golf Championships began in 2003. Two-time, back-to-back World Crazy Golf Champion Marc 'The Force' Chapman is defending the title in the 18th edition of the event.

Crazy Golf course on Hastings Pier

A look at the new Crazy Golf course on Hastings Pier.

Many thanks to my friend, minigolf rival and Putt18 superstar David Gomm of the Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club for sending over some snaps of the Crazy Golf course on Hastings Pier.

Crazy Golf on Hastings Pier

There's a new minigolf course on Hastings Pier.

Hastings Pier is now home to a Crazy Golf course.

We've spent a lot of time playing minigolf in Hastings over the years, but haven't been since 2017. The last time we were there we had a wander on the rebuilt pier.

Minigolf on piers

We've played minigolf courses on piers in Clacton, Southend on Sea, Southsea, St Annes on the Sea and Sandown on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and know of another in Boscombe. It's always fun playing minigolf above the sea.

Wonder Golf opening in Hastings

A new pop-up crazy golf course is opening in Hastings.

The seaside town of Hastings will be home to a new pop-up indoor crazy golf course next month.

Wonder Golf is planning to open in the old Hastings Observer newspaper offices in the town centre and will operate for a month between the 4th December 2020 and 3rd January 2021.

Each of the holes on the crazy golf course will pay tribute to the heritage and cultural events of the Hastings & St Leonards area.

Visit the Wonder Golf website and Facebook Page for more information.

The Weird World of Crazy Golf

Check out The Weird World of Crazy Golf from Britclip - a look at the World Crazy Golf Championship in Hastings.

It's fun seeing the excellent Hastings Adventure Golf course being played by a colourful cast of crazy golfing characters.

In action in my tilt for the title

Time has flown since that championship tournament in 2012!

Minigolf rules at Hastings Adventure Golf

The team at Hastings Adventure Golf have added details of Covid Secure Miniature Golf to each of the scorecards at the seaside centre.

Hastings Adventure Golf - social distancing in numbers

A look at the work of Hastings Adventure Golf in the time of Coronavirus.

The three miniature golf courses at Hastings Adventure Golf reopened with social distancing measures in place in June.

The team at the south coast seaside venue have put together an informative film showing the stats from the work they've been doing.

Check out the Hastings Adventure Golf website for more information.

Hole 4 of the Crazy Golf course at Hastings Adventure Golf, one of my favourite courses

Bookbuster in Hastings

Back in 2013 we spotted this old Blockbuster Video store in Hastings that had been turned into a book store called Bookbuster.

Check out Bookbuster on Facebook for more information.

Do you know of any Blockbuster branding that still exists on old stores in the UK? Do let me know.

You can still see the remnants of Blockbuster Video in Fallowfield, Manchester.

Related blog posts:
- Blockbuster
- Hastings
- Shops

Social distancing at Hastings Adventure Golf

The three miniature golf courses at Hastings Adventure Golf have reopened with social distancing measures in place.

Visit the Hastings Adventure Golf website for more information.

We've played at Hastings Adventure Golf a lot over the years and look forward to having a few more rounds there in the future.

The World Crazy Golf Championships were due to take place at Hastings Adventure Golf earlier this month. This was me playing hole 2 in front of a crowd at the 2014 World Championships

The 18-hole Crazy Golf course at Hastings Adventure Golf in East Sussex turned 45 years old this year, having opened on Saturday 21st March 1975.

Hole 7 of the Crazy Golf course at Hastings Adventure Golf. One of my all-time favourite courses

World Crazy Golf Championships

The World Crazy Golf Championships were due to take place at Hastings Adventure Golf this weekend.

Playing in the final of the 2009 World Crazy Golf Championships

Unfortunately it's another thing the coronavirus pandemic has put a stop to.

We both made our debuts in the 2007 edition when it was known as the Virgin Money World Crazy Golf Championships. It was Emily's first ever miniature golf tournament.

Emily playing hole 1 in the 2015 World Crazy Golf Championships

The 18-hole Crazy Golf course at Hastings Adventure Golf in East Sussex turned 45 years old this year, having opened on Saturday 21st March 1975.

The course was the 39th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour back in October 2007.

The World Crazy Golf Championships began in 2003. Two-time, back-to-back World Crazy Golf Champion Marc 'The Force' Chapman was due to defend the title in what would have been the 18th edition of the event.

Check out the Hastings Adventure Golf website for more information on the three 18-hole courses there.

Playing hole 2 in the 2014 World Crazy Golf Championships

Richard's results at the World Crazy Golf Championships

• 20th - World Crazy Golf Championships 2015
• 32nd - World Crazy Golf Championships 2014
• 21st - Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships 2013
• 17th (Finalist) - Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships 2012
• 25th - Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships 2011
• 17th  (Finalist) - Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships 2010
• 17th  (Finalist) - Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships 2009
• 17th  (Finalist) - Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships 2008
• 39th - Virgin Money World Crazy Golf Championships 2007

Richard's Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Rankings:

• October 2010 - 26th
• October 2009 - 31st
• June 2009 - 45th

Emily and The Gommery Trophy at the 2014 World Crazy Golf Championships. Emily is a two-time winner of the trophy

Emily's results at the World Crazy Golf Championships

• 34th - World Crazy Golf Championships 2015
• 26th (tied) - World Crazy Golf Championships 2014
• 4th - Castle Golf Women's World Crazy Golf Championships 2013
• 51st - Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships 2013
• 5th - Castle Golf Women's World Crazy Golf Championships 2011
• 51st - Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships 2011
• 5th - Castle Golf Women's World Crazy Golf Championships 2009
• 45th - Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships 2009
• 3rd - Castle Golf Women's World Crazy Golf Championships 2008
• 43rd - Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships 2008
• 6th - Virgin Money Women's World Crazy Golf Championships 2007
• 54th - Virgin Money World Crazy Golf Championships 2007

Emily's Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Rankings

• October 2010 - 55th
• October 2009 - 50th
• June 2009 - 82nd

Check out our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Newsletter archive and sign-up to receive future editions

Happy Birthday Hastings Crazy Golf

The 18-hole Crazy Golf course at Hastings Adventure Golf in East Sussex is 45 years old today, having opened on Saturday 21st March 1975.

It's one of the very best examples of an Arnold Palmer Putting Course.

Hole 7 of the course on our last visit in 2015

We're looking forward to playing there again in the future.

Check out the Hastings Adventure Golf website for more information.

The course was the 39th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour back in October 2007.

A postally unused Hastings Mini Golf postcard C6911 by Judges Limited Hastings. The player is on hole 12 

My brother Christopher found this Free Game Pass for the Arnold Palmer Putting Course in Hastings while looking through our old family photo albums. One of us must have won it on a holiday there in the 80's or 90's!

Related blog posts:
- Hastings
- Crazy Golf in Hastings
- A postcard of Hastings Mini Golf
- Arnold Palmer Putting Courses in the UK

Hastings Adventure Golf wants you to get naked this Christmas and ditch the wrapping

Results of a Christmas survey by Hastings Adventure Golf.

The team at Hastings Adventure Golf in East Sussex love the festive season and recently carried out a survey which revealed that the majority of adults in Sussex would prefer to receive ‘help’ rather than a gift this Christmas.

What do you want for Christmas?

The survey revealed that 75% of those polled said help with dog walking, gardening, babysitting or cleaning is the gift they would prefer to receive this Christmas.

Despite this, 51% said that they generally gift in excess of 20 presents at Christmas, with a further 14% gifting in excess of 40 presents. 45% of respondents said they have no intention of cutting back on the number of presents they buy this year, with almost 9 in ten people (87%) intending to give wrapped gifts, in paper with sellotape. 

As a result, Sussex residents will bin up to 136,000 rolls of wrapping paper over the holiday season and around four black bags of gift packaging per household. Nationally that’s 108 million rolls of wrapping paper going to landfill. 

Given this, its unsurprising that half of those surveyed agreed that their household generated more waste last Christmas than could fit in their bins.

Hastings Adventure Golf has now launched its Naked Christmas campaign to encourage the reduction of  wrapping. The Naked Christmas campaign is hoping to persuade people to give unwrapped gifts this Christmas and help make the festive season less waste producing.

Hastings Adventure Golf mascot Caddie Bear wants you to go naked this Christmas

Simon Tompkins of Hastings Adventure Golf said: “The figures associated with Christmas gift wrapping are astounding. By running this campaign we are hoping to highlight the astounding levels of needless waste and associated landfill costs of using wrapping paper, while outlining ways of solving the situation by giving ‘naked’ or unwrapped gifts. This one small effort alone can make a massive difference. Gift vouchers for experiences or home made vouchers that gift your help make a great alternative.”

Tips on cutting back on the use of packaging and wrapping this Christmas, include:

1. Don’t wrap gifts - you can explain to the recipient why
2. If you need to wrap - choose your wrapping paper carefully. Not all paper is recyclable and before recycling remove any sticky tape and decorations such as ribbons and bows as these cannot be recycled.
3. Gift someone your time instead of a present – make your own gift vouchers for babysitting, dog walking, gardening, cleaning.
4. Think about vouchers for an experience - these create fun memories - plus the bonus of no waste, no packaging.

For more helpful tips on having a Naked Christmas visit the Hastings Adventure Golf website.

Survey conducted by Hastings Adventure Golf among residents of Sussex in October and November 2019. There were 496 respondents.

Related blog posts:
- Christmas
- Hastings Adventure Golf

Entries open for the 2020 World Crazy Golf Championships in Hastings

Entry to the 2020 World Crazy Golf Championships is now open.

Entries to next year's World Crazy Golf Championships in Hastings are now open.

Taking place at Hastings Adventure Golf in East Sussex the World Crazy Golf Championships will tee-off on the 5th June 2020.

The reigning, defending and two-time back-to-back World Crazy Golf Champion - Marc 'The Force' Chapman

All competitors must beat the windmill and watermill as well as negotiate the bends, twists and ramps on the traditional seaside course at Hastings Adventure Golf – the UK’s ‘spiritual home of mini golf’.

The windmill hole at Hastings. One of the 18-holes competitors have to tackle in the World Crazy Golf Championships

2020 will be the 18th year that Hastings Adventure Golf has hosted the World Crazy Golf Championships.

Competitors can enter the 2020 World Crazy Golf Championships via the Hastings Adventure Golf website.

Entries open for the 2019 World Crazy Golf Championships in Hastings

Entry to the World Crazy Golf Championships is now open.

Entries to the 2019 World Crazy Golf Championships in Hastings are now open.

For the first time in its 17-year history the World Crazy Golf Championships is including a new junior competition category too.

Taking place at Hastings Adventure Golf in East Sussex from the 7th to 9th June the World Crazy Golf Championships boasts a £4,500 prize fund.

Each category competes for a separate prize fund. A £3,000 prize fund is allocated to the professional category, with the overall winner scooping £1,000 - the largest winner's prize in minigolf. A separate prize fund of £1,500 is allocated to the novice category. There are also opportunities for team entries in both the novice and professional categories. The junior category will have awards for first, second and third place.

The reigning and defending World Crazy Golf Champion - Marc 'The Force' Chapman

The junior category is open to those aged 8 to 14 and will be played on Friday 7th June at 5.30pm. The novice competition category, that was introduced two years ago, will continue to be played over one day, Saturday 8th June, while the Crazy Golf Professional category is played over two days, Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th June.

Simon Tompkins of Hastings Adventure Golf said “We are thrilled to introduce the junior category to this year’s championships. The three separate competitive categories - professional, novice and junior, help make the championships even more inclusive."

He added “The novice category was established two years to give non-professionals an event of their own. Now the addition of the junior category makes the championships an open playing field for younger players too. So get the putters polished and start practicing!”

All competitors must beat the windmill and watermill as well as negotiate the bends, twists and ramps on the traditional seaside course at Hastings Adventure Golf – dubbed the UK’s ‘spiritual home of mini golf’.

The windmill hole at Hastings. One of the 18-holes competitors will have to tackle in the World Crazy Golf Championships

Following last year’s fantastic efforts, there will again be prizes for 'best dressed' and 'personality of the competition'.

This is the 17th year that Hastings Adventure Golf has hosted the World Crazy Golf Championships - an event that is now firmly considered the pinnacle competition for Crazy Golfers in the UK and beyond.

Competitors can enter the 2019 World Crazy Golf Championships via the Hastings Adventure Golf website. All entrants are entitled to half price practice on the Crazy Golf course at the complex.

2018 saw the largest number of competitors in the field since 2005. Marc 'The Force' Chapman from Kent was crowned the World Crazy Golf Champion and scooped the £1,000 top prize. His score was 226, 26 under par, beating the 2017 top score of 235, 17 under par recorded by the Czech Republic’s Olivia Prokopova.

Commenting on his big win Marc said “It felt amazing to finally become the World Crazy Golf Champion! It was a great personal ambition of mine to win the event and I had been close to it a few times before - which made the win even more amazing!”

Adam Kelly took the runner-up prize of £750 and Michael Smith, former World Crazy Golf Champion, took home £500 for third place.

The novice title and £500 went to Russell Smith from Tunbridge Wells. The runner-up Chris Horn took home £300, while third place went to Italian player Mark Berezicki who won £200.

* Players are classified as a novice if they:
- have not entered the World Crazy Golf Championships before.
- are not a recognised international player.
- have not finished in the top ten of a British Minigolf Association tour event.

A postcard of Hastings Mini Golf

A look at the Crazy Golf course in Hastings.

I recently bought 50 more postcards for my collection of minigolf cards and among them was this nice old postcard of the Arnold Palmer Putting Course in Hastings, East Sussex.

A postally unused Hastings Mini Golf postcard C6911 by Judges Limited Hastings. The player is on hole 12

The Judges postcard shows the 18-hole Crazy Golf course in the foreground and you can just make out the grass Putting course in the background. The course on Hastings sea front is still recognisable today, although the area has had quite a few new additions - not least in the shape of two themed adventure golf courses.

How hole 12 of the Crazy Golf course looked in 2015

The Hastings Crazy Golf course was the 39th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour when we were in town for the World Crazy Golf Championships in October 2007. We've been back a number of times since.

Check out the Hastings Adventure Golf website for more info on the three courses on the site.

Related blog posts:
- Hastings
- Postcards

New World Crazy Golf Champion crowned

Congratulations to Marc 'The Force' Chapman - the new World Crazy Golf Champion.

Marc Chapman has won his first World Crazy Golf Championship title. The championships took place at Hastings Adventure Golf on the 9th and 10th June, with the largest number of competitors in the field since 2005.

Marc 'The Force' Chapman - the new World Crazy Golf Champion

Marc took the world title and £1,000 prize money in the two-day event. His score was 226, 26 under par, beating last year’s top score by the Czech Republic’s Olivia Prokopova who took the 2017 title with a score of 235, 17 under par.

This is the ninth time the 32-year old from Canterbury, Kent has entered the tournament and said he was thrilled to win the title. Marc said “It feels amazing to finally become the World Crazy Golf Champion! It’s been a great personal ambition of mine to win this event and I have been close to it a few times before. I’ve only played in a few events in the last five years, which makes this win even more amazing to believe!”

Adam Kelly took runner-up prize of £750 and Michael Smith, former World Champion, took home £500 for third place.

Playing along side the seasoned crazy golf professionals was a separate novice category with a dedicated prize fund of £1,500.

The novice title and £500 went to Russell Smith from Tunbridge Wells. The runner-up Chris Horn took home £300, while third place went to Italian Mark Berezicki who won £200.

Russell said “It was a really fun day. The atmosphere at the course was fantastic and I am so pleased to have won the amateur title.”

Simon Tompkins of Hastings Adventure Golf, said “Congratulations to all our winners and a huge well done to everyone for taking part and making this a thoroughly enjoyable event.”

There were several other runner-up prizes. In total eight novices went home with prize money. The World Crazy Golf Championships tournament has been held at Hastings Adventure Golf since 2003.

You can see the full results of the competition online.

Check out the Hastings Adventure Golf website for more information, opening times and prices.

It's the World Crazy Golf Championships in Hastings, East Sussex this weekend

The World Crazy Golf Championships are taking place on the 18-hole Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course at Hastings Adventure Golf this weekend.

All the best to the 98 players and characters competing in this, the 16th edition of the event.

Playing the 2nd hole on Hastings Crazy Golf course in my last tilt at the title back in 2015. In nine attempts I finished in  17th place four times

Once again, I look forward to seeing who finishes in 17th place...

You can follow the results online throughout the weekend.