Mini Golf on the Isle of Man

Details of the Crazy Golf and Minigolf courses on the Isle of Man.

We've just returned from holiday on another of the islands in the British Isles. It was a trip where we were able to add to our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour tally, clocking up another five miniature golf course visits.

Crazy Golfers and Island Explorers

First up we had a look for the TT Crazy Golf Garden course at Noble's Park in Douglas. Sadly the course is no longer there.

Noble's Park was a nice spot, but sadly there's no longer a Crazy Golf course there

Next we had a look at the Crazy Golf course and Mini Golf (Pitch & Putt) in Onchan Pleasure Park in Onchan on Saturday 28th July. The courses are open daily from 11am, but we visited in the evening so they were closed. We did get to play them on Tuesday 31st July.

Playing the 4th of 18 holes at Onchan Pleasure Park

Emily putting on the Pitch & Putt minigolf course at Onchan Pleasure Park

We headed to Ramsey at the north of the Isle of Man on Monday 30th July where we were able to play the TT Putting Crazy Golf course at Mooragh Park. As a bonus we also got to play a Putting course next to it, one we were unaware of before our visit.

Emily playing hole one of the TT Putting Crazy Golf course at Mooragh Park in Ramsey  

Playing the minigolf Putting course at Mooragh Park

We've now visited a total of 828 miniature golf courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since September 2006.

Barry Island Resort 1995 Information & Entertainment Guide

A look at the Barry Island Resort 1995 Information & Entertainment Guide.

The Barry Island Resort 1995 Information & Entertainment Guide

As a big fan of the British seaside and traditional holiday entertainment I was pleased to find a Barry Island Resort 1995 Information & Entertainment Guide while sorting through some paperwork at home.

Seeing the Barry Island Resort 1995 Information & Entertainment Guide brought back so many happy memories.

My family used to go on holiday to Barry Island in the late 80's and 90's and loved it there. The holiday camp was absolutely marvellous, with everything from swimming to Crazy Golf, to snooker and darts, to the fun fair and more - all free of charge once you had checked in. My brother's and I would spend hours going from one activity to another and then spend the evening in the arcades playing games such as Blasteroids, Xybots, Double Dragon and Wardner. Halcyon days.

Check out the six-page Barry Island Resort 1995 Information & Entertainment Guide. As a former holidaymaker at the camp, fan of the British seaside, postcard collector and marketer it makes for interesting reading - especially some of the adverts!

What a cover

There was always so much to do at Barry Island

The entertainment continues

Back when you could still advertise cigarettes!

A great bit of marketing and use of a postcard image

I spent many an hour at building 5 - Princes Ballroom as that's where the Crazy Golf, snooker and arcade was 

Barry Island Resort was originally a Butlin's holiday camp in 1966 and was re-opened as a Majestic holiday camp in the 1980's. Sadly it closed for good in 1996 and was demolished to make way for housing.

I've returned to Barry Island - in 2009 and 2010. Apart from the disappearance of the holiday camp there were some new attractions, but the resort was still recognisable from the 90's. I'll have to return for another look as the last eight years since our last visit has flown by!

Barry Island in 2010

Outside the gates of the former holiday camp

Related blog posts:
- 45 minutes on Barry Island
- Minigolf Course Visit No. 121 - Barry Island / Ynys y Barri
- Barry Island
- Holiday Camp
- Postcards
- Butlin's

Holiday on the Buses in Prestatyn

We've just returned from a Holiday on the Buses weekender at Pontins in Prestatyn.

On our roadtrip we played and revisited a number of courses in Rhos on Sea, Abergele & Pensarn, Prestatyn and Rhyl, taking our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour tally up to 783 visits overall!

The Crazy Golf course at Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Village has had a lick of paint since our last visit in 2014

We've got a lot of blog posts to follow in the coming weeks.

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Holiday on the Buses

Adventure Golf at Pontins Pakefield

A look at the minigolf course at Pontins Pakefield in Suffolk.

Our friends Sophia and Karl Moles were on a family holiday at Pontins Pakefield and sent us some photos of the Sailing Through The Ages minigolf course at the holiday park. It looks great fun.

There's even a 'Titanic' on the course!

Always nice to see BIG obstacles on minigolf courses

There are plenty of nautical obstacles on the course

Iceberg dead ahead!

It looks like a good minigolf layout

Check out the other guest blog posts from Sophia and Karl about minigolf courses at Allhallows Leisure Holiday Park in Rochester, Haven's Caister-on-Sea Holiday Park and the Minigolf Sport Club Sanremo in Arma, Italy.

Emily and I have played two minigolf courses at Pontins holiday parks - at Prestatyn Sands and Camber Sands.

Related blog posts:
- Pontins

Link:
- Pontins Pakefield

Adventure Golf at Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest

A look at the Adventure Golf course at Center Parcs Sherwood Forest.

Emily's friend, colleague and minigolf rival Darren Howe was recently on a family holiday at Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest and having caught the Crazy Golf bug from Emily had to have a game on the holiday village's Adventure Golf course.

Darren getting ready to loose a shot on one of the archery themed holes

Darren also managed to nab some of the nice scorecards for inclusion in The Crazy Golf Museum. A fine addition to the archives.

There are two 9-hole courses at Center Parcs Sherwood Forest - the Sherwood Trail and Archer's Way 

The Archer's Way side of the scorecard

Check out the Center Parcs website for more information.

Links:
- Center Parcs
- Center Parcs Sherwood Forest

Is Skegness as bad as Pyongyang?

Skegness rated as one of the world's worst holiday destinations.

As a fan of the British seaside experience I was shocked to read that Skegness had been rated amongst the world's worst holiday destinations.

Skegness in May 2015

The list of 11 Worst Travel Destinations in the World You Should Skip was published by the Destination Tips website in November 2014 and recently picked up by news outlets and social media.

Playing the classic Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course in Skegness on Miniature Golf Day in May 2015

We've been to Skegness - aka Skeg-Vegas - on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour travels and we love it there. There's no other town in the UK with as many miniature golf courses as Skeggy. On our last visit in 2015 we counted nine Crazy Golf, Putting, Adventure Golf and Pitch & Putt courses on the seafront alone, not to mention those in holiday camps and caravan parks in the area and the neighbouring resort at Ingoldmells.

Skegness was also the site of England's first-ever Crazy Golf course. There's still a playable course on the same spot on South Parade.

The site of England's first-ever Crazy Golf course. The game has been played on this spot since 1926

In addition to Skegness and Pyongyang, Destination Tips also suggests you give a wide berth to:
- Bogota, Colombia
- Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
- Damascus, Syria
- Dhaka, Bangladesh
- Kiev, Ukraine
- Mogadishu, Somalia
- Moscow, Russia
- Port au Prince, Haiti
- Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea

My friend Dylan Harris runs Lupine Travel, a company which takes adventurous tourists to far-flung and often troubled destinations. On one of Lupine's excursions to North Korea the holidaymakers played in the first Pyongyang Minigolf Open Tournament.

Pyongyang's Miniature Golf course

Maybe there are comparisons to be drawn after all...

Related blog posts:
- Skegness
- Skeg-Vegas!
- Mini Golf in Skegness
- Mini Golf in Pyongyang, North Korea

Link:
- Destination Tips website

Happy Birthday Butlin's!

Today marks the 80th birthday of Butlin's Holiday Camps. On the 11th April 1936 Billy Butlin opened his first camp in Skegness, Lincolnshire - and the business is still going strong today.

I love the British seaside with all its quirks, eccentricity and traditional entertainment. I grew up on holidays at Butlin's holiday camps in Minehead, Bognor Regis and Ayr - and spent many summers in the 80's and 90's at the Barry Island Holiday Camp which used to be a Butlin's camp.

I spent many great holidays at Butlin's Minehead. It was nice finding these badges at Hitchin Market recently

In fact my parents met at a Butlin's! At the Clacton-on-Sea camp way back in 1975 and this year they are celebrating their ruby wedding anniversary.

It's probably in no small part because of our childhood stays at holiday camps - and all the fun they had to offer - that Emily and I have spent the last ten years travelling around the UK coast on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We also visited Butlin's Minehead (formerly Somerwest World) on one of our first holidays together in 2004.

As well as being home to the first Butlin's holiday camp, Skegness is also the site of England's first Crazy Golf course.
It opened in 1926

Over the years we've built up a great collection of miniature golf postcards, and we always keep an eye out for Butlin's cards. They're such colourful and fun cards, and seeing the monorail at Minehead brings back so many happy memories.

Within our postcard collection we've got a great selection of old and new Butlin's postcards. The images on the classic John Hinde are fantastic and it's been great to receive cards from our family when they've been to the camps in recent years. The oldest Butlin's card we have was posted on the 4th June 1951. It shows the Putting Green at Butlin's Luxury Holiday Camp in Pwllheli, Wales

Look at the size of the golf ball on the tee at the Butlin's Putting Greens. The monorails were marvellous too

Last summer we visited Skegness, and while we've not been inside that camp (yet) our friend Peter Jones was coincidently there at the same time for a Five Star concert and managed to buy me a stack of great badges for my collection.

Good luck to Butlin's and all the best for the next 80 years...

Links:
- Butlin's
- Butlin's blog
- John Hinde postcards

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Postcards

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.

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Crazy Golf course at Berryfields Holiday Park in Cornwall

While driving from Mawgan Porth towards Padstow on our South West roadtrip last summer we spotted a sign for Berryfields Holiday Park - a sign that said 'Crazy Golf' on it!

The sign next to the road to Padstow - if it wasn't for this we'd never have known there was a Crazy Golf course in Porthcothan Bay

A quick bit of manoeuvring and we were on the lane down towards the holiday park located at Porthcothan Bay. And what a minigolf sight we were about to behold.

We love finding interesting and unique miniature golf courses. On our travels since 2006 we've seen some very different courses, and the Berryfields Crazy Golf course was certainly a minigolf mystery. Even the question mark was in reverse!?

The Crazy Golf course at Berryfields Holiday Park was the 50th we visited on our roadtrip and the 649th visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. It was also unique!

Some theming

Something blue

Is it a boat or a castle?

The view from the mystery hole

A zig-zag hole

With a truly terrifying middle bit

It'd take a very lucky shot to get an ace on this hole

A view of the Berryfields Crazy Golf course

The other side of the two holes

A circle of pencils!

And a volcano in the middle!

Crazy Golf at its very maddest!

Not believing what he's seeing

There's also a Pitch and Putt course at the Holiday Park, that looked to be a nice layout.

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Mini Golf in the South West of England

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow Richard and Emily on Twitter. You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

Mini Golf in the South West of England

Visiting 62 more miniature golf courses on a tour of the South West of England.

We've been on some big road-trips in the past few years and this summer we had a brilliant two-week holiday around the coast of South West England.

At Gilmores Golf in Newquay, part-way through our mammoth road-trip around the South West coast of England

During our time away we visited the milestone 600th course. The Jurassic Adventure Golf course at the Santa-Fe Fun Park in Swanage, Dorset became the 364th course played when we visited on Sunday 31st May.

Jurassic Adventure Golf in Swanage

Two weeks later we visited Mini Golf course number 661 at Vivary Park in Taunton, Somerset. The 18-hole course was the 380th we've played since the tour began in September 2006, and the 17th played on our holiday.

Mini Golf in Vivary Park, Taunton

We got into playing minigolf after making a resolution in 2006 to visit as much of the UK's coast and on this trip we reached 227 seasides visited. We're looking forward to our next holiday already.

Here's the list of the 62 courses we visited in Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Somerset:
• Swanage (Santa Fe Fun Park) - Jurassic Adventure Golf - 600th course visited overall
• Lyme Regis (Lister Gardens) - Crazy Golf

The Lister Gardens Mini Golf course in Lyme Regis

• Seaton - Grass Putting Green
• Oak Mead Family Golf Centre - Grass Putting Green
• Oak Mead Family Golf Centre - Pitch and Putt
• Salcombe Regis, near Sidmouth (Thorne Park Golf Centre) - Crazy Golf

Putting on the Crazy Golf course at Thorne Park Golf Centre near Sidmouth

• Salcombe Regis, near Sidmouth (Thorne Park Golf Centre) - Grass Putting Green
• Salcombe Regis, near Sidmouth (Thorne Park Golf Centre) - Pitch and Putt
• Sidmouth (The Victoria Hotel) - Grass Putting Green
• Sidmouth (The Belmont Hotel) - Grass Putting Green
• Sidmouth (The Triangle / Coburg Fields) - Grass Putting Green
• Exmouth (Seafront) - Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf
• Exmouth (Seafront) - Grass Putting Green
• Exmouth (The Imperial Hotel) - Grass Putting Green
• Dawlish Warren (Funderland) - Adventure Golf

A crazy hole on the Funderland Adventure Golf course in Dawlish Warren

• Dawlish (Station Road) - Swedish Felt B-Run Mini Golf
• Teignmouth (Sea Front) - Jurassic Adventure Golf

The Adventure Golf course in Teignmouth

• Torquay (The Imperial Hotel) - Crazy Golf

Our hotel in Torquay had a Crazy Golf course - what a bonus!

• Torquay (Torre Abbey Gardens) - Jungle Journey Adventure Golf
• Paignton (Sea Front) - Pirates Bay Adventure Golf
• Paignton (Junior Browns) - UV Indoor Crazy Golf - course removed from venue
• Goodrington Sands, Paignton - Beton Mini Golf - 600th course visited in the UK

The Goodrington Sands Beton Mini Golf course in Paignton

• Roundham Head, Goodrington Sands, Paignton - Pitch and Putt
• Torquay (Torre Abbey Gardens) - Pitch and Putt
• Dartmouth (near Higher Ferry) - Grass Putting course
• Plymouth (The Hoe) - Grass Putting course
• Plymouth (West Hoe Park) - Treasure Island Adventure Golf
• St Martins (Parkdean Looe Bay Holiday Park) - Crazy Golf
• Looe (Looe Bowling Club, Marine Drive) - Upper Grass Putting course
• Looe (Looe Bowling Club, Marine Drive) - Lower Grass Putting course

Looe Bowling Club in Cornwall is home to two grass Putting courses with some great views

• St Austell (Kidzworld Cornwall, Stadium Retail Park) - Mini Golf
• Swanpool, Falmouth (Swanpool Park) - Crazy Golf

The Crazy Golf course in Swanpool Park, Falmouth is in a great spot

• Falmouth (Gyllyngvase Beach) - Crazy Golf - now part of a garden
• Penzance (The Alexandra Inn) - pub beer garden Crazy Golf

The beer garden of The Alexandra Inn, Penzance has a 17-hole Crazy Golf course in it!

• St Ives (Porthminster Beach) - Grass Putting course
• St Ives (Porthmeor Beach) - Grass Putting course
• St Erth (Penwith Pitch and Putt) - Crazy Golf

The Penwith Pitch & Putt centre in St Erth, near St Ives, has a very bright and colourful Crazy Golf course

• St Erth (Penwith Pitch and Putt) - Pitch and Putt
• Perranporth (Boating Lake) - Grass Putting course
• Newquay (Gilmores Golf) - Beton Crazy Mini Golf

Playing the Beton Mini Golf course at Gilmores Golf in Newquay

• Newquay (Trenance Gardens) - Crazy Golf

The Trenance Gardens Crazy Golf course in Newquay

• Newquay (Trenance Gardens) - Pitch and Putt
• Newquay (Killacourt) - Grass Putting course - out of season
• Newquay (Tolcarne Beach) - Crazy Golf - course on the cliff has been removed
• Newquay (Narrowcliff, near Tolcarne Beach) - Crazy Golf - hut remains, no course evident
• Newquay (The Headland Hotel, near Fistral Beach) - Grass Putting course
• Porth Island, Newquay (Krazy Golf at Newquay Football Golf) - Crazy Golf

Putting at the Krazy Golf course on Porth Island, Newquay

• Mawgan Porth - Crazy Golf
• Mawgan Porth - Pitch and Putt
• Berryfields Holiday Park, Porthcothan Bay - Crazy Golf
• Padstow (Greens Cafe) - Crazy Golf - 650th course visited overall

Playing a Pyramid hole in Padstow

• Padstow (Greens Cafe) - Grass Putting / Pitch and Putt
• Bude (Bude Haven Recreation Ground) - Crazy Golf

A snakey hole in Bude

• Bude (Bude Haven Recreation Ground) - Grass Putting Green 1
• Bude (Bude Haven Recreation Ground) - Grass Putting Green 2
• Bude (Crooklets Beach) - Pitch and Putt
• Westward Ho! - Putting course on a signpost - not found
• Westward Ho! (Pebble Ridge) - Pirate Adventure Golf
• Woolacombe (The Bay Hotel) - Mini Golf (Pitch and Putt)
• Woolacombe (Funderland) - 15-hole Adventure Golf
• Ilfracombe (The Promenade) - Crazy Golf
• Taunton (Vivary Park) - Mini Golf

It wasn't possible to stop at, or play all of the mini, crazy and adventure golf courses, or all the putting greens and pitch & putts we saw on this trip, or those we'd heard about beforehand.

On Broad Road in Swanage there is a piece of parkland that overlooks the bay and pier. This area has appeared on many postcards over the years and used to be home to a grass Miniature Golf course.

The Parkdean Holiday Park in West Bay, near Bridport used to have a Crazy Golf course. We checked, it's no longer there.

After we'd played the Crazy Golf course in Lister Gardens in Lyme Regis we noticed on the town map that the gardens are also home to a grass Putting Green. We had noticed a two-tier patch of land near to the course, but it wasn't laid out for putting. Perhaps it was too early in the season.

This year the Ladram Bay Holiday Park has created a Jurassic Adventure Golf course at the site in Otterton near Budleigh Salterton. We didn't get a chance to play it. Charter member of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Christopher Gottfried did visit the course on a trip to Devon last year.

On that trip Christopher also visited Paignton and spotted a Crazy Golf course on the pier. On our visit we saw it had been removed. There were trampolines instead. The stroll along the pier wasn't all for naught though as I got to have a go on a Hillbilly Shooting Shack.

It's not minigolf, but it's a seaside classic - a Hillbilly Shooting Shack on Paignton Pier

Other Crazy Golf courses we had to skip on this trip due to time constraints are at:
- Pecorama Games, Gardens and Trains in Beer
- Exmouth World of Country Life
- Babbacombe Model Village
- Holywell Bay Fun Park
- Lappa Valley Steam Railway
- Old MacDonald's Farm and Bed & Breakfast
- Bideford Atlantic Village
- Devon Railway Centre

There are also quite a few more miniature golf courses at holiday camps, caravan parks and hotels in the area.

Thanks to everyone for their tips and hints about places to visit on the trip, and special mentions to Tim 'Ace Man' Davies for his excellent course list on MiniatureGolfer.com, Jam Trubridge, Matt Dodd, Helen Dodd, Chris Harding, and Christopher Gottfried.

There'll be more blog posts about the courses we visited in the coming weeks so watch this space!

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Dorset
- Devon
- Cornwall
- Somerset

Videos:
- Crazy Golf Hole in One at the Jurassic Adventure Golf course in Swanage
- Mini Golf Hole in One at the Jurassic Adventure Golf course in Swanage
- Crazy Golf in Lyme Regis, Dorset
- Mini Golf in Lyme Regis, Dorset
- Mini Golf Hole-in-One at The Imperial Hotel in Torquay
- Crazy Golf Hole-in-One at The Alexandra Inn, Penzance 
- Playing Krazy Golf on Porth Island, Newquay