Minigolf and Pit-Pat at Olympiapark München

A look at the Minigolf and Pit-Pat courses at Olympiapark München.

The Olympiapark München is home to a Miniature Golf course that was set-up in the athletes village for the 1972 Munich Olympic Games.

Our friend Kevin Moseley recently visited Olympiapark München while on holiday in Germany and sent us this snap of the minigolf and Pit-Pat layouts.

Minigolf and Pit-Pat at Olympiapark München. Photo by Kevin Moseley, October 2024

It's always nice to see different courses around the world. The Minigolf and Pit-Pat courses at Olympiapark München have been on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour to visit list since we found out about them.

You can find more information on the Olympiapark München and the Minigolf & Pit-Pat Olympiapark München websites.

Par 59 Mini Golf in Bristol

A look at Par 59 Mini Golf in Bristol.

A big thanks to my friend - and minigolf team-mate and rival - Kevin Moseley for sending over some snaps photos from his visit to Par 59 Mini Golf in Bristol.

The course opened after our last visit to the city so it'll be a new course to check out on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

You can also find a Par 59 venue in Cardiff.

Visit the Par 59 Mini Golf website for more information.

Birdie Time Pub and Mini Golf in Portland, Oregon

A look at Birdie Time Pub and Mini Golf in Portland, Oregon, USA.

A big thank you to my friend - and minigolf team-mate and rival - Kevin Moseley for sending over these photos from his visit to the Birdie Time Pub and Mini Golf in Portland, Oregon, USA.

It looks like a fun place to play.

I like the look of the Birdie Shuffle Putt game too. I've not played that before.

It's brilliant seeing different courses around the world. Oregon is still on my to visit list and hopefully I'll get a game on the mini golf at shuffle putt at Birdie Time Pub and Mini Golf in the future.

Check out the Birdie Time Pub and Mini Golf website for more information.

Minigolf Taivallahti in Helsinki, Finland

A look at Minigolf Taivallahti in Helsinki, Finland.

Many thanks to my friend, minigolf rival and team-mate Kevin Moseley for sending over some snaps of these two miniature golf courses he spotted on his recent trip to Helsinki, Finland.

Minigolf Taivallahti in Helsinki, Finland

Minigolf Taivallahti in Helsinki, Finland

The two courses can be found at Minigolf Taivallahti.

Visit the Minigolf Taivallahti website for more information.

Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki in Finland

A look at Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki in Finland.

A big thank you to my friend, minigolf rival and team-mate Kevin Moseley for sending over photos of the Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki indoor minigolf course from his recent trip to Helsinki, Finland.

Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki in Finland

A quick look shows "Hohtogolf" translates as "Glitter Golf". There doesn't look to be much glitter in that sh...portable toilet hole!

Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki in Finland

Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki in Finland

The rest of the layout looks shiny though.

Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki in Finland

A scorecard from Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki in Finland

Check out the Hohtogolf West Coast Helsinki website for more information.

Prison Mini Golf in the Faroe Islands

A look at a very unusual miniature golf course in the Faroe Islands.

A big thank you to my friend, minigolf rival and team-mate Kevin Moseley for sending me these snaps of a remarkable minigolf course he spotted in the Faroe Islands.

Faroe Islands prison minigolf - there's a caption I never thought I'd write when I started blogging in 2006!

The layout is a 6-hole minigolf course at the prison, located in an area called Mjørkadalur on the largest island of Streymoy.

A closer look at the course

The prison holds 12 inmates so the course is unlikely to ever get crowded. Prisoners who are held for more than a year and a half are sent to prisons in Denmark.

I had a look online and the Faroe Islands are home to a couple of other minigolf courses should you be visiting. Layouts can be found at Hotel Vágar and at Eioi Camping.

The Faroe Islands prison minigolf course is definitely one of the more unusual we've seen or heard about. And that includes the course we played with no cups to putt into and Kim Jong Un's Miniature Golf course in Pyongyang, North Korea!

Where's the craziest place you've played minigolf? Do let us know.

Urban Putt in San Francisco

Many thanks to our friend and minigolf rival (and sometimes team-mate) Kevin 'Max' Moseley for posting us a minigolf scorecard and pencil following his recent visit to Urban Putt in San Francisco, California.

It's always great to see and receive ephemera and collectibles from around the world. These are two fine additions to the Crazy Golf Museum's archives.

Check out the Urban Putt website for more information and to take a virtual tour of the indoor miniature golf course.

Related blog posts:
- The Crazy Golf Museum
- Kevin Moseley
- Scorecard
- Pencils

Links:
- Urban Putt website
- Urban Putt on Twitter
- Urban Putt on Facebook
- Urban Putt on Instagram

A London Bar Billiards Pub Crawl

Report from a journey to five London pubs to play the classic game of Bar Billiards.

On Saturday 18th of May Kevin ‘Booze N Cues’ Moseley led an increasingly merry band of semi-pro Minigolfers on a tour of five pubs to play the fine pub sport of Bar Billiards.

Travelling in from Bath, Newcastle, Luton, Manchester and other parts of London the intrepid group of amateur Bar Billiarders met at Cutty Sark DLR and headed for the first port of call – the Pelton Arms.

Kevin 'Booze N Cues' Moseley outside the first stop of the day

The original plan for the day was going to see a pair’s tournament held across the five pubs, but on the day itself it was decided to aim to play three games in each venue with teams drawn at random. This was a great approach as some players had played before, while others hadn't.

The barmy Bar Billiardists

Lining up at the ‘do’ were:

• Brad "Flying Fists" Shepherd

• John "Wipe-out" Moore

• Kevin "Booze N Cues" Moseley

• Oliver "Late Starter" Florence

• Seth "Das Nugget" Thomas*

• Emily "Trick Shot" Gottfried

• Richard "The Black Peg" Gottfried

* nickname later changed to "Trafalgar"

Unable to attend this time around, but with nicknames decided were:

• Trevor "Le Champignon Noir" Robertson

• Martin "Middlesex Fats" Robertson

Ahead of the day out Booze N Cues had emailed, tweeted and called each of the pubs to ensure the Bar Billiards tables were in working order. The fine chaps at the Bar Billiards Online Forum and the All England Bar Billiards' Association have put together some great lists of where you can find a table (there are about 600 in total in the UK and Channel Islands).

The thoroughly mapped out and timetabled route around London saw us travel around 20 miles by DLR, Train, Tube, Bus and foot. Perhaps next time we’ll schedule in a trip on a ferry too.

The table at the Pelton Arms had recently been serviced and was good to go.

The Pelton Arms was a great pub, was doing a brisk trade and served some large portions of pub grub by the looks of it! But we weren’t interested in eating; our appetite was for Bar Billiards!

Things got off to a shaky start as one of the balls was lodged in the machine. But after getting the man he opened the table up and the ball was released ready for us to play.

The most striking thing about the table was that instead of just having one red ball and seven white balls, the table had seven reds and a lone white! This was very confusing to begin with as it’s normally the red ball that counts double, but at the Pelton Arms it was the white that was the doubler!

An odd coloured combination of Bar Billiards balls!?

Richard 'The Black Peg' Gottfried is confused by the number of red balls at the Pelton Arms

In matches from the Pelton Arms:

• Richard & Kevin defeated John & Seth 770 to 680 after scoring 200 with the final (white double) ball

• Brad & Emily bested Kevin & Seth 720 to 300

From the Pelton Arms we caught a bus to Deptford and the Dog & Bell pub. Located in a housing estate the Dog & Bell was a brilliant boozer, had excellent customer service (some of the best I’ve ever received in a pub) and a great Bar Billiards table.

Heading to the Dog & Bell pub in Deptford

Plenty of space was given to the Bar Billiards area (and the eighty year old table) and the spacious public house was a nice spot to spend some time in. Definitely a pub to revisit.

Booze N Cues in action at the Dog & Bell

In results from the Dog & Bell:

• John & Kevin lost to Emily & Seth 0 to 170 after Kevin wiped-out a score of 900 on a very unnecessary shot at the 200-hole!

• Richard & John lost to Seth & Kevin 370 to 1,680 with Seth sinking the last white in the 100-hole

• Emily & Brad lost to Richard & Seth 0 to 480 after wiping out their score of 150 points

Brad 'The Flying Fist' Shepherd entertains the crowd

The Flying Fist shows orf his new titfer while Trick Shot lines up some sort of trick shot

We then headed (by way of a charity shop where Brad got two VHS tapes for 10p in a BOGOF offer) back to Cutty Sark and on to Stratford to catch a bus to the King William the Fourth in Leyton; quite a journey.

Booze N Cues schools his rivals in potting at the King William the Fourth

At the King William the Fourth the table is free to play if a charity donation is made. We happily paid, grabbed the cues and got cracking on the matches.

The scores on the doors from the King William the Fourth were:

• Brad & Richard lost to Kevin & Seth 1,500 to 1,960 in one of the day’s best matches

• Emily & Seth lost to John & Kevin 1,140 to 1,290 in the other of the day’s better matches

The table at the King William the Fourth was the best example that we found during the day and played really well.

Next up was a trip to Hackney and the Pembury Tavern. This bustling pub was fairly packed and as soon as we walked in some other customers started playing the Bar Billiards table! This was a first for many of us and so while we waited to play we had a nice sit down and ordered some food and a few more drinks.

With only time for one match at the Pembury Tavern the result was a win for John against Richard in a ‘breakaway’ tournament.

The Black Peg plays Wipe-out as latecomer Oliver Florence looks on

By the time we reached the King Charles I near Kings Cross the scoring had gone a bit out of the window, so it was a good job we weren't playing a full tournament.

However, results for the first two games were scored and counted and saw Oliver ‘Late Starter’ Florence playing for the first time in the day, having met us at the Pembury Tavern.

Scores from the King Charles I:

• Ollie & Seth lost to Brad & John 210 to 570

• John & Seth lost to Ollie & Brad 560 to 850

• The results of the match between Brad & Richard and Seth & Kevin are lost in the ether...

Brad, Emily and I have played the King Charles I table a number of times, so were prepared for the adverse camber the table offers. It’s also the only table we’ve seen with red baize.

The merry bunch at the King Charles I

The King Charles I was the end of the line for Bar Billiards but the adventure continued for Brad and Seth as they headed to a Eurovision Song Contest Karaoke House Party on the Caledonian Road. Everyone else headed home. That is except for Kevin who stayed on at the pub to teach some locals the rules of the game, and where he also witnessed a couple getting engaged in a very peculiar fashion!

• The best total team score of the day was 1,960 by Kevin & John at the King William IV

• The worst total team score of the day (not including zeros from wipe-outs) was shot by Emily& Seth at the Dog & Bell

• The highest break of the day was 1,360 set by Kevin at the King William IV

• The player with the most wins across the day was Kevin with four victories

• The player with the most losses across the day was Seth with five defeats

• Seth played in eight games, the highest number of appearances of the group (John also played eight games, including the rebellious breakaway match at the Pembury Tavern)

• Ollie only played two full matches

At each of the pubs we visited and played at it was great to see our fellow patrons taking an interest in us playing the game. While we were playing/scoring/reffing a fair few people were asking us about the game, its history and how you play it. I’m not sure we showed them the highest quality play, but I hope we inspired some other people to pop a pound in a table and give it a go.

We’re now looking ahead to another London area Bar Billiards Pub Crawl. If anyone has suggestions for places to go do let me know via the comments below.

Links:

• All England Bar Billiards' Association

• Bar Billiards Online Forum

• Bar Billiards-related Blog Posts on The Ham & Egger Files

Pub Links:

• The Pelton Arms

• The Dog & Bell

• The King William the Fourth

• The Pembury Tavern

• The King Charles I - no website or twitter, but here's a blog post about a previous visit

Playing Crazee Golf at the Tintype Art Gallery in London

Visiting the Tintype Contemporary Art Gallery and playing a very crazy Minigolf hole at the Crazee Golf Art Exhibition.

On Thursday 6th September the latest stop on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour saw us head to the Tintype Art Gallery in Hatton Garden in London for the Private Viewing Opening Night of the new ‘Crazee Golf’ exhibition.

The idea of the exhibition was to get 18 artists to design and create their own Crazy Golf ‘holes’. The result is a wide-range of wacky, odd, strange and intriguing pieces of art. The exhibition is not a Crazy Golf course as such, but it was certainly interesting to see some other points of view of Crazy Golf!

One of the designs has three copies of the erotic novel Fifty Shades of Grey laid (splayed!) out as a Minigolf Putting course, another is a short film, others are a series of sketches and one is a series of photos of a derelict Crazy Golf course in Bournemouth. It’s one we’ve visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and I recognised it straight away!

Artist Joby Williamson created a Crazee Golf challenge hole called ‘dancefloor yips’ and offers visitors the chance to hit a ball through the air, towards a hole in the top right hand corner of a window and onto a makeshift green on the roof below! Me and my Minigolf Doubles teammate Kevin ‘Max’ Moseley both had a go, but neither of us managed to Ace it. I don’t think anyone managed a hole-in-one – it’s very tricky indeed!

Up on the roof - The 'green' of the playable Crazee Golf hole at the Tintype Gallery

The exhibition is curated by Oona Grimes & Teresa Grimes and is open to the public from the 7th September until the 27th October 2012. I’ll be heading back to give the ‘dancefloor yips’ challenge hole another play.

You can view the Crazee Golf exhibition and photos of the designs on the Tintype Gallery website too.

Links:
- Tintype Contemporary Art Gallery
- Crazee Golf exhibition at the Tintype Contemporary Art Gallery

Related Blog Posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Crazee Golf Art Exhibition to Open at the Tintype Gallery in London!
- Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in and around London
- Arts & Crafts Blog Posts

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter.

Midlands Minigolf Club Photos

Midlands Minigolf Club Photos from the 2009 BMGA British Club Championships in Sandbanks.

MMGC Coach Emily Gottfried shows Midlands A Team member Jas Kukielka some tips for hole one at Sandbanks Crazy Golf.

2008 National Club Champions - the Midlands Minigolf Club

Midlands A

Midlands B

Coach Emily taking the BMGA British Club Championship trophy to the club house before the tourney teed off

Top Midlands Junior Owen 'Jackpot' Johnson plays a shot.

Midlands Captain 'Squire' Richard Gottfried plays a shot on the first hole.

The Midlands team watches Leo Kukielka on the fourth hole during the B Team's match with Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club's Z Team.

Leo Kukielka tees-off on the third hole.

Midlands A Team members 'Squire' Richard Gottfried and Jas Kukielka have a moment to reflect on 'what went wrong'.

The Midlands Minigolf Club can now be found on Facebook.

Sandbanks Crazy Golf website.

British Minigolf Association website.