The Masters Putting Green in Southport - celebrating 60 years in 2025

The Masters Putting Green crazy golf course in Southport, Merseyside is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.

The Masters Putting Green Crazy Golf course at King's Gardens in Southport in 2016

The 18-hole crazy golf course opened for business back in 1965.

The course on a very busy Miniature Golf Day in 2019

The Masters Putting Green in Southport is of the Arnold Palmer Putting Course variety, and opened under the Arnold Palmer branding in 1965.

Playing The Masters Putting Green at King's Gardens in Southport back in September 2009

Find out more.

You can find out more about The Masters Putting Green on the Southport Crazy Golf website.

The Masters Putting Green in Southport, 23rd November 2016

Our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The Masters Putting Green in Southport was the 150th course we played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We've revisited the course in October and November 2016, January and October 2018, and September 2019.

September 2009

October 2016

November 2016

A revisit is long overdue!

The Windmill at The Masters Putting Green in Southport, 23rd November 2016

Winning a FREE GAME at The Masters Putting Green Crazy Golf course at King's Gardens in Southport, 4th September 2009

Winning a FREE GAME at The Masters Putting Green Crazy Golf course at King's Gardens in Southport, 4th September 2009

The Masters Putting Green Crazy Golf at King's Gardens in Southport, 1st January 2018

The Masters Putting Green Crazy Golf at King's Gardens in Southport, 1st January 2018

Arnold Palmer Putting Courses.

Arnold Palmer Putting Courses are a design classic and include all the elements that make a Crazy Golf course great – the Windmill, the Waterwheel, an Obelisk, ledges, bunkers, traps, flat loops, hills and plateaus – everything laid out to make a course interesting, testing and most of all fun!

They're my favourite type of minigolf course and I've visited most of those that still remain in the UK.

The Arnold Palmer branded miniature golf courses were part of the Arnold Palmer Enterprises empire set-up in 1961 that saw the legendary golfer's name licensed and franchised to a wide-range of activities and products including Dry Cleaning centres and an Arnold Palmer brand foot detergent.

By 1966 there were 130 Arnold Palmer Putting Courses in the USA, with ten in Japan and some in South Africa.

Southport's Crazy Golf course lays claim to being the first Arnold Palmer Putting Course in the UK (there is also some information that a course in Coventry opened as the first in 1965 and was part of an Arnold Palmer Driving Range in the city). An Arnold Palmer Putting course was also located at a Driving Range in Sheffield.

Take a look at my blog post about "Arnold Palmer Putting Courses in the UK" for further information.

Crazy Golf at The Last Day of Summer event in Liverpool

There will be Crazy Golf at The Last Day of Summer event in Liverpool.

Liverpool's waterfront will be hosting The Last Day of Summer event on Saturday 30th August.

The day of activities begin at 11am and finish at 5pm and will see a 9-hole Crazy Golf course as one of the attractions.

Find out more.

You can find out more about The Last Day of Summer event in Liverpool, as well as two other summer events taking place, on the Visit Liverpool website.

A minigolf postcard from New Brighton

A look at an old miniature golf postcard from New Brighton, Wallasey.

This unposted and undated postcard shows a long lost minigolf course at Victoria Gardens in New Brighton on the on the Wirral peninsula in Merseyside.

VICTORIA GARDENS & BATTERY, NEW BRIGHTON. Photo Precision Limited. R76713. Unposted. Undated

While this course is gone, you can still find two courses in New Brighton - at Championship Adventure Golf.

The Japanese Garden at Calderstones Park in Liverpool

A walk through the Japanese Garden at Calderstones Park in Liverpool in April 2025.

We had a very nice walk through the Japanese Garden at Calderstones Park in Liverpool on Saturday afternoon.

Find out more about the gardens on the Calderstones Park website.

Adventure Golf at Allerton Manor Golf Club

Allerton Manor Golf Club in Liverpool is building an adventure golf course as part of developments at the club.

Visit the Allerton Manor Golf Club website for more information.

It'll be another new course for us to check out on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

New Adventure Golf course planned for Kirkby Valley Golf Club

Kirkby Valley Golf Club in Kirkby, Liverpool has plans to create a new Adventure Golf course.

The 18-hole Adventure Golf course would be another new venue for us to check out on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Visit the Kirkby Valley Golf Club website for more information.

Urban Street Golf at Gravity Max in Liverpool

There's a Crazy Golf course at Gravity Max in Liverpool.

Urban Street Golf at Gravity Max in Liverpool (November 2023)

The indoor minigolf course at Gravity Max in the Liverpool ONE shopping and entertainment centre has a Big Apple theme.

Urban Street Golf at Gravity Max in Liverpool (November 2023)

Last April we visited Gravity Social in Northampton and won the pub quiz there - the first pub quiz we've played at a crazy golf course!

This was the first Gravity Max location we've been to and it looked amazing. There were so many different activities on offer, with a wide-range of people taking part. The augmented reality tenpin bowling looked cool and it's a version of the game we're yet to play.

Urban Street Golf at Gravity Max in Liverpool (November 2023)

As well as the Gravity Max venue in Liverpool there are also locations in Castleford and Wandsworth. The Wandsworth location also has Urban Street Golf.

Urban Street Golf at Gravity Max in Liverpool (November 2023)

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

Advertising for the Urban Street Golf at Gravity Max in Liverpool (November 2023)

Advertising for Gravity Max in Liverpool (November 2023)

Advertising for the Urban Street Golf at Gravity Max in Liverpool (November 2023)

Roxy Golf in Liverpool

There's a Crazy Golf course at Roxy Ball Room in Liverpool's Cavern Quarter.

Roxy Golf in Liverpool (November 2023)

As well as the Roxy Ball Room venue at the Cavern Quarter in Liverpool there are Roxy Ball Rooms in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and York. Many of these are home to minigolf courses - or crazy pool.

Roxy Golf in Liverpool (November 2023)

Roxy Golf in Liverpool (November 2023)

Roxy Golf in Liverpool (November 2023)

Roxy Golf in Liverpool (November 2023)

Roxy Golf in Liverpool (November 2023)

Visit the Roxy Ball Room website for more information.

Roxy Golf in Liverpool (November 2023)

We've played several on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Junkyard Golf in Liverpool

There are three 9-hole Crazy Golf courses at Junkyard Golf in Liverpool.

Junkyard Golf in Liverpool (November 2023)

As well as the Liverpool venue there are Junkyard Golf courses in Manchester, Oxford, Leeds, Newcastle, and two locations in London (Shoreditch and Camden).

Junkyard Golf in Liverpool (November 2023)

Visit the Junkyard Golf website for more information.

We've played several on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Junkyard Golf is located at Liverpool ONE. Interestingly we played minigolf there when the site was a Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf!

Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf opening in Liverpool

Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf is opening a new indoor course at the Lyceum building in Liverpool.

The venue will be a return to the city for the brand as there used to be a Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf at Liverpool ONE.

The new Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf location at the Lyceum building in Liverpool will be home to two indoor adventure golf courses.

Visit the Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf website for more information.

It'll be a new venue for us to visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Urban Street Golf at Gravity MAX Liverpool at Liverpool ONE

There's a new indoor minigolf course at the Gravity MAX Liverpool entertainment centre at Liverpool ONE.

It's another new course for us to visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Gravity MAX Liverpool at Liverpool ONE is home to Urban Street Golf, Bowling, Darts, E-Karting, Shuffleboard, Batting Cages, Esports and more.

Check out the Gravity MAX Liverpool website for more information.

We've played minigolf at Liverpool ONE before - back when there was a Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf venue at the shopping and entertainment centre.

Earlier this year we visited Gravity Social at Sol Central in Northampton where we won the pub quiz at the minigolf course! That was a first for us!

New Puttstars Minigolf opening in Speke, Liverpool

Puttstars Minigolf is opening a venue at the New Mersey Shopping Park in Speke, Liverpool.

Merseyside will be home to a new miniature golf location as a Puttstars indoor minigolf venue is opening at the New Mersey Shopping Park in Speke.

The new Puttstars is planned to open in September 2022.

Visit the Puttstars and New Mersey Shopping Park websites for more information.

Puttstars Minigolf

Playing Puttstars

Puttstars Speke will be a new course for us to visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. There are currently Puttstars courses in Rochdale, Leeds and York. We've played two of the three courses at the Rochdale Puttstars.

Puttstars Minigolf in Rochdale

The retailtainment and minigolf boom

Minigolf is a big part of the retailtainment boom, with courses opening as standalone entertainment activities, or as part of large shoppingtainment leisure offerings in shopping centres, malls, high streets and retail parks.

Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf heading back to Liverpool

There are plans for a new Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf course in Liverpool.

Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf are planning to open a new indoor minigolf centre at The Lyceum building in Liverpool.

Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf opened its first venue in Bristol and its second location was at Liverpool ONE. There are currently four Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf sites - in Bristol, Brighton, London and Glasgow.

Visit the Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf website for more information.

We've played tournaments at the Jungle Rumble Adventure Golf courses in Bristol and Liverpool. We also visited the now closed Leeds location on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Lost Blockbuster Video store in Prescot, Merseyside

A look at the old Blockbuster Video store in Prescot, Merseyside.

The former Blockbuster Video shop on Church Street in Prescot is now Partyworld, but the old QuikDrop box is still in place with visible branding.

Another 7 years late fee

If you look closely you can also see that the original Blockbuster sign is underneath the Partyworld sign.

Another Lost Blockbuster. It's good to see the Partyworld shop trading in its place though

Can you see the blue and yellow branding?

The old and the new - we didn't know Prescot had links to Shakespeare before our trip there. The crane is part of the building work of the new Shakespeare North Playhouse

Quite a sight to see a Blockbuster Video QuikDrop box AND social distancing measures in the same place!

I wonder how many letters get posted in the QuikDrop box by mistake

QuikDrop

Retail archaeology

It's always nice to see remnants of old brands and ghost signs when they are hidden in plain sight.

Since we found the remains of Blockbuster Video near us in Fallowfield, Manchester we've been looking to see if there are any other former branches still showing signs of the brand. We've found a Blockbuster Video Express in Colne, as well as remnants in Cheadle Hulme and Marple.