Playing the pop-up crazy golf course at Efes Snooker Hall in Dalston.
On St George's Day 2015 I attended the preview launch night of London's newest mini golf course - Plonk Golf.
Along with former minigolf Pro Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd we went along to put the course through its paces ahead of its full launch to the public on Wednesday 29 April.
Hole 7 - the half-pipe-tunnel - looks like an easy ace...it's not
The Crazy Golf course layout is within Efes Snooker Club on Stoke Newington Road and is set-up on either side of the snooker hall with 9 very tricky holes to master.
The second half of hole 5 involves a Pool table!
Plonk Golf has been created from reclaimed materials that have been repurposed to create a very unique miniature golf course. There's a working volcano on the first hole, a birdcage on the hill at the third, a loop-di-loop to tackle on the fourth, and a pool table making up half of the hole on the fifth hole. There are also more pipes and tunnels than you can shake a stick (or golf club) at!
The working and smoking volcano on hole 1 at Plonk Golf!
The Plonk Golf course is the brainchild of the team at The House of Revelry and will be open on Wednesdays (6pm to 12.30am) and Thursdays (12pm to 1am) from the 29 April. A round on the course will cost £7.50 per player.
In our match-up on the Plonk Golf course I defeated Brad in round one, scoring a 20 to his 27 and setting the clubhouse record.
Hole 6 was one of my favourite holes
In our second game we both shot scores of 20. we were very happy to both finish with a hole-in-one on the incredibly tricky 'Jump into the bucket' shot on the ninth hole!
Brad about to play the 6th hole at Plonk Golf
The minigolf course will be changing through the duration of its pop-up at Efes, with new obstacles and hole configurations, which'll certainly make it even more crazy.
Results of the Plonk Golf Pro Challenge
You can find Plonk Golf at Efes Snooker Club, 17B Stoke Newington Road, Stoke Newington, London N16 8BH. The nearest station is Dalston Kingsland (Overground).
Efes Snooker Hall is housed in a nice Art Deco building on Stoke Newington Road
For more information and booking details check out the Plonk Golf website.
The 200ft long 9-hole Crazy Golf course has been created by The House of Revelry and with it's mix of putting and cue sports it sounds intriguing. I'm looking forward to giving Plonk Golf a play on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.
The pop up course was previously open for private bookings over the festive period, but will be open to the public from 29 April.
For more information, opening times and booking details visit the Plonk Golf website.
On our travels we've played a few Minigolf/Cue Sport crossover games including Pit-Pat, Q Golf and a bizarre hole at the Golf Apocalypse.
New 9-hole indoor minigolf course to open in Leeds.
The Roxy Ball Room in Leeds has announced the opening of a brand new indoor miniature golf course at their venue.
The 9-hole layout will be the latest addition to the bar and pizza place's leisure activities that also include beer pong, pool, ping pong, billiards and tenpin bowling. It sounds like my kind of place!
The new indoor crazy golf will be opening in a few months time.
You can find the Roxy Ball Room on the 1st Floor Trinity Square, Boar Lane, Leeds, LS1 6HW. Check out the links below for more information on the venue.
Pool, Bar Billiards and Table Football at pubs in Whitstable and Tankerton-on-Sea.
Last Thursday Emily and I visited the lovely seaside town of Whitstable in Kent. Next to our B&B on Oxford Road was the East Kent pub, which advertised itself as having the best beer garden in the town. We didn't get as far as the garden as we spotted a Pool table (with Free Play on a Thursday) and a room with a Bar Billiards table and a very old Table Football!
The East Kent had a pub dog that was keen for customers to play with it, along with a squawking Parrot next to the bar and the Bar Billiards table!
Bar Billiards and Table Football in the Games Room at the East Kent in Whitstable
Our Pool competiton began at The Royal in Tankerton-on-Sea, another nice pub that is worth a visit, and saw me take a 2-nil lead in our first-to-three competition. In the first game at the East Kent Emily took the win to force another game. I won that one to win 3-1.
In our Bar Billards match I was victorious 1,050-nil after Emily wiped out her total of 190 by knocking down the black peg.
The final game in our pub games series was on the brilliant old Table Football machine. The table was in great condition and it was far superior to modern machines. I won the game 6-3 in a match that lasted a good 20 minutes! One of the attempts on goal took about 5 minutes!
The Table Football in the Games Room at the East Kent pub in Whitstable
The East Kent is a great pub. It's nice and friendly with lots to do (there are two dart boards as well) and a good selection of drinks. I could easily spend a day in there.
Sporting rivals compete in contests in Letchworth, Baldock & Stevenage
On Thursday 7th June I competed in a series of sport and games challenges against Dodgeball and Minigolf adversary “Rowdy” Russell Fenner. The ‘Octathlon’ event comprised of eight contests in three towns.
The contest ended up as an Octathlon, rather than a Biathlon, Duathlon, Triathlon, Pentathlon, Hexathlon, Heptathlon or Decathlon of events due to a mixture of us being unable to agree on a set number of contests to play and not actually planning the event further than setting what the first event would be!
The action began at the Letchworth Par-3 Golf Centre with a 9-hole round of Pitch & Putt. Both of us have previously played the course “a few years ago” so it was as level a playing field as it could be.
“Rowdy” Russell won the honour of teeing-off first with a preliminary round win in a game of Rock Paper Scissors. He promptly shanked the ball off the tee and landed in the heavy rough.
'Rowdy' Russell Fenner looks for a missing Golf ball
Choosing to play the Golf round early was a wise decision as the weather was fairly mild at tee-off, but took a turn for the worse later in the day. The round on the tough but fair Letchworth layout saw Russell score a 45(+18) while I scored a 38(+11) to take the opening win of the contest.
Following what would be the only true outdoor event of the Octathlon we headed inside for a game of Pool.
With Russell previously having the edge in Pool matches against me he won the Rock Paper Scissors game and let me have the break. The match was the closest we’ve had against each other, and after ‘Rowdy’ miss-cued on his first shot I thought I’d pick up a win. However, Russell won the contest to tie the Octathlon at one win apiece.
Playing Pool at Letchworth Par-3 Golf Centre
Next up, Darts. Not Russell’s strongpoint, but with one high double figure score of 78 punctuating a run of dismal throws he did manage to get down to a double. The round of Darts was played in a 301-straight-in, double-out format and saw me once again take the lead in the series with an escape of the ‘madhouse’ by hitting double-1.
The scoreboard from the Darts match at Letchworth Par-3 Golf Centre
With the games in Letchworth completed we headed down the road to The Orange Tree Inn in nearby Baldock for a game or Bar Billiards. Walking into the public bar at the Orange Tree there was a bit of a shock as the table was nowhere to be seen! Luckily after asking the barman we found the table had been moved into the other bar. It’s in a great position now with space to play shots from both sides. There is also a great old painting of the Orange Tree Pub hanging over the table.
Russell aiming for the 200-hole on the Orange Tree's Bar Billiards table
As Russell had never played Bar Billiards before we had a friendly warm-up contest. The match saw some steady, if a little low, scoring before the sudden-death shoot-out. With the score at 500 to 340 Russell needed to hit the 200-hole to win and after a few missed shots he nailed it to take the win in his debut game.
The Octathlon round kicked off after a short interval and the game was played in front of an audience of a man eating his lunch. It must have been the added pressure of having a spectator present that led to some of the most dismal Bar Billiards ever played. The man “having played a bit in his time” offered a few tips, but to no avail to either of us. The contest once again went to a sudden-death play-off, however Russell was in an almost unwinnable position and as I didn’t topple the black mushroom it stayed that way as I picked up a win 640 to 550, despite Russell once again nailing the 200-shot.
The new position of the Orange Tree's Bar Billiards table
The morning session of gaming action finished with a 3-1 scoreline and was punctuated by a sportsman’s lunch of Fish & Chips at the excellent Cox’s of Letchworth. Adequately fuelled for the final stretch of competition the two rivals headed down the A1(M) to Stevenage and the Hollywood Bowl to play a game of Tenpin Bowling.
Unfortunately due to it being half-term all of the bowling lanes were fully booked for the next two hours, so the next series of sporting endeavours, would have to be amusement arcade games-based.
First up in the arcade games was Air Hockey and a decisive 7-1 win to Russell to make the Octathlon series 3-2.
A 7-1 Air Hockey win for Russell in Stevenage
The next contest was a battle at the Basketball Hoops shoot-out ticket game. Russell once again won the Rock Paper Scissors contest to see who would go first and ‘put me into bat’. I opened with a few good baskets before failing to score much more. My total to beat was a meagre 17. Russell stepped up and nailed 19 to take the contest to three wins apiece.
The seventh game and last of the three amusement arcade events was the Sideshow Shooting Gallery ticket-game. Winning the Rock Paper Scissors I let Russell play first to set a target score. Missing just one shot he ended with a good total of 190 points. This wasn’t enough though as I hit each of my targets and scored a perfect 200 and make the Octathlon 4-3 in my favour.
Sideshow Shootout in Stevenage
With time ticking on and the weather getting worse there were no other sports or games options in the area and so the final contest would be a best-of-5 Rock Paper Scissors match.
Rock Paper Scissors was a running-theme of the Octathlon due to both players’ history in the game, having competed against each other in the team contest at the 2011 Sportingbet UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships in London.
Throughout the day Russell had won most of the RPS ‘honours’ games and managed to keep his nerve to win the Rock Paper Scissors contest to tie the Octathlon at 4-4. Far from being a decision making tool, in this instance Rock Paper Scissors had merely been an (un)decider in the Octathlon event!
Another multi-sport contest is scheduled to take place between the pair of us later in the summer...
Results and report from the latest head-to-head Miniature Golf match-up between ‘Squire’ Richard Gottfried & ‘Rowdy’ Russell Fenner.
TopGolf Watford's Adventure Golf
On Tuesday 21st February I headed over the border into Hertfordshire to visit the TopGolf game centre in Watford and face-off against my old Dodgeball UK rival and sometimes Minigolf opponent ‘Rowdy’ Russell Fenner in a Challenge Match on the 18-hole Adventure Golf course.
Our last match-up in November 2011 had ended in victory for me with a score-line of 44-55, with Hatfield’s ‘Rowdy’ Russell hitting a few unfortunate shots to end some way off.
This time the game was to be much closer and more like some of the previous contests we’ve had at the course.
Over the front-9 I shot a 23 to Russell’s 29, but on the 10th hole an excellent fightback began from the Stevenage Borough fan as he scored a hole-in-one – the only one for either of us in the whole match.
'Rowdy' Russell Fenner playing the 10th hole at TopGolf Watford's Adventure Golf course - the scene for the match's solitary hole-in-one
Hole 11 was to prove slightly tougher though and ‘Rowdy’, a Tottenham Hotspur supporter, scored an unfortunate four on the stone circle obstacle hole.
Russell hitting his second shot on the 'green' at the stone circle 11th hole
Me playing my tee-shot on the 13th hole
With Fenner hitting a solid run of six twos on the back-9 there were just two shots in it heading into the modified and nightmarish18th hole!
The way the final hole is now laid out means that a perfectly paced shot needs to be played as an approach to the ball connection mini-ramp and tunnel. Too light a shot, or slightly too hard, and another lay-up would be required, possibly two. Tackling the newly added, but slightly skewiff, central obstacle that contains an enclosed ramp, some netting and another exposed ramp would be the ploy of a madman and so both of us went for the lay-up safe two.
Russell was playing the even numbered holes, stepped up and nailed the two.
I stepped up, hit the tee shot, and waited. It stopped slightly shorter than Russell’s had, but not far enough that it required another lay-up. I also scored a two, which was enough to secure a victory of 46-48. Russell’s back-9 score of 19 to my 23 was very commendable indeed.
As is now tradition following a game on the Adventure Golf course we headed indoors to the warm to have a game of Pool. Russell won both games. The first seemed to take about half an hour as neither of us were playing particularly well, but to an outside onlooker they may well of thought we were playing the ‘snookers’ on purpose!
Another great evening of minigolf, looking forward to more challenge matches in warmer weather later in the year.
Photos of the TopGolf Watford Adventure Golf course prior to the game's start.
On Thursday 15th December 2011 me and Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley met up in Milton Keynes for a "Best-of-Three, no wait make it Best-of-Five Games Series" for the title of MK Winter Sporting Challenge Champion! We had planned to play a lot of Quasar Laser Tag at the Tenpin Mega Bowl at MK Leisure Plaza, however there were no spaces in games until 9pm! So with time to spare we headed to the brand new Pirate Island Adventure Golf at the Abbey Hill Golf Centre for a game of Minigolf.
Photo: Not me & Marc having a Pirate Battle on a Minigolf Island!
As I had arrived in MK before Marc, I had managed to get a game in beforehand (making it minigolf course #281 played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!). Not that my warm-up game helped too much in our challenge match. Under floodlight conditions we hit the 18-hole course and it's excellent Pirate-theming for a match played in very cold conditions.
Photo: Marc Putting on a Double Plateau Hole
Photo: Richard on a Raft attached to a Minigolf Island
To say the match was one-sided in the early stages would be an understatement as Marc, the BMGA British #89, raced ahead over the Front-9 holes.
Video - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley Plays the 10th Hole at Pirate Island Adventure Golf:
Photo: Marc has a testing second Putt on the 18th hole
But by the 17th hole the match was level on both Strokeplay and Matchplay! I stepped up first and hit a two, Marc played his first shot which ended in the rocks, played his second and waited... and it ran just passed the hole and he had to settle for a very unfortunate three. The final scores - Richard 52, Marc 53.
Game One - Winner - 'Squire' Richard Gottfried
Following the Minigolf match we decided to head back to the Mega Bowl to have a warm game of Quasar.
While we were waiting for the 9pm game slot we decided to have a game of the Crazy Golfers Favourite - Air Hockey. Despite leading for most of the (10-minute!) match I lost 8-9 after scoring an own goal in injury time. The game conditions were quite interesting, with just two of us and with no Emily to fetch #TheMan when the Puck went flying off the table there were a lot more throw-ins than usual!
Game Two - Winner - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley
With 9pm approaching we headed to the check-in desk, signed the disclaimer (no running, no swearing, no fighting, no rifle-butts to the face etc.), found out that it would just be a one-on-one match and then waited to be called through to the Briefing Room. While we were waiting to go through Marc had the opportunity to have his photo taken with one of his Minigolf heroes!
Photo: Marc and his Minigolf Hero
Once in the Briefing Room the man said that before we could play we would have to watch "The DVD"! He seemed quite apologetic that we'd have to sit through it, however Marc and I were quite excited as in all the times we've played Laser Tag we've never had a briefing through a TV/DVD! The video was very informative, told us we were playing "Q-2000" and that once the film was over we'd be led to "The Vesting Room"!
The Milton Keynes Quasar Arena was very maze-like, with narrow passages leading to a central hub. With the game beig a solo battle the bases were unfortunately not in play. The game saw each of us trying to track the other down and in the quite big arena you had to take your opportunities and use the element of surprise on your opponent. Marc managed to do this and scored more hits, ending the game with a win for the REDS.
Photo: RED Marc and GREEN Richard
In the Quasar Stats for our game Marc was playing as RED 9 while I was GREEN 12. Marc won with a Hit Ratio of 0.9% after firing 855 shots and scoring 1,600 points! Inconceivably I was shown to have fired 4,003 times in our battle and ended with a Hit Ratio of 0.1% and 1,000 points!?
In the Never Ending Laser Tag War waged between the forces of the REDS, BLUES, GREENS, and YELLOWS players in the Laser Tag Rankings have taken part in Laser Battles in 'laser-war-torn' places including Birmingham, Hemel Hempstead, Bristol, London, Peterborough, Crawley, New Brighton, Cannock, Whitstable, Skegness, Rayleigh and Milton Keynes.
Updated Laser Tag Rankings following the MK Battle:
Click to enlarge image
Game Three - Winner - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley
With the series at two-wins-to-one in Marc's favour we headed to the Pool tables. The table we played on seemed to have a bit of a slope and was also a bit troublesome if you were shooting from one end of it, as you had to open the door to the Hurricane Simulator arcade machine to get any sort of leverage!?
The other Pool table was out of order, but happened to be the one with any chalk in the chained up chalk holder!
In our match Marc won, with me still having three balls left to pot when Marc nailed the black for victory.
Game Four - Winner - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley
After playing Pool we (I) tried to make the series a best-of-seven event, but Super Mario Kart wouldn't accept any of our coins and someone had jammed a pound coin and a ten pence piece in the coin slot of Out Run 3, putting paid to any chance of another win for me.
Overall Champion of the MK Winter Sporting Challenge - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley
Ultimate MK Games Champion Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley said "I knew it was going to be tough, especially after the minigolf. But I always believed in myself and that belief was justified."
Perennial Runner-Up ‘Squire’ Richard Gottfried said “Well done to Marc on his big win at the games. It was well deserved indeed and he was unlucky not to beat me at the Minigolf too! I’m looking forward to some more games of Laser Tag and visits to #TheButtons soon.”
The new Pirate Island Adventure Golf course at Abbey Hill Golf Centre in Two Mile Ash is well worth a visit and we'll be heading back again. Hopefully we'll get to play the Quasar with more people next time too.
On Wednesday 23rd November 2011 I met up with old Dodgeball UK adversary 'Rowdy' Russell Fenner for a long-awaited rematch at the 18-hole Adventure Golf course at Watford TopGolf.
I've been visiting the course at TopGolf Watford since the 2nd of December 2006, when the course became the 8th ever played on me and Emily's Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. On this latest visit the first thing I noticed (after seeing the price increase to £6 a round) was the amount of changes and improvements that had been made to the course!
Photo: The 'Rocky Pines' Canoe beside the 2-hole practice Putting area
As well as new obstacles, the felt has been completely relaid so there are no patches or tears. Each hole has also had a sign put up and they all now carry names.
Photo: Hole 1 "Canoe Canyon"
In July 2010 I played the Watford Adventure Golf course three times and on each visit the course was different! The first of those visits on the 7th saw the course a little worn in places, but quite playable. On my visit on the 13th a lot of pieces of felt were missing!? Most noticeably on the tee-off areas! Instead of felt the area was bare concrete. On my visit on the 22nd the finishing touches had been made to the 'refurb', with new patches of felt over worn areas, aling with new tee-off areas of felt (which play incredibly slowly). But the course was in a sorry state and not much fun compared to how it had been.
So I was very pleased to see the improvements, both in the general look of the course and in the playability of it. Some new bunkers have been added, tricky rock obstacles put in place, and some of the holes have been extended and/or widened. To play the course now is very different indeed compared to 2010 and earlier this year.
Photo: Hole 2 "Ramp Rage"
Photo: A stone circle
Photo: The addition of two parallel planks add a new way to play your shots on this hole
Photo: Hole 7 "Pine Pass" has had an interesting change made to it. It used to be a great hole-in-one opportunity, however the rocks have been changed to block the path to the hole! A bit of practice and a nicely weighted shot could see Aces still drop, but it's not as easy as it used to be
Photo: Hole 13 "Cross Paths" has also been significantly changed with the addition of a third route to the hole. My shot made it to the smaller of the two entry points to the tunnel, but was slightly too strong a shot and lipped out when it reached the hole
Photo: 'Rowdy' Russell Fenner goes fishing for his ball on Hole 14
Photo: The dogleg left Hole 15 has also been changed to now include a ramp & tunnel in the corner. Using a very bouncy standard course (golf) ball meant that the shot into it was not ideal. However, using a good specialist minigolf deadball may see a better result
Photo: A view of the exit ramp on Hole 15
Photo: Hole 18 "Pipe Dream"
Photo: Hole 18 "Pipe Dream" - the central obstacle
Photo: Hole 18 "Pipe Dream" - the last hole and ball collector
Photo: Hole 18 "Pipe Dream" - a view of the exit ramp from the main obstacle
In our match-up I scored a 44(+8) including holes-in-one on the 5th and 9th holes. 'Rowdy' Russell had a poor round though and scored a disappointing 55(+19), far worse than he normally plays as he usually gives me a good run for my money!
The Watford TopGolf Game Centre is located at Bushey Mill Lane, Watford Herts, WD24 7AB and is very easy to find if you follow the many Brown Signs it has had put up in the surrounding area.
Photo: Just one of the many Brown Tourist Signs pointing potential visitors TopGolf's way
In order for 'Rowdy' Russell to attempt to gain a measure of revenge for his minigolf defeat we decided to have a game of Pool.
I broke.
And with my shot managed to pot the black in the middle left hand pocket. As well as potting a red in the top right hand corner pocket.
So 'Rowdy' left with a 'win'.
After our dismal performances in the Sportingbet.com UK RPS Championships last month we decided against having a Rock Paper Scissors contest to confirm an overall winner of the evening's activity and chose to call it a draw.
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.JPG "Bar Billiards and Table Football in the Games Room at the East Kent in Whitstable")
.JPG "The Table Football in the Games Room at the East Kent pub in Whitstable")
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