There's an art-inspired mini golf course at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
As big fans of minigolf, and curators of the Crazy Golf Museum, it's always interesting seeing minigolf/museum crossovers.
Art Course is an artist designed outdoor 9-hole miniature golf course location in the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park and each of the holes is a creative interpretation of a work in the museum's collection.
We enjoy finding and following art trails on our travels and we spotted two while in Southampton. The first was The Mayor's Mayflower Mosaic Trail and the second was the Elephant Parade - the world’s largest art exhibition of decorated elephant statues - where there were 25 elephant statues at the Westquay shopping, dining and entertainment centre.
A relatively new term for this combination is 'artainment' - where art and entertainment mix to immerse visitors to an exhibition, gallery or installation in an interactive experience.
It'll be interesting to see where the next art-based minigolf course we play is when the coronavirus pandemic is over.
A look at how minigolf has been used in artistic creations.
We've seen the worlds of art and minigolf combine a number of times over the years.
A relatively new term for this combination is 'artainment' - where art and entertainment mix to immerse visitors to an exhibition, gallery or installation in an interactive experience.
We've seen a number of art trails created in the last couple of years and they are becoming a popular part of 'retailtainment' and 'shoppertainment' where entertainment options have been added to the high street or shopping malls to help attract and retain customers.
Crazy Golf and art.
There is currently an art installation pop-up Crazy Golf course at Coal Drop's Yard in King's Cross, London. It's playable until the 29th March. Club Golf is a combination of sport, art and retail entertainment. Artists Baker & Borowski created the 9-hole themed Crazy Golf layout inspired by the rave culture in the King's Cross area back in the 1980's and 90's.
Club Golf at the Coal Drops Yard shopping and dining area in King's Cross, London
Minigolf is a very visual thing and each course is a work of art in its own right. We love seeing time, effort and thought put into the design of a minigolf hole and when they are aesthetically pleasing it's marvellous.
My favourite miniature golf layouts are Arnold Palmer Putting Courses. They are a design classic and look wonderful. They are also a real test of putting skill and incredibly playable today.
The old Arnold Palmer Putting Course from The Rotunda amusement park in Folkestone was turned into an art installation in the seaside town back in 2008.
Our friends Tom and Robin at A Couple of Putts in the USA have also played on and created a number of art-minigolf holes on their adventures, including Sparkle City Mini Putt in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
The team at The Putting Penguin have seen and reviewed a number of art designed courses over the years too.
We're looking forward to seeing where the next art-based minigolf course pops up.
We were in town yesterday evening to attend a wonderful performance of A Christmas Carol at the Garrick Theatre. On our wander from Redrock to the theatre we spotted there's a new Stockport Frog outside the Merseyway shopping centre!
The new Christmas frog in Stockport town centre
Totally Stockport, the team behind Stockport's Business Improvement District (BID), organised Stockport's Giant Leap art trail consisting of 22 decorated giant frog sculptures dotted around the town centre during the summer.
It was a nice surprise to see the Christmas frog in town.
A look at some of the art and and sculpture trails we've followed this year.
This summer we've seen a number of different art and sculpture trails pop-up in Greater Manchester and beyond.
Last year there was the Bee in the City trail in Manchester with 100 big bees and 130 little bees to spot. Some of those are still in situ.
A bee in Didsbury
There was also an ice sculpture trail in Stockport town centre last December and this summer the town has had a very popular frog trail with 22 decorated frogs to spot on the Giant Leap.
A froggy character was part of the Stockport Ice Trail last December
Edgeleap, the Stockport County frog
As fans of tickable lists, wandering and exploring we've enjoyed the different art and sculpture trails we've taken part in.
Earlier this summer the Trafford Centre had a Big Bug Tour and on a recent trip to the Lowry Outlet mall in Media City we saw there was a Bear Hunt.
Meadow grasshopper - number 8 on the Big Bug Tour
Sitting on a sitting Grizzly Bear - number 2 on the Lowry Outlet's Bear Hunt
The latest trail we followed was quite unexpected. On a trip to visit family and friends in Ipswich we noticed an elephant sculpture at the side of the road and soon noticed a lot more of them on the drive to our hotel.
Elephant number 1 - Pip - the first of the elephants we saw
They were part of Elmer's Big Parade Suffolk in aid of St Elizabeth Hospice with 139 placed around Ipswich. In the short time we were in town we managed to find 55 of them.
Nine of the elephants on parade in Ipswich
We've also found quite a few more of the Space Invader pieces of street art by the French artist Invader on our trips to London and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, as well as seeing some reactivated pieces in Manchester city centre.
The seven Invaders in Gateshead
A selection of the Invaders in Manchester
The various trails and maps we've followed have seen us explore new places, see different things and also rediscover parts of towns and cities.
They're a nice way to bring communities together, attract and retain visitors to towns, shopping centres and malls, as well as raising money for good causes.
Do you have a favourite art-trail, or know of others? Do let us know in the comments.
There's a new Frog Art Trail to follow around Stockport town centre.
Edgeleap, the Stockport County frog
Totally Stockport, the team behind Stockport's Business Improvement District (BID), rolled out a new art trail at the weekend, with Stockport's Giant Leap consisting of 19 decorated giant frog sculptures dotted around the town centre.
A frog decorated by Girlguiding Stockport
Each of the frogs has a different Stopfordian theme and have been designed by local artists, schools, businesses and community groups.
Stagecoach's 192 bus frog
I've managed to find 15 of the frogs in my two most recent wanders around town.
Sir Norman Frogster at the bottom of the infamous and historic Mealhouse Brow
Frog's were chosen as the 'things' to follow as they highlight the £1bn programme of investment and development that is regenerating Stockport, a giant leap forward for the town.
Strawberry Fields the frog, celebrating Strawberry Studios home in Stockport
This froggy character by Totally Stockport was part of the Ice Trail last December
Our main tickable list challenge is our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - where we've now visited 911 courses. When we began there were around 600 in the UK!
Playing Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf course at York Art Gallery.
A look at the first three holes
On Sunday 3rd September we swung by York Art Gallery to play Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf course. The 7-hole layout became the 451st we've played and 763rd visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since September 2006.
Playing hole 2
In our match-up on the course I picked up the win with a score of 16 to Emily's 38.
My score was enough to top the leaderboard - the previous best on the day had been 26. Although when we walked back through the gardens just as the course was closing a score of 15 had been made later in the day
Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf
The minigolf layout consists of holes and obstacles created by different artists from the contemporary art world.
Doug Fishbone's Leisure Land Golf course was open at York Art Gallery throughout the summer following its installation as part of an Art Happens campaign to bring the course to York. It was originally created for the Venice Biennale in 2015 and last year was in Nottingham and Derby. I played the course in Nottingham - it was 10-holes then. And indoors.
Who knows where it'll be installed next...
Emily playing hole 2
Minigolf is a popular theme for artists and we've played a few other art-installation pop-up crazy golf courses on our travels. Our friends of at A Couple of Putts have also created a few holes, obstacles and courses for art galleries and shows!
