Socially distanced benches in Spinningfields

A pair of socially distanced benches in Spinningfields, Manchester.

One person only at this time

This doesn't look like the most comfortable bit of seating even at the best of times

We saw two other benches in the time of Coronavirus in Colne.

Hastings Adventure Golf - social distancing in numbers

A look at the work of Hastings Adventure Golf in the time of Coronavirus.

The three miniature golf courses at Hastings Adventure Golf reopened with social distancing measures in place in June.

The team at the south coast seaside venue have put together an informative film showing the stats from the work they've been doing.

Check out the Hastings Adventure Golf website for more information.

Hole 4 of the Crazy Golf course at Hastings Adventure Golf, one of my favourite courses

Competitive socialising

A look at the world of competitive socialising.

Before the coronavirus pandemic the phrase 'competitive socialising' had become a popular way to describe going out and having fun, with a number of new businesses catering to the demand of a public who wanted to compete at something while eating and drinking in a nice setting.

Whether it was table tennis, darts, shuffleboard, bingo, tenpin bowling, arcade games, or my personal favourite crazy golf, people were finding new ways to quench their thirst, have fun and compete without signing-up to a full sports league or taking things too seriously.

But we all know you have to take competitive socialising seriously – right?

'Competitive socialising' may, for the time being at least, have been replaced on a lot of people's lips by 'social distancing'. But when we're able to safely and fully emerge from isolation and lockdown there will be an appetite for playing games, having fun and doing new things.

Some of those experiences may not actually be totally new though, as people will want to experience the things they enjoyed, or were good at before lockdown.

Similarly, competitive socialising taps into nostalgia, retro experiences and halcyon days. Things that could feel even more important to people in the next few years as the world gets to grips with the effects of social distancing and the impact of the pandemic.

Competitive socialising wasn't a new thing. Instead it was a new way to describe something humans have done for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. While many of the sports and games we enjoy were codified in the last 150 years or so, people have been competing against one another – for honour, pride, money and bragging rights – for centuries.

Read more about keeping social and competitive in the new world of physical distancing in my blog post Competitive socialising in isolation.

I've also collated a number of blog posts about the pandemic as well as topics including Retailtainment, Artainment and Minigolf in the Time of Coronavirus at The Coronavirus (Ham & Egger) Files.

Benches in the time of Coronavirus

A look at two benches in the time of social distancing.

We saw a few different social distancing signs on our walk round Colne in Lancashire on Sunday afternoon, including these two on benches in the town centre.

Congo Falls Adventure Golf at Stockwood Vale Golf Club in Bristol

A new Adventure Golf course is now open at Stockwood Vale Golf Club in Bristol.

The new 18-hole Congo Falls Adventure Golf course opened at Stockwood Vale Golf Club in Keynsham, Bristol last week.

Visit the Congo Falls Adventure Golf website for more information.

Many thanks to our friend and fellow fan of minigolf Claudia the Caddy from the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club and Knowle West Beaches in Knowle West, Bristol for letting us know about the new course.

Check out the photos from Claudia's visit to play the course.

The Rules

Social distancing in action at the course

A water hazard

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Volcano Falls Adventure Golf in Castleford

A look at the social distancing measures at Volcano Falls Adventure Golf in Castleford.

Many thanks to my friend and minigolf rival Henri Myers for sending over some photos from his visit to the 36-hole indoor Volcano Falls Adventure Golf centre at Xscape in Castleford.

 

Visit the Volcano Falls Adventure Golf website for more information.

The two Volcano Falls Adventure Golf courses in Castleford were among the 20 courses we visited in the first 20 days of 2020. So much has happened since then!

Our travels in January took us to minigolf venues in Oxford, Birmingham, Manchester, Northwich, Doncaster and Castleford.

Castleford is home to six miniature golf courses and 87-holes - all in the Xscape / Junction 32 Outlet Village area.

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Social distancing at Mr Mulligans Lost World Golf in Stevenage

A look at the social distancing and hygiene measures at Mr Mulligans Lost World Adventure Golf in Stevenage.

Many thanks to the team at Mr Mulligans Lost World Adventure Golf in Stevenage, Hertfordshire for sending over details of the social distancing and hygiene measures they've put in place.

There are two 18-hole indoor adventure golf layouts at the centre at Stevenage Leisure Park - the Jungle Explorers and Ocean Adventurers courses.

Find out more

Visit the Mr Mulligans website for more information, opening times, prices and booking details.

The cups have been partially filled so balls are easier to retrieve

Another filled cup

A minigolf rhyme!

Finding Mr Mulligan

You can find Mr Mulligans courses in Basildon, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Castleford, Cheltenham, Milton Keynes (indoor and outdoor), Newcastle, Nottingham, Sidcup, Stevenage Tonbridge and Woking.

Playing at Mr Mulligans

We've visited all the Mr Mulligans courses apart from the ones in Basildon, Bournemouth, the indoor course in Milton Keynes, Nottingham and Tonbridge. We had planned to go on holiday to Bournemouth in April and would've played the courses there then.

On our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour visit to Mr Mulligans Lost World Golf in Stevenage

The last Mr Mulligans venue I played at was the three-course space-themed centre in Birmingham last October.

At Mr Mulligans Space Golf course on the day before Halloween last year - back then the only thing to worry about was a little bit of radioactive material on the course

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Putter Madness face masks

The team at Putter Madness have some very nice branded face masks for staff to wear at their upcoming minigolf events.

We are all prepared for our first event next week, it’s been a while! ⛳️ #Event #CrazyGolf #MiniGolf #MiniPutt #StaySafe pic.twitter.com/iE3oJElXAg

— Putter Madness (@Putter_Madness) July 2, 2020

Ghetto Golf face masks

Ghetto Golf has a range of branded face masks for sale at their venues. More info is up on the Ghetto Golf website.

Social distancing at Teezers Crazy Golf in Coventry

Teezers Crazy Golf in Coventry is reopening tomorrow, Wednesday 8th July.

Pubs of Stockport

A look at the pubs of Stockport during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown.

Pub number 1 - The Kings Tap on Station Road in Cheadle Hulme. A lovely Art Deco building. We'd never seen it shuttered before the lockdown

We've spent some of our new-found outdoor exercise time during the coronavirus pandemic lockdown visiting the pubs of Stockport.

Pub number 73 - The Crown Inn on Heaton Lane in Stockport town centre

It's been interesting to see the variety of architecture, different signage, parts of the town we haven't been to for a long time and other parts of the area we've never been to. I've been documenting them on Instagram using the #StopfordianPubs tag.

Pub number 222 - The Bull's Head Hotel in High Lane, Stockport. Our daily walks around the town took us to the borough's canals on a number of occasions

This is us outside pub number 265 - The Nursery Inn in Heaton Norris on Friday 3rd July 2020.

At the 265th pub on our lockdown 'pub crawl'. Not a drop was drunk on our daily walks in April, May, June and July

It was the last of all the pubs in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport we visited on our daily outdoor exercise between Wednesday 1st April and before pubs were allowed to reopen with social distancing measures on Saturday 4th July.

Pub number 185 - The Crown in Hawk Green, Marple, a part of the borough we never knew existed before our walks began

We saw a real mixture of pubs, bars, club and social clubs, along with a few lost and closed pubs. There were also some new pubs getting ready to re-open post-lockdown.

Related blog posts:
- Pub
- Pubs
- Stockport
- Lockdown

Pirate Island Adventure Golf in the Forest of Dean

A look at the social distancing measures in place on the Pirate Island Adventure Golf course in the Forest of Dean.

A view of the Pirate Island Adventure Golf course in the Forest of Dean

The team at Pirate Island Adventure Golf in the Forest of Dean have kindly sent over some photos of the social distancing measures in place on their course.

Find out more

For more information, opening times, booking details and prices visit the Pirate Island Adventure Golf website and Facebook Page.

Playing Pirate Island Adventure Golf

We played at Pirate Island Adventure Golf in the Forest of Dean back in October 2017. It doesn't seem that long ago!

Playing the course in 2017

We had a very close game on the tricky 12-hole course. Emily scored 37, while I shot a game winning 36.

The course was the 786th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We've now been to a total of 949 courses since September 2006.

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Social distancing at Tee-Rex Adventure Golf at Cardiff Golf Centre

The Tee-Rex Adventure Golf course at Cardiff Golf Centre in Wales has reopened with social distancing measures in place.

Many thanks to my friend, minigolf rival and local Martyn Williams of the Welsh Minigolf Club for sending me these snaps from the course.

A sign of the times 

The new rules 

The area next to the course

Walk this way

A look at the course

Signs on the hut

Playing the course

We played the 18-hole dinosaur-themed Tee-Rex Adventure Golf course last August. How times change.

It was the 916th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

On that visit we enjoyed a round with Martyn and our old friends and minigolf rivals Cindy and Jas Kukielka.

The Before Times

More information

Check out the blog post from our visit last summer to see more photos of the course and the results of our mini-tournament there.

Visit the Tee-Rex Adventure Golf website for more information, opening times and prices.

Take a look on the Welsh Mini-Golf Club website for details on joining the club for future events.

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Social distancing at a railway station in Finland

Many thanks to my friend and minigolf rival John Mittler for sending me this social distancing sign from Tikkurila railway station in Vantaa, Helsinki metropolitan area. He noticed it while making an essential journey into Tampere.

As John put it "Please socially distance yourself from the train, for your own safety."

He knows me well.

I enjoy seeing different and funny signs around the world, I'm a train nerd and I'm also documenting as many social distancing / Covid-19 signs & posters during the time of the coronavirus pandemic.

Social distancing at Whitby's Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course

The Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course in Whitby has reopened with social distancing measures in place.

The 9-hole Arnold Palmer Putting Course on North Terrace of the West Cliff in Whitby is a brilliant layout.

Playing hole 1 in August 2015

The course was the 545th visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and we're looking forward to returning to play there again in the future.

It's the sort of course I could play on all day long.