Showing posts with label Southend on Sea. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Southend on Sea. Show all posts

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Southend-on-Sea's Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf (re-visit Dec 11)

On Saturday 2nd of December 2011 we revisited the 16th course we played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - Southend's 18-hole Arnold Palmer Mini Golf course.


The course was closed for the season so we didn't manage to play it on our visit.


The site used to have two 18-hole Crazy Golf courses - the East & West courses. Only the East course remains.





The site of the old West course is now just an empty patch of grass.


Previous Southend-on-Sea Crazy Golf Blog Posts
- Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf in Southend-on-Sea - Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Arnold Palmer in Southend...
- Derelict Crazy Golf in Southend...
- Then & Now – Southend Arnold Palmer ‘West’ Course
- Minigolf in Southend on Sea - Arnold Palmer West Course
- Minehead & Southend on Sea - pre-Crazy World of Minigolf Tour course visits
- From the Minigolf Archives - Results of our first-ever game of Adventure Golf against each other!
- Minigolf in Southend on Sea - The Southend Classic 2010

Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Friday, December 09, 2011

Cliff Lift Funicular Railway in Southend-on-Sea

While in Southend-on-Sea on Saturday 2nd December 2011 I had a ride on the Cliff Lift Funicular Railway. The lift was built in 1912 and reopened in 2010 following its closure in 2003.

You can get some great views from the carriage and it's 50p well spent to go on the 'trip'.

Cliff Lift Funicular Railway in Southend-on-Sea

Cliff Lift Funicular Railway in Southend-on-Sea

Cliff Lift Funicular Railway in Southend-on-Sea

Friday, August 26, 2011

From the Minigolf Archives - Results of our first-ever game of Adventure Golf against each other!

Following a recent dig through some boxes of thingamajigs, whatchamacallits, doobries and other assorted pieces of ephemera in our 'Archives' we unearthed a lost piece of pre-Crazy World of Minigolf Tour information!

The item in question was the long-lost scorecard from the very first game of Miniature Golf Emily and I ever faced off against each other in. A fine piece of ephemera for the Crazy Golf Museum perhaps...

Minigolf scorecard from Adventure Island Adventure Golf in Southend-on-Sea

From what we can remember we played the match using 'classic' Crazy Golf rules, that is to say both of our golf balls were in play at the same time, with the player whose ball was furthest from the hole taking their next shot first.

In the 9-hole contest Emily defeated me by three shots, scoring a 28(-2) to my 31(+1). Again as these were the days prior to knowing the 'proper' competition rules of Minigolf we used the course's Par rating which stood at 30 strokes.

Minigolf scorecard from Adventure Island Adventure Golf in Southend-on-Sea

Following the 2003 match in Southend on Sea we also played a round on the old Arnold Palmer Putting Course at Butlins Holiday Camp in Minehead in 2004, however the results of this contest remain lost in the ether.

In 2006 Emily and I made a resolution to visit as many UK seasides as possible, our first stop was in Portsmouth and Southsea where we played the course that would become #1 on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - the 9-hole Victory Trail course at the Treasure Island Adventure Golf Complex on Southsea Seafront. We followed this up the next day with a match-up on the Warrior Trail and since then we've made visits to over 410 Miniature Golf, Crazy Golf, Mini-Golf and Adventure Golf courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, played in loads of Minigolf Tournaments on the BMGA Tour, won three Great Britain International Caps and in May 2011 Emily became the the WMF Women's World Adventure Golf Masters Champion!

We haven't done too badly on our Grand Tour of the UK's coastal resorts either, having visited over 135 seasides to date.

We have visited Southend on Sea a number of times since 2003 and on each occasion we've tried to play at least one of the three Minigolf courses in the town. Our first visit to the courses as part of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour was on the 31st March 2007 when the Inca Course became #14, the Aztec #15 and the Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course along the seafront became #16 played.

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
Ephemera

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf in Southend-on-Sea - Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

The 14th, 15th and 16th courses we visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour were in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, on Saturday 31st of March 2007. We were in town to enjoy the seaside and also get in a bit of practice ahead of my debut in a British Minigolf Association tournament.

A year ago today we headed back to Southend for a family event, and made another revisit to the great Minigolf courses at the resort, of which there are three.

In the Adventure Island Theme Park itself there is an 18-hole Adventure Golf layout, divided into two separate 9-hole courses - the Inca Challenge and the Aztec Adventure. Just down the esplanade next to the Sea Life Centre is an 18-hole Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course. When we first visited in 2007 (and for a couple of years after) there was a second 18-hole course that was in a 'derelict' state.

Photos from our visit in March 2007

Mini Golf course at Adventure Island in Southend-on-Sea, Essex

Mini Golf course at Adventure Island in Southend-on-Sea, Essex

Crazy Golf in Southend-on-Sea, Essex

Crazy Golf in Southend-on-Sea, Essex

Back in 2007 I made my Professional Minigolf Debut in the BMGA British Masters tournament in Southend-on-Sea, where I finished in 24th spot of 28 players. I've since played in a further 66 BMGA Tour Events, and a number of other Minigolf Competitions in the UK and Overseas.

Other courses in Essex visited on the road to Southend-on-Sea a year ago today included BrentwoodBillericay and Wickford and we visited Upminster, Hornchurch, Romford and Havering in Essex on the way home on Sunday 11th July 2010.

Ham & Egger Files Blog Posts about Southend-on-Sea:
Minigolf Report from the BMGA British Masters 2008
Arnold Palmer in Southend...
Derelict Crazy Golf in Southend...
Minigolf Friendly Match - 24/04/09 - Squire vs. His Excellency
Minigolf Report from the BMGA British Masters & British Matchplay Championships 2009
Then & Now – Southend Arnold Palmer ‘West’ Course
Crazy World of Minigolf Tour heads 'South'!
Minigolf in Southend on Sea - The Southend Classic 2010
Minigolf in Southend on Sea - Arnold Palmer West Course
Minigolf in Southend on Sea - The Southend Masters
Minehead & Southend on Sea - pre-Crazy World of Minigolf Tour course visits

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Derelict Crazy Golf in Southend...

...the course gets more derelict as time goes by, such a waste.





Especially as the other 18-Hole Arnold Palmer course on the same site is in good condition.


Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Friday, February 15, 2008

Scooby Doo Crazy Golf Course

Beware playing at the old 'haunted' Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course in Southend on Sea!

Arnold Palmer Mini Golf course in Southend on Sea
Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in Essex