Urban Putt in San Francisco

Many thanks to our friend and minigolf rival (and sometimes team-mate) Kevin 'Max' Moseley for posting us a minigolf scorecard and pencil following his recent visit to Urban Putt in San Francisco, California.

It's always great to see and receive ephemera and collectibles from around the world. These are two fine additions to the Crazy Golf Museum's archives.

Check out the Urban Putt website for more information and to take a virtual tour of the indoor miniature golf course.

Related blog posts:
- The Crazy Golf Museum
- Kevin Moseley
- Scorecard
- Pencils

Links:
- Urban Putt website
- Urban Putt on Twitter
- Urban Putt on Facebook
- Urban Putt on Instagram

Strawberry Falls Adventure Golf at The Cheshire Ice Cream Farm

Strawberry Falls Adventure Golf course at The Cheshire Ice Cream Farm.

Emily's friend, colleague and minigolf rival Darren Howe has come up trumps again as he gave us a scorecard from the Strawberry Falls Adventure Golf course at The Cheshire Ice Cream Farm from his recent visit.

Scorecard from the Strawberry Falls Adventure Golf course at The Cheshire Ice Cream Farm

Strawberry Falls Adventure Golf is one of our new local courses but we haven't had time to visit The Cheshire Ice Cream Farm since we moved to Stockport last summer.

Darren tells us the course was incredibly busy on his visit. That's a good sign.

The Strawberry Falls Adventure Golf course looks great - with some oversized ice cream-related obstacles and theming.

Check out The Cheshire Ice Cream Farm's website for more information, opening times and prices.

Darren recently played the Adventure Golf course at Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest. Check out the post from his visit for more photos.

Mini Golf Set from Lidl

Picking up a new miniature golf game for my collection.

When I popped to Lidl to buy some Feta cheese to go with our tea yesterday I didn't expect to return with a Mini Golf Set. But I did.

99p for the Feta cheese. £9.99 for the Mini Golf Set

What you get in the box - two putters, two balls, two holes, four obstacles, scorecards and an instruction book. It's a well made set and the obstacles work when you putt throughover them

There are twenty scorecards in the pad - with details in German, English and French

A closer look at the obstacles - gate, seesaw, climb and wavy track

Links:
- Lidl
- Crazy Golf Museum 

Scorecards and record scores from Rainforest Adventure Golf

Record low scores shot at Rainforest Adventure Golf in Dublin.

Thanks to my friend, rival, sometimes team-mate and fellow minigolf traveller Paul 'Johnson Paul Johnson' Johnson for posting me a couple of the scorecards from Rainforest Adventure Golf in Dublin, Ireland.

Paul competed in the recent IMGA Irish Open minigolf tournament held on the Aztec Trail course at the indoor Rainforest Adventure Golf centre in Dundrum Town Centre and finished in tenth place.

During the tournament - the first held under the auspices of the Irish Mini Golf Association and the first Irish Open held in the Republic of Ireland - the world record low score for the 'Minigolf Open Standard' (MOS) classification of minigolf was broken as Pauli Kuikka of Sweden shot a round of 23(-13) during the tournament. That official score and record followed GB's Steve 'Sheila' Lovell's world record low round of 22(-14) which was shot the previous day.

The best ever score on an indoor minigolf course

The previous best score on an Adventure Golf course was 24 - at Hastings Adventure Golf - this score remains the record low for an outdoor 'MOS' course.

The World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) is the umbrella organisation of 63 Minigolf sports associations worldwide and recognises four types of minigolf - MOS, Concrete, Miniaturegolf and Feltgolf.

The aim in any round of competition minigolf is to score as many holes-in-one as possible, with Par for each hole regarded as two shots. Many courses have their own Par system, with some holes being a Par-3, 4 or 5. The world record lowest score on a course is a perfect 18 - 18 consecutive holes-in-one!

Emily has shot a 24 in competition - at the 2011 WMF Nations Cup in Sweden - which is still a national women's record score on the Miniaturegolf format of the game. On our visit to the Crazy Golf course at Bainland Country Park in Woodhall Spa I scored a 'perfect' round of 9 holes-in-one in a row. However, there were five cups to putt into on each of the holes!

The only Crazy Golf course we've played with five cups to putt into

The 2017 IMGA Irish Open tournament was the third ever Irish Open and the first held in the Republic of Ireland. The first two Irish Opens were held in 2006 and 2007 at the Pirates Adventure Golf course in Dundonald, Belfast, Northern Ireland. For more information on the IMGA and WMF check out the links below.

Links:
- World Minigolf Sport Federation
- Irish Mini Golf Association
- Rainforest Adventure Golf

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems. Please do sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter too.

The Gazeway 'All-Weather' Miniature Golf Course

Finding out about The Gazeway 'All-Weather' Miniature Golf Course from a minigolf postcard.

Emily and I enjoy a good mystery and after Emily found a great old minigolf postcard while browsing at the Room at the Top antique shop in Stockport Market's Produce Hall we had another bit of minigolf history to research.

The undated and postally unused card shows Room at The Gazeway 'All-Weather' Miniature Golf Course. A quick online search for this term returned no results!

The reverse of the postcard was no help

Luckily after a bit more digging we found details of the course in a 1930 issue of The Graphic magazine.

The Gazeway 'All-Weather' Miniature Golf Course was created by the company W.H. Gaze in 1930 and was located in Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey. The course was part of an old house on Portsmouth Road which the firm modernised, refurbished and furnished to showcase what the business did.

The company had its own miniature golf section, overseen by Mr H. C. Gaze and the Kingston-on-Thames course was created by a Captain G. B. Mallett - himself responsible for minigolf courses in Vancouver and Los Angeles.

Dating from 1930 the Gazeway 'All-Weather' Miniature Golf Course was one of the earliest artificial layouts in the UK. The first Crazy Golf course in England was created in Skegness in 1926.

At the time miniature golf was experiencing a boom period as the latest craze took hold. Portable and temporary courses could be found popping up in a number of different locations, including on the roof at Selfridges in London.

As is so often the case, history repeats itself and we're currently experiencing a high level of new course openings, as well as refurbishment of old courses and enjoyment of the more than 600 layouts in the UK.

Related blog posts:
- Postcards
- Miniature Golf

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems. Please do sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter too.

Adventure Golf scorecards from the USA

Pirate's Cove Adventure Golf course scorecards from the USA now in the Crazy Golf Museum.

The Crazy Golf Museum recently received a kind donation from minigolfer Jon Angel. During a bit of a recent tidy up the former British Minigolf Champion discovered two scorecards from a visit to the Pirate's Cove Adventure Golf courses in New York State back in September 2007!

They are a fine pair of Adventure Golf scorecards and with the addition of the receipts and ink stamps make brilliant additions to the Crazy Golf Museum's archives of the game.

The Pirate's Cove Original Adventure Golf empire spans a large amount of courses in the USA. Check out the Pirate's Cove Original Adventure Golf website for details.

In 2015 fellow minigolfer Mark Swain sent over a selection of scorecards from his US holiday. One of these was from Pirate's Cove Original Adventure Golf in Wisconsin Dells where there are FIVE courses!

Over the years the museum has received a number of excellent minigolf scorecards from the USA via Pat Sheridan of the Putting Penguin website.

Visit the Crazy Golf Museum website and check out the museum's Twitter and Facebook pages for more snaps of scorecards, postcards and miniature golf ephemera.

Related blog posts:
- Crazy Golf Museum
- Jon Angel
- USA

Links:
- Pirate's Cove Adventure Golf
- Pirate's Cove Adventure Golf, Lake George, NY
- Pirate's Cove Adventure Golf, Lake Placid, NY
- Crazy Golf Museum website
- UrbanCrazy

Minigolf collectables from the Lost City Adventure Golf course in Nottingham

As my friends, family and regular readers of the blog will know, I'm a BIG fan of minigolf merchandise and ephemera.

The Lost City Adventure Golf course in Nottingham is a great place for minigolf ephemera

On our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour travels we've collected hundreds of scorecards, leaflets, postcards, pencils, balls, badges, t-shirts, tokens and whatnots.

The great branded scorecards and coasters at the Lost City Adventure Golf in Nottingham

A classic way to encourage repeat visits in the miniature golf business is to employ a 'Lucky Last Hole' where, as a bonus, you can try and win a free game - we've played a fair few on our travels, and won on some of them.

You're very likely to find a 'Top Hole' on an Arnold Palmer Putting Course and the Free Game Cards are great. They're well made and often draw on the history of the putting franchise.

In this day and age most courses that give out free games for Lucky Last Hole wins use a paper or card based 'token', and very few still give metal coins to winners.

Except for the Lost City Adventure Golf course in Nottingham. If you're skilled - and lucky - enough you might just win a piece of treasured Inca Gold!

The Lost City Adventure Golf's Temple Trail and Sacred Skull Pass courses were the 330th and 331st we played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. The 36-hole indoor layout has two Lucky Last Holes - both are actually the 18th hole of the course, rather than standalone holes.

The lucky last hole on the Sacred Skull Trail

The 18th Top Hole on the Temple Trail course

When we've played as members of the general public we've not been able to master the lucky last holes at Nottingham, and when we've played there in national tour competitions we've only used one course and skipped the 18th, replaying the 1st hole instead. So unfortunately we've never won a free game there.

I did win a bronze medal at the Midlands Invitational Tournament at the course last year though

But the team at the Lost City were kind enough to send me a nice package that contained a branded pen and two magnificent tokens in a cardboard slip case. Fantastic additions to my collection.

Two pieces of prized Inca Gold from Nottingham

A nice Lost City branded pen

What's more, the Lost City Adventure Golf also has it's own handstamp applied to its mail! Absolutely brilliant to see. There aren't nearly enough minigolf stamps, postmarks or handstamps in circulation.

The Lost City Adventure Golf have really gone to town on their branding - on our travels to 675 courses it's the only place we've seen with an Adventure Golf table! Marvellous.

The theming in Nottingham is brilliant

Check out the Lost City Adventure Golf's website for more details, opening times and prices.

The Lost City Adventure Golf course is well worth a visit

Links:
- The Lost City Adventure Golf
- The Crazy Golf Museum

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Ephemera
- Merchandise
- Token
- Tokens
- The Lost City Adventure Golf at The Cornerhouse in Nottingham
- Revisiting The Lost City Adventure Golf course in Nottingham
- A gift from Paradise

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems.

You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

More minigolf puzzles

What better day for a blog about some new (old) miniature golf puzzles than today - as the 29th January is National Puzzle Day!

A Putt-Putt Puzzle of a very crazy Miniature Golf course. Published by Hallmark Cards Inc. Many thanks to our friend 'Hacksaw' Jon Drexler for sending it across the pond to live in the Crazy Golf Museum

The 'Loopy Links Putting Green Stacking Puzzle' made by the Binary Arts Corporation in 1998. Nice to see a Golf-related toy using the term 'Putting Green'

Check out our blog post from last year's National Puzzle Day to see pics of even more Crazy Golf and Minigolf jigsaw puzzles we've collected and completed* over the years.

* Well, puzzles that Emily has put together.

Related blog posts and links:
- Jigsaw Puzzles
- National Puzzle Day on 29 January 2015
- Finding the Jan Van Haasteren Crazy Golf Jumbo Jigsaw Puzzle in Derby
- The British Jigsaw Puzzle Championship 2014
- Jigfest 2012!
- The Crazy Golf Museum

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow Richard and Emily on Twitter. You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

Mini Golf dates for your 2016 diary

Details of minigolf events and competitions for the year ahead.

Minigolf is 149 years old in 2016, while the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour turns ten

2016 is going to be a BIG year in minigolf. Check out the details below for the landmarks and milestones, anniversaries, days, and other key dates.


Anniversaries in 2016
There are some very interesting key dates being celebrated in 2016:

• The first minigolf course in the USA opened in 1916. It was called 'Thistle Dhu' and located in Pinehurst, NC.
• Putting will return to the Olympic Games at Rio 2016 after a break of 112 years, albeit as part of the big Golf tournament. A Miniature Golf contest was held as part the 1904 St Louis Games!
• Crazy Golf is 90 years old in 2016! The very first course opened on South Parade in Skegness, Lincolnshire, England. There's still a course on the same spot - we managed to play it in 2015.

A visit to England's first-ever Crazy Golf course on National Miniature Golf Day 2015

• 1926 also saw the first artificial miniature golf course open in the USA, with the 'Tom Thumb' miniature golf course opening near Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, TN.
• Friday 30th September 2016 will mark the tenth anniversary of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. To date we've visited 672 mini, crazy, putting and adventure golf courses.
• Minigolf course reviewers at The Putting Penguin celebrate their 15th year in 2016, while fellow minigolf bloggers A Couple of Putts reach their fourth year.
• Miniature Golf will be 149 years old! The world's first Grass Putting course was set-up at St Andrews, Scotland in 1867. The Himalayas is still there now and is a real pleasure to play.

Recurring minigolf 'days'
Each year there are two quasi-official days to celebrate the game:

• National Miniature Golf Day takes place on the second Saturday in May and in 2016 will be on Saturday 14th May.
• Miniature Golf Day is always on the 21st of September, which falls on a Wednesday in 2016.

Emily playing a round at Putt in the Park in Battersea Park, London on Miniature Golf Day 2015

Minigolf Tag (day) has been celebrated in Austria since 2010. Keep an eye on the Minigolf Tag website for details of the 2016 event.

Every Monday is #MinigolfMonday on Twitter.


Competitions
Hundreds of competitions take place around the world, below are some of the highlights of the 2016 calendar.

UK tournaments
The British Minigolf Association Tour calendar for 2016 has been announced.

• Sunday 28th February – English Open at the Lost City Adventure Golf course in Nottingham.
• Sunday 6th March – Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open at the three seafront courses in Hastings.
• Sunday 10th April – British Masters at Splash Point Mini Golf in Worthing.

Emily playing in the 2015 Splash Point Open tournament at the Splash Point Mini Golf course in Worthing

• Sunday 24th April – British Club Championships at Strokes Adventure Golf Course in Margate.
• Friday 6th May – British Championships Pro-Am at Wroxham Barns in Hoveton.
• Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th May – British Championships at Wroxham Barns in Hoveton.
• Saturday 11th and Sunday 12th June – World Crazy Golf Championship at the Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf Course in Hastings.
• Saturday 16th July – Cambridgeshire & Essex Open at the Dunton Hills Family Golf Centre in West Horndon.
• Sunday 17th July - British Doubles Championship at the Dunton Hills Family Golf Centre in West Horndon.
• Friday 16th September – Players Championship.
• Friday 16th September – International Players Championship.
• Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th September – British Open at the Pirate Course in Hastings.
• Sunday 16th October – Welsh Open is at the Treetop Adventure Golf Course in Cardiff.
• Sunday 13th November – Kent Open at the Lost Island Encounter Adventure Golf course in Sidcup.
• Sunday 4th December – Star City Open at Adventure Island Mini Golf in Birmingham.
• Season-long – British Matchplay Championship.

There will also be club Open events throughout the year.

International events
World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF):

• 25th and 26th June – World Adventure Golf Masters in Prishtina, Kosovo.
• 14th and 15th May – Youth Nations Cup in Bischofshofen, Austria.
• 10th to 13th August – Youth World Championships in Bischofshofen, Austria.

The Great Britain 3 team that finished 5th in the 2013 WMF World Adventure Golf Masters tournament

European Minigolf Sport Federation (EMF):

• 14th and 15th May – Nations Cup in Vizela, Portugal
• 10th to 13th August – Seniors European Championships in Lahti, Finland.
• 24th to 27th August – General Class European Championships in Vizela, Portugal.
• 29th September to 1st October - European Cup for club teams in Neutraubling, Germany.

Asian Minigolf Sport Federation (AMF):

• 8th to 10th October - Open Asian Championships in Yokohama, Japan.

Contests in North America
USPMGA:
In the USA the USPMGA organises two major events – US Masters and US Open – and a number of local and regional events.

• October 13-15 – USPMGA Master’s National Championship in North Myrtle Beach, SC.
• May 14th and 15th – US Open at Putt U Miniature Golf in Center Valley, PA.

PPA:
There are also miniature golf competitions organised in the USA by the PPA. You can find out more about Putt-Putt, the Professional Putters Association, the Amateur Putters Association and the competitions hosted on Putt-Putt miniature golf courses on the PPA website.

Mini-Putt:
In Canada the Mini-Putt tour holds a number of tournaments. Find out more on the Mini-Putt website.

If you know of any other miniature golf contests taking place do let us know via the comments below or via email.

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems. You can also sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

Adventure Golf in St Nicholas Park, Warwick

A revisit to the Adventure Golf course in Warwick's St Nicholas Park.

The 16th hole at Warwick Adventure Golf

The 18-hole Adventure Golf course at St Nicholas Park in Warwick was the 27th course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour way back in July 2007 when we were in town for that year's BMGA English Open tournament.

We revisited the layout in April 2011 and this month Emily gave the course another play while on holiday in the midlands on the 17th of July.

Emily safely on the green on a hole with an interesting water hazard (just ask our friend and fellow Minigolf Pro Jam Trubridge!)

A new addition to the course is a four-hole practice area. It looks great

One of the loooooong holes at Warwick Adventure Golf

A downhill shot

In the match-up on the 18-hole course Emily played against her sister Jo and niece Kate, with Jo winning with a score of 45. Emily hit a 46, with Kate carding a 50

Designed by UrbanCrazy the course is very tricky indeed and well worth a play.

The Golden Putter Mini Golf course in Warwick has a very nice scorecard and pencil. A nice addition to the Crazy Golf Museum

For more information on the course, opening times and prices visit the Golden Putter website.

Prices for the Golden Putter Mini Golf course in Warwick (July 2015)

We've played the permanent Golden Putter Mini Golf courses in Staines and Wroxham, and their portable course when it was set-up on Clacton Pier. Golden Putter Mini Golf also have courses in Birmingham's Cannon Hill Park and Rotherham's Clifton Park. Both are on our 'to visit' list.

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Adventure Golf at St Nicholas Park in Warwick
- Revisit to the 18-Hole Adventure Miniature Golf Course at St Nicholas Park in Warwick

Link:
- Golden Putter website

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter.

Seaside Shields museum exhibition

This summer South Shields Museum & Art Gallery is going back in time to look at all the fun of yesteryear's seaside with the Seaside Shields exhibition.

Crazy Golf is a classic part of seaside heritage and it's good to see that the game is being featured as part of the exhibition as a Putterfingers Portable Crazy Golf course will be at the museum on Friday 7th and Saturday 8th August for the Seaside Shields Golf Championship.

We've visited South Shields on our coastal travels and back in 2009 the Smugglers Cove Adventure Golf course became the 100th played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Adventure Golfing in South Shields

Emily revisited South Shields in 2012 and had another round on the course.

Over the years we've also played a few Putterfingers minigolf courses on our tour.

Seaside Shields runs until the 31st October 2015. For more information check out the South Shields Museum & Art Gallery website and minigolf event page.

In 2011 Stevenage Museum ran an exhibition on British Holiday Camps. That also featured Crazy Golf.

Don't forget to check out The Crazy Golf Museum website and on Twitter for more on the history of miniature golf.

Links:
- South Shields Museum & Art Gallery
- Putterfingers
- Crazy Golf Museum
- Smugglers Cove Adventure Golf course
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Related blog posts:
- Gottfried's Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - Minigolf Course Played No. 100!!!
- Revisit & Replay of Smugglers Cove Adventure Golf in South Shields
- "Morning Campers!" A British Holiday Camp Exhibition at Stevenage Museum - with Crazy Golf!
- Museum
- Putterfingers

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter.

Chad Valley Miniature Golf

Playing a 1960's Miniature Golf set.

My fellow minigolf enthusiast Paul 'Johnson Paul Johnson' Johnson recently acquired a 1960's Miniature Golf set made by Chad Valley and he kindly donated it to The Crazy Golf Museum.

The 9-hole Chad Valley 'Miniature golf' course was designed for indoor and outdoor play and includes two putters, balls, flags and tin plate holes

While at the Four Ashes Golf Centre in Dorridge last weekend we had to give the game a go.

Paul Johnson lines up a putt on a plateau hole

Putting using the Chad Valley miniature golf putters was very tricky

Chad Valley was founded in 1860 and the range of toys and games is now exclusively available at Argos.

Links:
- The Crazy Golf Museum
- Miniature Golf and Crazy Golf toys and games at The Crazy Golf Museum

Related blog posts:

- The Crazy Golf Museum

National Puzzle Day on 29 January 2015

The National Day for Jigsaw Puzzles is on Thursday 29 January 2015!

Emily is a big fan of Wasgij puzzles, while I'm always on the lookout for Mini Golf jigsaw puzzles and we've found quite a few on our travels.

Last year a long quest was ended when we managed to find an elusive Jan Van Haasteren Mini-Golf jigsaw puzzle while on a day out in Derby!

Finding a Crazy Golf jigsaw puzzle at Poyntons in Derby Market

Some of the recent jigsaw puzzles we've bought are below.
  

A Gerold Como Collection 'Golf' jigsaw puzzle that contains a lot of crazy elements

A crazy golf jigsaw puzzle by Page One Design

A Ravensburger jigsaw puzzle that includes a crazy golf windmill on the golf course

The Golf edition of the 'World's Most Difficult Jigsaw Puzzle'

'The Golf Course' jigsaw puzzle by Jumbo and Jan Van Haasteren

Back in March 2012 we visited Abbots Langley, Herts to attend Jigfest 2012 and we were quite tempted to enter the doubles competition at last year's British Jigsaw Puzzle Championship.

Emily at Jigfest 2012

The team at Putterfingers put(t) together a great puzzle related blog post in 2013, you can read it at "5 Reasons a Crazy Golf Puzzle is Great Fun!"

While not exactly to do with jigsaws, but puzzle-related, our friend and fellow minigolfer Paul Godding runs the 7puzzle company that develops maths-related boardgames, card games and puzzles.

The latest addition to our collection of wacky golf puzzles. A 1500 piece Jan Van Haasteren / Jumbo

The completed Jan Van Haasteren Golf jigsaw puzzle 

Check out the links below for more jigsaw puzzle-related blog posts and websites.

Related blog posts:
- Jigsaw Puzzles
- Finding the Jan Van Haasteren Crazy Golf Jumbo Jigsaw Puzzle in Derby
- The British Jigsaw Puzzle Championship 2014
- Jigfest 2012!

Links:
- The Official UK Puzzle Club
- Jumbo Jigsaw Puzzles (makers of Wasgij, Jan Van Haasteren's and more)
- Ravensburger Puzzles
- The Yorkshire Jigsaw Store
- British Jigsaw Championship
- #NationalPuzzleDay