Olivia Prokopová's minigolf book

Minigolf superstar Olivia Prokopová has a book and DVD out.

My friend, minigolf rival and all-round miniature golf superstar Olivia Prokopová has a book and DVD out and I've finally added them to my collection. While my Czech language skills are non-existent the book is still well worth a look as it is a great archive and chronicle of Olivia's career.

Google Translate tells me that "Cesta za Zelenym sakem" means "The path behind the green jacket"

Flicking through the pages there are lots of brilliant photos from tournaments and courses around the world and it was great fun spotting characters from the world of minigolf - past and present - in the book.

Olivia is the reigning and two-time World Crazy Golf Champion and has won a multitude of titles over her career. Visit Olivia Prokopová's website for more information.

Paradise Island Adventure Golf in Sheffield

Playing at Paradise Island Adventure Golf in Sheffield on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Driving home from a few days away in Leeds we called in to the Valley Centertainment leisure park in Sheffield to play at Paradise Island Adventure Golf.

A lovely bit of theming

We've wanted to play the courses for a few years now and were really looking forward to our round. We weren't disappointed as it was great fun.

Playing hole one

We decided to play the Cinnamon Cove course, one of the two 18-hole courses there, and teed-off in our very competitive contest.

On dry land in Cinnamon Cove

The Paradise Island Adventure Golf layout in Sheffield is unique, fun, well designed and looks magnificent.

All aboard!

It's not often we play a course where you actually do feel transported to a different location, but the starting-point of the Cinnamon Cove course does that, with the very nice ship-effect.

A fairly straight first hole

Emily holing out

From the confines of the boat you make your way to the jungle-themed course, full of animatronic animals, tikki heads, monkeys, tunnels, hills and pipes. And a Cannibal Camp!

Outside the Cannibal Camp in Cinnamon Cove

We were concerned that playing the course on a rainy Saturday morning would mean we'd be queuing a lot on the courses, but even though there were quite a few other players out on the course the games were flowing nicely and we were able to wrap up our game in about 45 minutes.

In amongst the cargo on the first hole

The other players seemed to be enjoying themselves, with plenty of shouting, cheering and laughing heard around the course. Something that is always nice to see in minigolf.

A lovely little loop hole. A nice ace opportunity

The cheeky monkeys get quite raucous on this hilly pipe hole 

Emily about to ace the 13th. I threed it

The Cinnamon Cove course became the 391st course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, and the 674th visited overall since we started our tour of the UK's courses in September 2006.

Perhaps Emily should of rubbed the Buddha's belly on the 17th hole for good luck 

As the very tricky 18th hole was to be her undoing

In our 18-hole match-up I defeated Emily by one-shot - the 18th hole was a cruel decider - with a 40 to 41 scoreline. Emily won on aces, scoring a pair of holes-in-one on the 4th and 13th holes. We found there were plenty of ace opportunities on the course as we were leaving plenty of shots out there as tap-in twos.

A pair of characters

Neither of us won on the 'lucky' 19th hole

We're looking forward to returning to play the Shell Bay course one day in the future. Hopefully on a return to Paradise Island Adventure Golf I'll get to see the course mascot Maggie McCaw!

The starting point for the second course at Paradise Island Adventure Golf

A view of the Shell Bay course

As a big collector of minigolf merch it was brilliant to be able to buy some trinkets at Paradise Island Adventure Golf. I bought a button badge, keyring and golf ball stress ball.

A nice selection of minigolf merch

You can find the 36-hole Paradise Island Adventure Golf at the Valley Centertainment leisure park in Sheffield. There did look like there was plenty to do there, including two of our other favourites - laser tag and tenpin bowling!

Another minigolf shark captured on our tour

We've been to Paradise Island Adventure Golf courses in Manchester and Glasgow, and the courses at Livingston and Cheshire Oaks are on our 'to visit' list. Visit the Paradise Island Adventure Golf website for more information, prices and opening times for all the courses. You can also sign-up to the Paradise Island Adventure Golf newsletters on the site to keep up-to-date with news and offers from the courses.

Links:
- Paradise Island Adventure Golf website
- Paradise Island Adventure Golf Sheffield website

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- 85 Manchester (Paradise Island Adventure Golf, Tiki Hut Trail) - Adventure Golf
- 86 Manchester (Paradise Island Adventure Golf, Temple Ruins Adventure) - Adventure Golf
- 90 Glasgow (Paradise Island Adventure Golf, Maggie McCaw's Challenge) - Adventure Golf
- 91 Glasgow (Paradise Island Adventure Golf, Tiki Hut Trail) - Adventure Golf
- Paradise Island Adventure Golf at Braehead, Scotland
- Indoor Minigolf, Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf courses
- Mini Golf Sharks

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.

Sparkle City Mini Putt in Spartanburg, South Carolina

I recently received a nice surprise in the post - some great merchandise and ephemera from my fellow minigolf bloggers at A Couple of Putts!

What a fine array of minigolf merch

This year Robin Schwartzman, one half of the A Couple of Putts team, has been the Hub-Bub Artist-in-Residence and created a brilliant looking and free to play miniature golf course called Sparkle City Mini Putt in downtown Spartanburg in South Carolina, USA.

The scorecard from Sparkle City Mini Putt looks great

Sparkle City Mini Putt sounds like a marvelous idea. Hopefully one day we'll get to play the layout on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Visit the A Couple of Putts blog to follow the travels of Tom Loftus (aka Mr. Tee) and Robin Schwartzman (aka The Pink Putter) on their minigolf travels.

Check out the links below for more details on the 9-hole minigolf course. To play the course you can take along your own putter and ball, or call in at one of five local business where you can borrow some equipment for free.

Links:
- A Couple of Putts blog
- Sparkle City Mini Putt website
- Sparkle City Mini Putt on Facebook
- Sparkle City Mini Putt / Hub-Bub on Twitter
- Sparkle City Mini Putt – Spartanburg, SC blog post on A Couple of Putts

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

The Golferholics Board Game

A new old golf-based board game.

The Golferholics Board Game - an 18-hole Golf Game

On our recent minigolf meet-up in Dorridge my mate and BIG miniature golf enthusiast Paul 'Johnson Paul Johnson' Johnson gave me a Chad Valley Miniature Golf set from the 1960's. He also gave me a board game from the 1990's - The Golferholics Board Game.

The Golferholics Board Game - an 18 hole Golf course

The game was created and designed by A.L.E.M. in 1999.

The board is a large 18-hole golf course layout, with space on the side for the two different sets of cards

The scorecards are very well made and high quality

  

Lovely putt - the ideal result

The set is very well made and the copy Paul gave me for The Crazy Golf Museum is in great condition

Links:
- Golferholics at Board Games Geek
- The Crazy Golf Museum
- Miniature Golf and Crazy Golf toys and games at The Crazy Golf Museum

Related blog posts:

- The Crazy Golf Museum

A gift from Paradise

Finding out about the miniature golf courses at Paradise Fun Park in Canada.

As a big fan of all things minigolf-related I was very pleased to receive a package from paradise - Paradise Fun Park in Canada that is.

A great selection of minigolf ephemera and promotional material from Paradise Fun Park

I've been in touch with the team at the seaside resort in British Columbia since 2011 and it's really nice to speak to other people within the world of miniature golf. I love finding out about new and interesting courses, and it's always wonderful to get ephemera and merchandise for my collection and that of The Crazy Golf Museum.

Five postcards from Paradise Fun Park showing the miniature golf courses - Surf 'N Turf and Treasure Island

Paradise Fun Park was built 27 years ago and is a family business. In that time millions of people from around the world have enjoyed visits to the park. There are two 18-hole mini golf courses at the park, with the Turf 'N Surf built in 1988 and the Treasure Island layout introduced two years later.

The Paradise Fun Park mini-golf scorecard

The rules for Paradise Mini-Golf

I do like seeing courses putting in time and effort to their scorecards. This is a well designed and useful tool - it's packed with  adverts for local businesses

In addition to the two Miniature Golf courses, Paradise Fun Park is home to Bumper Boats, a Games Arcade, Snack Bar and Ice Cream Parlour, motel, and an RV park and camping ground. The park on Vancouver Island is located beside Parksville Bay and its sandy beaches.

The brochure for Paradise Fun Park

Two lovely pieces of minigolf ephemera

A look inside the brochure for Paradise Fun Park - the mini-golf courses have some very BIG obstacles including a fully rigged pirate galleon, treasure cave, water mill, Victorian mansion, Bavarian clock and a Dutch windmill

You can find Paradise Fun Park at 375 West Island Highway, Parksville, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Visit the Paradise Fun Park website for more details of the park, opening times, prices and photos of the minigolf courses.

A token from the games arcade at Paradise Fun Park

I look forward to visiting Paradise Fun Park in the future. It sounds like exactly my kind of place.

Links:
- Paradise Fun Park website
- Paradise Fun Park on Twitter
- Paradise Fun Park on Facebook
- The Crazy Golf Museum
- Miniature Golf courses in Canada at MiniatureGolfer.com

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Ephemera
- Postcards

Volcano Falls Adventure Golf at Xscape Yorkshire

Playing the Volcano Falls Adventure Golf at Xscape in Castleford.

On Sunday 12 April we were heading back from a short-break in York and Knaresborough and decided to swing into Castleford to play some minigolf.

Xscape Yorkshire is home to Volcano Falls Adventure Golf and its two 18-hole indoor minigolf courses.

Emily tees-off on the T Rex Trail

The T Rex Trail became the 359th course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 594th visited overall. The Volcano Valley course was the 595th visited.

While I get scared off of the BIG dino on the course

There are some tricky second putts on the 18-hole course

There's some great theming on the course

Some 'cave paintings' showing the time travelling nature of our journey 65 million years into the past

Emily is lucky on this putt as the wind storm effect had just been on!

Neither of us were lucky on the last hole

In our match-up on the T Rex Trail I beat Emily with a score of 40 to 45.

It was great to see Volcano Falls merchandise on sale at the course. I treated myself to a branded cap

You can find the Volcano Falls course on a 'mysterious island' indoors at Xscape Yorkshire. Its just off Junction 32 of the M62.

In winning the match against Emily I also awarded myself a great Adventure Falls key ring 

For further information, opening times and prices visit the Volcano Falls Adventure Golf website.

After 18-hole on the busy course we escaped unscathed

We're looking forward to returning to play the Volcano Valley course at Volcano Falls Adventure Golf in the future.

We'll be heading past Castleford on another road trip and pop in for a round then

Xscape Yorkshire is a great indoor entertainment centre with loads to see, do and play.

Links:
- Volcano Falls Adventure Golf website
- Volcano Falls Adventure Golf on Facebook
- Volcano Falls Adventure Golf on Twitter
- Xscape Yorkshire website

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Castleford
- Indoor Mini, Crazy and Adventure Golf courses
- Mini Golf in Castleford