Before the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour had not yet begun 14 years ago.

It got underway 14 years ago tomorrow.

On the 30th September 2006 I won a free game card on the lucky last hole at the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course in Southsea, Hampshire and our adventures rolled on from there!

Playing the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course in 2016

We've now been to 956 courses on our travels.

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Adventure Island Mini Golf in Southend on Sea

A revisit to Adventure Island Mini Golf in Southend on Sea.

On Saturday 25th June we swung by Adventure Island Mini Golf in Southend. It's had a few updates since we first played the Aztec and Inca courses there. Not least the addition of dinosaurs!

The courses were actually the very first Emily and I ever played on together! That was way back in 2003.

Related blog posts:
- Southend on Sea
- From the Minigolf Archives - Results of our first-ever game of Adventure Golf against each other!

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.

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Photos of Abingdon's Crazy Golf course

A revisit to the first Crazy Golf course I ever played.

At Abingdon's Crazy Golf course

Last weekend I was back in my home town of Abingdon-on-Thames for the Bun Throwing tradition held to celebrate the Queen's 90th birthday. While in town Emily and I made our last ever visit to play the Crazy Golf course in the Abbey Meadows.

Back in Abingdon for one final game

The course has been in the park since the 1950's, but at the end of the 2016 summer season it will be removed as part of a programme to upgrade and improve the area. It's a real shame the minigolf course won't be receiving a spruce up as part of it.

A view of the Abbey Meadows Crazy Golf course

I last visited the course in December 2014 and the last time I'd had a game there was in June 2012.

The 4th hole

In August 2007 the course became the 31st played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Emily on the sunken green on hole 3

I overcooked my tee-shot on hole 4 and ended up in a big ditch

On hole 4

Hole 6

Hole 5

Emily on hole 8

Hole 7

Playing the 9th

Emily on the 9th

The course is a ten-holer

About to play one of the very last shots on the course

In our match-up on the course I managed to get the win over Emily with a score of 25 to 29. Not bad considering how tricky the playing surface is!

Emily on hole 2 - look at that tee-area!!!

One of the last scorecards to be issued by the course

Related blog posts:
- Last visit to Abingdon's Crazy Golf course
- Photos from Abingdon's Royal Bun Throwing
- Crazy Golf in Abingdon's Abbey Meadows

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.

Last visit to Abingdon's Crazy Golf course

While in Abingdon for the town's Bun Throwing tradition we made our last ever visit to play the Crazy Golf course in Abingdon's Abbey Meadows. The course has been in the park since the 1950's, but at the end of the 2016 summer season it will be removed.

It was the first course I ever played!



Related blog posts:
- Crazy Golf in Abingdon's Abbey Meadows

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.

Crazy Golf in Abingdon's Abbey Meadows

A revisit to the first miniature golf course I ever played.

The Crazy Golf course at the Abbey Meadows in Abingdon-on-Thames

At the weekend I visited my home town of Abingdon-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. While there I had to go and have a look at the Crazy Golf course that was the first-ever minigolf course I played.

At the first minigolf course I ever played

On our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour the Abbey Meadows Crazy Golf course became the 31st played in August 2007.

When we first walked up to the out-of season minigolf course we thought it had been felted, but no, it was a build-up of moss on holes one and two!

I last played the course in June 2012 in match-up against my brother Jon. That visit saw a rematch following our game in April 2012.

One of the tricky minigolf holes at the Abbey Meadows Crazy Golf course in Abingdon-on-Thames

Related Blog Posts:
- A Gottfried vs. Gottfried Crazy Golf Match in Abingdon-on-Thames
- A day out of Bun Throwing, Crazy Golf and Bar Billiards in Abingdon-on-Thames
- Abingdon Abbey Meadows Crazy Golf Course Replay on a Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Revisit
- Crazy Golf in Abingdon, Oxfordshire
- Abingdon
- Abingdon-on-Thames
- World of Bun Throwing blog
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Link:
- Abbey Meadows, Abingdon on the Vale of White Horse District Council website

Two Miniature Golf Firsts

Visiting and playing the first two Miniature Golf courses in the world!

On the long and winding road that is the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Emily and I have so far visited 528 Minigolf courses and played 317 of them. There have been a wide-range of designs, obstacles, layouts and hazards. Some of the courses were new, some were temporary and others had been established a long time.

Two of the courses we have played lay claim to being the first of their type in the world!

The third Minigolf course we ever visited on what was to become the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour was the Southsea Golf Links in Hampshire, England which according to the British Pitch & Putt Association opened in 1914 and was the first course in England, if not the World, to be purpose built for use by members of the public!

Pitching on hole 2 at the Southsea Golf Links

The 292nd and 293rd courses we played were at St Andrews in Scotland where we played The Himalayas Putting Courses, home to the St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club, and the world's first Minigolf course as it was first laid out in 1867!

Emily Putting at the 18th hole at The Himalayas in St Andrews

Other courses and locations we've played at with a fair bit of history include Splash Point Mini Golf in Worthing where there has been Minigolf played on the site of the new course since the 1920's and the roof of Selfridges Department Store on Oxford Street in London which last year re-opened for the first time since the 1930's.

Links:

- Southsea Golf Links

- Himalayas St Andrews

- British Pitch & Putt Association

Related Blog Posts:

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

- Southsea (Golf Links) in Southsea, England

- The Himalayas Putting Course at St Andrews, Scotland

- Splash Point Mini Golf in Worthing - Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - Course Visit #181

- Playing Minigolf on the Selfridges Rooftop Crazy Golf course!

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

A Gottfried vs. Gottfried Crazy Golf Match in Abingdon-on-Thames

Playing the Abingdon-on-Thames Crazy Golf Classic

While in Abingdon-on-Thames for the town’s Bun Throwing tradition that was taking place for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee my brother and I had planned to have a Minigolf rematch following our last game in April. The weather was far too inclement to play on Sunday so we headed to the course for a match on Bank Holiday Monday.

The long third hole on the Abingdon Abbey Meadows Crazy Golf course

In the contest we once again faced-off at the Abbey Meadow Crazy Golf course. The match-up was played in slightly soggier conditions than our previous match, but thankfully the rain stayed away while we played.

Playing hole 5

Our play was nowhere near as good as in our April game, not that it was up to much then either. I once again picked up the win with a score of 34(+14) to 43(+23). Last time out the match was a lot closer when the result was 28(+8) to 31(+11).

Looking at the options while stuck in the ditch on hole 3

Jon plays out of the ditch on hole 3 of the Abingdon Abbey Meadows Crazy Golf course

Jon plays hole 4

The dates of the next Abingdon Classic and a Minigolf competition between Jon and I on a different course are yet to be set, but will hopefully be at a seaside and in nice weather.

Related Blog Posts:

- A day out of Bun Throwing, Crazy Golf and Bar Billiards in Abingdon-on-Thames

- Abingdon Abbey Meadows Crazy Golf Course Replay on a Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Revisit

- Crazy Golf in Abingdon, Oxfordshire

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...

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.

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

Minehead & Southend on Sea - pre-Crazy World of Minigolf Tour course visits

The Crazy World of Minigolf Tour began on the 30th September 2006 and the Irregular Mini Golf Tour has grown alongside it. We've also been involved in British Minigolf Association competitions since 2007 and played in a WMF/EMF tournament in Finland in 2008.

However, before all this began Emily and I, like many other Brits, had been playing Crazy Golf and Minigolf since we were kids. One of our first holidays together was to Butlins Minehead in 2004 where we were to play the Arnold Palmer Putting Course there.

The pre-Crazy World of Minigolf Tour archives are very patchy, so results from the match-up are thin on the ground. All we remember is that there were no scorecards, it was £2.50 per player, and we were offered a second round for free, but didn't take up the offer as the course was in such poor shape!

Another, even earlier, pre-Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Minigolf visit was to the Aztec and Inca Adventure Golf courses at Adventure Island in Southend on Sea in 2003. Again, results of this contest are lost in the ether!

The Adventure Island course in Southend was the location for my BMGA Tour debut in 2007, at that year's BMGA British Masters tournament.