Crazy Golf, Putting and Pitch & Putt at Cafe Riva in Southbourne, Dorset

A re-visit to the Crazy Golf course at Cafe Riva in Southbourne, Dorset.

Crazy Golf at Cafe Riva in Southbourne

On our trip to the Dorset coast Emily and I had a wander to Southbourne to have a look at the updated Crazy Golf course.

The newly felted and refurbed Crazy Golf at Cafe Riva in Southbourne

Back in June 2009 we'd played the course (#109) and found it to be a poor Minigolf experience. The course was in a terrible shape.

Some of the old obstacles remain, like this BIG yellow thing

Happily it looks a lot better now and while we didn't have time to play it this time around I'm happy to report from our fellow Minigolf tourists Paul & Owen Johnson that it is much more fun to play now.

Cafe Riva now also has two other Miniature Golf courses on the site - a Putting course and a Pitch & Putt.

Putting, Crazy Golf, Pitch & Putt, Drinks and Ice Cream - a great seaside mix :-)

Southbourne's Pitch & Putt

Southbourne's Putting course

We've now visited a total of 533 Minigolf courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!

Related Blog Posts:

- Minigolf Course Visit No. 109 - Southbourne / Fisherman's Walk

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - List and links for all Miniature Golf courses visited to date

Links:

- Cafe Riva

Mini Golf in Bournemouth's Lower Gardens

Revisiting the Lower Gardens Mini Golf course in Bournemouth, Dorset. 

The 107th course played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour was the 18-hole Mini Golf course at the Lower Gardens in Bournemouth, Dorset and in July 2013 we revisited the course while in the area for the BMGA British Matchplay Championships that were to be played in nearby Boscombe.

Richard at Bournemouth's Lower Gardens Mini Golf course

In June 2009 we had a round on the incredibly busy course, which happened to be Emily's 100th course visit overall, and Emily defeated me by one-shot with a 39(+3) to 40(+4) scoreline.

Photos of the course (July 2013).

The course location is one of the oldest sites of Miniature Golf in the UK. According to information on a board near the course a Putting Green was introduced to the Lower Gardens in 1931 and the present Mini Golf course was extensively remodelled in 2007.

Interestingly there also used to be a Putting Green in the Central Gardens, but the was removed and replaced with a children's play area in 2009.

Related Blog Posts:

- Minigolf Course Visit No. 107 - Lower Gardens, Bournemouth

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - List and links for all Miniature Golf courses visited to date

Links:

- Bournemouth Borough Council website for the Lower Gardens Mini Golf with details of opening times and prices

Luton Borough Council's 'Informal Outdoor Sports Survey'

I spotted in the latest issue of Luton-at-Large magazine that Luton Borough Council has a current consultation on the playing of sports and games in Luton's parks.

The 'Informal Outdoor Sports Survey' is seeking feedback on park use in the town and would like to know whether people are playing football or cricket, or even crazy golf!

The survey itself mentions 'Mini-golf'.

On our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Emily and I have visited and played six Miniature Golf courses in (and a little bit around) Luton. The first of the Luton Borough Council courses was the 9-hole Crazy Golf course in the town's Wardown Park.

Related blog posts:

- Luton

- Crazy Golf & Minigolf Courses in and around Luton, Bedfordshire

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Links:

- Luton Borough Council
- Luton Borough Council - Parks and Recreation

- Playing pitch strategy for Luton

- Informal Outdoor Sports Survey

The Derelict Minigolf Course on Bournemouth's Exeter Road

Revisiting a derelict Miniature Golf course in Bournemouth, Dorset.

The derelict Minigolf course on Bournemouth's Exeter Road

In June 2009 we found a derelict Minigolf course in Bournemouth and when we revisited in July 2013 it was still there.

Hole 1 has no felt left on it, but many of the holes still do

The formerly 18-hole course is on Exeter Road and next to the cafe/restaurant. When we last visited we weren't able to have a good look at the course as a group of Gentleman of the Road were enjoying a refreshment break on one of the holes!

This time round we managed to have a good look. It's such a shame the course was left to get in such a state.

It's very similar in design to the course that can be found over the road in the Lower Gardens and the championship course in the Boscombe Chine Gardens, though in an entirely unplayable state.

Some of the holes have almost disappeared entirely! It's quite a haunting and apocalyptic site!

A ramp-less ramp

Nature reclaiming the land!

Hole 18 - I think 

Related Blog Posts:

- A derelict Minigolf course in Bournemouth

- Derelicts

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Not Winning at The Buttons in Bournemouth

While down in Bournemouth earlier this summer Emily and I headed to the amusement arcades on the seafront with our friend and Minigolf rival Seth ‘Wandsworth’ Thomas.

In the pier amusements we spotted a great looking bumble bee prize in one of the Prize Every Time grabbers and it would of made a great gift for another friend and Minigolf rival (and sometime blogger) Oliver ‘Oflo12’ Florence.

The players look at the buttons bee

However, while playing the £2 machine I jiffed it and grabbed an orange thing that made a squeaky noise.

Jiffed, robbed, diddled, fiddled and daddled

I was not best pleased.

The incorrect toy was sold for 20 pence on a car boot stall last week.

Related blog posts:

- Seth Thomas

- Oliver Florence

- The Buttons

- Amusement Arcades

- Bournemouth

M!MS Empire Sunset Nine Hole Mini Golf course in Bedford

Playing a Minigolf course 'sculpture' set-up for one-day only!

With nothing planned for Saturday 27th July I was looking forward to sitting down and not doing much at all. However, a couple of early morning tweets from Northamptonshire-based Cider & Perry Maker Mark Shirley alerted me to a Minigolf course that he'd spotted being set-up in Bedford! What’s more, it was only going to be in the town for one-day!!!

After shooting a round on the temporary course

So, rather than lounging about I did a bit of research and found out the M!MS Empire Sunset Nine Hole Mini Golf course would be open from 3pm until 11pm.

A view of the M!MS Mini Golf course from hole 7

The M!MS team hard at work on hole 4

The M!MS art collective is based in Bedfordshire, with M!MS standing for “Maximum Irony! Maximum Sincerity".

I arrived in Bedford at around 1.30pm which gave me a chance to see the final preparations and site-clearing being done before the course opened for play.

The course looked brilliant and was a great use of a long vacant plot of land in the town’s Midland Road.

A view from over the road

The idea came from artist Andy Holden who designed (and with the help of the M!MS team) built the ‘playable sculpture’ using simple and cheap materials to create the innovative and very playable course.

Photos of the course.

M!MS Mini Golf - in Bedford for one day only!

Hole 1 of the M!MS Mini Golf course

Hole 2 - from the tee

Hole 2 - this one worked really well and the ace shot was very satisfying

Hole 3 - up and over

Hole 5 - a tough loop-di-loop - I had a mixed bag of scores here

Hole 7 - a 3 here was a good result

Hole 8 - a tricky pipe hole

I played two rounds, shooting a 19 followed by an 18 in a match against Andy (who scored a 30). After the course had closed forever I was told that my round of 18 was the best of the day – a course record that will stand for the ages!

Playing hole 9 - the rotating sun

The course not only looked interesting, but it played incredibly well – even more impressive considering it was mostly made out of old pallets! The mix of easy, hard and fun hole designs meant there were some great hole-in-one opportunities, as well as some testing obstacles and second putts.

A view of the course, an art deco building and some old advertising on a building - you could almost be in the 1930's...

The course harked back to 1920’s depression era USA when vacant lots were often turned into improvised Miniature Golf courses.

The M!MS Mini Golf layout, aka Mini Sculpture Golf, was the 533rd course visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 320th played since September 2006.

The M!MS Empire Sunset Mini Golf course scorecard

The scorecard - very well designed and quite large too

Andy Holden and the M!MS team will be showcasing their work – Towards a Complete History of M!MS – at the Zabludowicz Collection in London from the 26th of September to the 15th of December 2013. I’m looking forward to seeing the final collection and film. All of the M!MS events are filmed and by attending them you become part of the work! 

Links:

- Andy Holden Artist & M!MS

- Bedford Creative Arts

- Bedfringe

- Lost Toys

- Zabludowicz Collection

- Stanley Picker Gallery

- Crazy Golf Museum

- Rockingham Forest Cider

Related Blog Posts:

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

- Putting Green / Mini Golf in Bedford - Crazy World of Minigolf course played #184
- Types and Variants of Miniature Golf visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Art & Minigolf Related Blog Posts:

- Mini Golf by Simon Martin

- Playing Crazee Golf at the Tintype Art Gallery in London

- Playing Minigolf on the Selfridges Rooftop Crazy Golf course!

- Arts & Crafts Blog Posts

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