Thursday, May 03, 2012

Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course near Dundee, Scotland

Playing the 291st Miniature Golf course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

During our recent roadtrip of the north west of England, some of Scotland and the north east of England we headed to Broughty Ferry, Dundee to visit the 18-hole Crazy Golf course at Castle Green.

A view of the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course at Castle Green

On our visit on the 8th of April (Easter Sunday) we found the course to be open so we jumped on and had a game, it was £2 per player (for adults).

Some of the holes on the Crazy Golf course looked very similar to the Eternit-style of Miniature Golf, although the concrete course did not play much like one.

Despite its rough shape it was quite fun to play and was very busy too with a constant stream of people heading onto the course for a traditional seaside Putt around.

The course was the 31st visited on our roadtrip, but only the seventh played! In our match-up I managed to get only my third win in a round of the North West England, Scotland & North East England Tour Challenge contest between me and Emily with a 48 to 56 victory.

A view of the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course

Emily playing the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course

Emily playing the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course


Richard playing through a very large obstacle at the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course

Emily playing a tricky hole on the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course

A tap-in for Emily on the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course

Taking a shot on the Volcano hole at Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf - I scored a hole-in-one!

The Volcano obstacle at Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf


Possibly the oddest hole on the entire course was the 18th. This short hole was the only one on the layout that had any felt on it. It also had a choice of six cups to Putt into!? It's one of the strangest holes/obstacles we've come across on our travels and reminded me a bit of the 5 Star Crazy Golf course we found at Bainland Country Park, near Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire last year.

The only felted hole on the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course - it's also got 6-cups to Putt into!?

Video: Crazy Golf in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, Scotland - Scoring a Minigolf Hole-in-One


Prior to our visit I had read a news story about plans for the course to receive a bit of a makeover with some recycled carpet from the Dundee International Sports Complex and a lick of paint too. According to the report the course hadn't had any work done to it since the 1970's!

Prior to our visit to Broughty Ferry the only knowledge we had of the town was that it was home to the star of three excellent books, a radio series and a Hero of Dundee - Bob Servant.

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Location: Broughty Ferry, Dundee City, UK

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

Miniature Golf Days in 2012

Special days to mark the great game of Miniature Golf.

According to ‘the internet’ there are two days each year to celebrate Miniature Golf!

The first of these is National Miniature Golf Day and falls on the second Saturday in May, this year it’s on Saturday 12th of May. The first ever National Miniature Golf Day was held on the 12th of May 2007!

The second of these is Miniature Golf Day and is always on the 21st of September.

This year the British Minigolf Association Tour will be at Strokes Adventure Golf course in Margate, Kent on the 21st of September (a Friday) and the BMGA Players Championship (and BMGA International Players Championship) will be contested. The weekend of the 22nd and 23rd September sees the 15th annual BMGA British International Open tournament played at the course.

BMGA British Masters minigolf tournament 2010
Playing hole 1 of the Strokes Adventure Golf course in Margate, Kent

Where will you be playing Minigolf, Crazy Golf, Adventure Golf or Putt-Putt on the Miniature Golf Days this year...?

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Links:
- National Miniature Golf Day on Wikipedia (within ‘Miniature Golf’ article)
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Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Unplayed Minigolf Courses on our Roadtrip to Scotland & Back

Visits to 36 more Miniature Golf courses in England and Scotland.

Our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour of England and Scotland in April 2012 saw us visit a total of 49 Miniature Golf course locations. Of these we managed to play thirteen of them. Unfortunately in Bispham, Fleetwood, Morecambe, Bowness-on-Windermere, Brockhole, Ambleside, Keswick, Maryport, Silloth-on-Solway, Helensburgh, Bannockburn, Stirling, Perth, St Andrews, Kirkaldy, North Berwick, Gullane, Dunbar, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Spittal and Sunderland we were unable to play the  Minigolf courses there for one reason or another!

Below are a selection of photos from the course visits. You can see photos of the courses that we did play at a blog post here.

Bispham - Queens Road Promenade - The Crazy Golf isn't there any more

The Putting Course at Anchorsolme Park in Bispham - not yet open for the season

The Mini Golf / Pitch & Putt Course at Anchorsolme Park in Bispham - not yet open for the season

Outside the Closed Minigolf Kiosk at Anchorsolme Park in Bispham

The Crazy Golf & Mini Golf / Pitch & Putt in Fleetwood - not yet open for the season

The Crazy Golf course in Fleetwood - not yet open for the season


We noticed the Crazy Golf course in Marine Hall Gardens in Fleetwood has been demolished since our last visit in 2009! The course that was there is just a stone's throw away from the other Crazy Golf course and Pitch & Putt, but we somehow managed to miss seeing them on our first visit to Fleetwood!?

Happy Mount Park in Morecambe - home to Crazy Golf and Putting Courses, but the Miniature Golf is no longer there

The Crazy Golf course at Happy Mount Park in Morecambe

The Putting course at Happy Mount Park in Morecambe

The Putting Green at Morecambe Golf Club -  for Members only!














The Crazy Golf on The Green in Silloth-on-Solway is no longer there. It looks to have recently been dug up!


Driving through Bannockburn towards Stirling we popped into Brucefields Family Golf Centre and found a Putting Course there



The Old Course Putting Green at St Andrews in Scotland is for 'Old Course' Players Only

The Bruce Embankment Putting Green wasn't open on our visit to St Andrews

The Adventure Golf course at Jumpin Jacks Children's Adventure Play and Crazy Golf in Kirkaldy, Scotland is open until 6pm, we arrived after 6pm

The Putting at Beveridge Park in Kircaldy wasn't yet open for the season on our visit

A sign at Beveridge Park in Kircaldy also said there was a Crazy Golf course there. We couldn't find one, but this are could be home to a portable type of course during the summer

While we played the East Links Putting Course in North Berwick, we ran out of time to play the West Links Mini Golf

The 'Golf Town' of Gullane had a Childrens Golf Course - a miniature version of the larger Golf courses

Dunbar's Lauderdale Park no longer has a Crazy Golf course, but there were some funny looking ornaments in the gardens!

The Magdalene Fields Golf Club in Berwick-upon-Tweed is home to a Putting Course

On our visit to The Pavilion Amusements in Spittal, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Crazy Golf course wasn't yet open for the season

The last stop on our tour saw us not play the Crazy Golf course at St Marks Activity Garden in Millfield, Sunderland as we couldn't find any staff to hire equipment from


Other Minigolf course locations we visited on our trip were in Bispham where we couldn't see the Putting Course that was supposed to be near Norbreck Station and North Berwick in Scotland where we found that the Crazy Golf course at The Lodge had been removed.

The trek saw us reach 297 played courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!

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Location: United Kingdom

Monday, April 30, 2012

Sitting on the Longest Bench in the World. In Littlehampton!

Having a nice sit down after a long day of Minigolf.

On my travels around the UK I'm always on the lookout for interesting, unique, odd and obscure things to see, do and visit.

During a conversation about Littlehampton and Crazy Golf last year I was told that the town is home to the Longest Bench in the World. In fact, the people who told me about it were the very same people who designed it! I made a note to visit the bench when I eventually made it to Littlehampton.

Last summer we had run out of time on a Crazy World of Minigolf Tour roadtrip from Hastings towards Littlehampton and ended the day in Worthing. Similarly we failed to make it to Littlehampton on a trip from the direction of Southsea and ended that journey in Felpham, near Bognor Regis. So, having spent the weekend playing in the BMGA British Masters minigolf tournament in Worthing I took the opportunity to make the short trip along the coast to Littlehampton to check out the Minigolf courses there.

Looking at the information board and map on the seafront I noticed that the Longest Bench was not too far from where I had parked and was very close to one of the Miniature Golf course locations I was looking for at Banjo Road, so I headed along for a quick sit down.

A view of the Longest Bench in the World, built in July 2010, stretching along the Littlehampton Promenade

The bench is not as I expected it to be. I imagined that it would be one long bench like a Park Bench. But it's a very higgledy piggledy construction (at least at either end) and stretches along for some distance in a slightly more regular fashion along the promenade.

I'm looking forward to a return trip to Littlehampton with Emily to further explore the town, visit the amusements and Harbour Park and play the many Minigolf courses there. I'll also have another nice sit down on the Longest Bench in the World and take in the views of the beach and sea.

Links:

Bench Related Photo Link:
- In January 2012 I had a sit down on a random BIG bench that is in Hitchin, Herts!
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