Crazy Golf at Vickersway Park in Northwich, Cheshire

Visiting the 700th course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

On Saturday 17th September 2016 we reached another BIG milestone on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour as we played the 9-hole Crazy Golf course at Vickersway Park in Northwich, Cheshire - it was the 700th miniature golf course we've visited since our quest began back in September 2006.

At our 700th course

One of the nicest looking courses we've ever seen

Vickersway Park is a perfect setting for a sunny afternoon's minigolfing and is one of the nicest parks we've been to on our travels.

The Crazy Golf course was the 411th we've managed to play and it was very pleasing to see the layout offering up obstacles we'd not seen before.

Emily teeing off on hole 1 of our 700th course visit

On hole 2

Hole 4 was the longest

The hilly 5th hole

The tough uphill 6th hole

Hole 8

The incredibly tough 9th hole

In our match-up on the course Emily picked up the win 30-31 - but if it were not for the incredibly tricky pipe obstacle on the last hole it would've been by a lot more.

When we arrived at the park we were surprised to find there's not one minigolf course there, but two! So, we also managed to play the 412th course on our tour!

Hole 1 of the Putting Green

The looping Putting Green was a nice course, with some difficult routes to the cups.

A view of the Putting course

There were also some chicken coops and hen houses and bird cages next to the course which was interesting to see and hear. I got a small measure of revenge for my earlier defeat on the Crazy Golf course by winning our round on the Putting course 23-26.

Emily putting

The park games are nicely priced and we received brilliant service from the lady in the kiosk. The park and its team are certainly an asset to the town.

The menu board

The first game we spotted at the park looked like a minigolf course, but was actually a pair of skittle alleys.

The Skittle alleys

We'd definitely return to Vickersway Park for some more minigolf, a game of skittles, a nice wander and a sit down in the pleasant surroundings. Visit the GoNorthwich website for more information.

Emily enjoying a nice sit down at the Putting course

This year we're celebrating ten years of our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. It all began down in Sothsea, Hampshire on the 30th September 2006. We can't believe we've managed to visit 700 courses in that time. When we began there were around 600 courses in the UK! There are now 50 or so more for us to visit, but with new courses opening all the time who knows when, or if, we'll ever complete the set...

We added another brilliant minigolf scorecard to our collection

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Cheshire

Videos:
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 1
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 2 - hole-in-one
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 3
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 4
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 5
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 6 - hole-in-one
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 7 - hole-in-one
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 8
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 9
- Putting Green at Vickersway Park Hole 1 and chickens
- Putting Green at Vickersway Park Hole 5
- Crazy Golf and a Northern train at Vickersway Park in Northwich

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Crazy Golf at the Pier Head in Liverpool

Visiting the 699th course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

On Saturday 10th September we visited the 12-hole Crazy Golf course at the Pier Head in Liverpool.

It became the 699th miniature golf course visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since we began our travels on the 30th September 2006.

At course number 699

It's a fun layout - made tricky by the use of regular bouncy golf balls - and had some interesting obstacles.

An interesting place to park a London bus

It was similar in style to the courses we've played in Brockhole and Torquay. And a bit like the course in Ayr as decking had been used for some of the holes.

The course became the 410th played overall and at £3 per player it was a good price for some fun minigolf.

Now we roll on to the 700th course. Who knows where it'll be!

Related blog posts:
- Liverpool
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Video:
- Playing hole 7

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Minigolf at Liverpool Golf Centre

Playing two miniature golf courses at the Liverpool Golf Centre.

On Saturday 10th September we headed to Liverpool and the Liverpool Golf Centre & Driving Range where we added two more courses to our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The 9-hole short game Putting course and 9-hole Mini Golf layout were great fun and a good challenge.

The Putting Green was the first course we played on the visit and became the 697th and 407th course played since our travels began in September 2006.

I enjoyed hitting two holes-in-one during our round. Always pleasing on a Putting course.

The Mini Golf course is a real challenge of Putting skill as the holes were borderless.

We received a nice welcome from the golf pro on the till when we arrived and enjoyed a couple of rounds on the two courses.

The Liverpool Golf Centre has a great weather vane

Visit the Liverpool Golf Centre & Driving Range website for more information.

Related blog posts:
- Liverpool
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Videos:
- Mini Golf at Liverpool Golf Centre - hole 1
- Mini Golf at Liverpool Golf Centre - hole 4
- Mini Golf at Liverpool Golf Centre - hole 8
- Mini Golf at Liverpool Golf Centre - hole 9
- Putting Green Mini Golf at Liverpool Golf Centre - hole-in-one

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The Park Bench Appreciation Society

It's good to have a nice sit down.

We recently met up with Leland Carlson from the Dull Men's Club - Mission Statement: “It’s OK to be dull” - and had a nice day out in Stockport. Our first port of call was the Town Hall to visit a giant postcard fair, surprisingly the first Leland had visited.

It's quite possible he's now been hooked on collecting postcards as Emily managed to find a card depicting one of his areas of interest - park benches. In fact he ended up buying more than one.

Having a nice sit down on a bench in Stockport. Photo by Leland Carlson

On our travels Emily and I have also had a sit on the Longest Bench in the world. It's in Littlehampton.

Earlier this year we also had the opportunity to see the new bench at the excellent Splash Point Mini Golf course in Worthing.

The new addition to Splash Point Mini Golf

Visit the Dull Men's Club website to find out more.

Cyberdine Electronic Darts in Luton

Playing darts on an interesting board in Luton.

We recently returned to our old Luton stomping ground and while in town we spotted a brilliant darts game in the downstairs bar of The Gospoda Polish restaurant on Chapel Street.

A futuristic dart board if ever I saw one

As big fans of darts, strange games and odd machines - we had to take a closer look. We were amazed to see it was made by Cyberdine!

This particular product from the Cyberdine range is the CYD03-01.

In action on the soft tip darts game

We gave it a play and luckily it didn't become self-aware.

With the CYD03-01

Fellow darts and sci-fi movie aficionado Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley commented that it "Looks like the Raffletech 3000's long-lost cousin."

The RaffleTron!

Related blog posts:
- Darts
- Luton
- Novelty Automation arcade in London
- Cullercoats Lifeboat Charity Evening and the 'Raffletech 3010'

Links:
- The Gospoda
- Cyberdine Darts

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British Minigolf Open at Hastings Adventure Golf

British Minigolf Open championships heading to Hastings.

The team at Hastings Adventure Golf have got in touch to let us know about the British Minigolf Open taking place on the 17th and 18th September. Over 50 British and international crazy golf competitors will tee off in a bid to win the title in the two-day, nine round event.

Chris Richards of Hastings Adventure Golf, said: “We’re delighted to be hosting the tournament again this year. It’s a challenging course but this event attracts the very best players in UK crazy golf and is always a spectacle to watch.”

Tackling the challenge of the Pirate Golf course

The tournament takes place on the 18-hole Pirate Course, where players must contend with cannon fire, explosions, water features, tunnels, ramps and banked curves.

The 18-hole Pirate Adventure Golf course in Hastings was the 219th course we played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

With three 18-hole miniature golf courses, Hastings Adventure Golf also hosts the World Crazy Golf Championships. Situated on the seafront in Hastings Old Town, the British Open Championships starts at 9am on Saturday 17th September.

Emily playing the Pirate Golf course in Hastings

Earlier this year Hastings Adventure Golf completed a massive refurbishment at Pelham Place in Hastings that transformed an area of the promenade that had been looking a bit weary. The £450,000 construction project involved the redevelopment of the land behind Hastings Adventure Golf from Pelham Place to the promenade. This is now pedestrianised and includes a plaza-style eating area with modern street furniture and a new fish and chip restaurant.

Over the years Emily and I have competed in a number of British Opens and other national tour events in Hastings and the miniature golf courses there are great fun.

For more information check out the Hastings Adventure Golf website.

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Petanque in Stockport

Playing boules with Woodstock Pétanque Club at Alexandra Park in Edgeley, Stockport. 

As big fans of boules and petanque it was great to hear that we've got a local club in Stockport.

The Woodstock Pétanque Club play at Alexandra Park in Edgeley and recently held a series of open taster events. We went along for a game and it was great fun.

Emily throwing a boules

The Edgeley terrain was certainly an interesting playing surface and there were a few local hazards on the pistes we played our games on.

In action

We had three pairs games - with Paul from the club giving us tips - which resulted in some very close ends, and ultimately three defeats for me. Emily picked up a couple of wins, as did a visiting John 'Big Al' Moore.

A high toss from John

The Woodstock Pétanque Club meet on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month and are looking for new members to enable the club to meet weekly.

It costs just £10 for the annual membership, with a £1 fee per week when you play. The season runs from March to October.

Check out the Woodstock Pétanque Club on Twitter, Facebook and their website for more details.

Related blog posts:
- Pétanque
- Petanque
- Boules

Links:
- Woodstock Pétanque Club on Twitter
- Woodstock Pétanque Club on Facebook
- Woodstock Pétanque Club website
- English Pétanque Association

Mini Golf in a Stockport charity shop

Another odd location for a Crazy World of Minigolf Tour course visit.

While having a wander round Stockport town centre we nipped into the National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline charity shop and lo' and behold we spotted a 'Mini Golf' layout!

Another ludicrous photo of me playing miniature golf. This layout was very mini

The day before the shop had held a fun day and Mini Golf was one of the games on offer. Take a look at the sign.

Another fun day out in Stockport

I got to have three goes for 50p.

My first shot drew a heckle of 'weak' from the lady in the shop. Admittedly it was an underpowered shot.

My second was an Ace. Yee-ha!

My third and final shot drifted had the right weight behind it, but was wide of the mark.

Unexpectedly I was rewarded with a bag of sweets for my efforts.

Check out the National Hereditary Breast Cancer Helpline charity website for more information about their work.

The Mini Golf course visit was number 696 overall, with the layout the 407th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since the 30th September 2006.

This was the third Miniature Golf course we've found since we moved to Cheadle Hulme from Luton. The first was a 9-hole Grass Putting course at the Park Square office on Bird Hall Lane in Cheadle Heath. The second was the Pitch and Putt course at Bruntwood Park in Cheadle.

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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Shuffleboard at Albert's Schloss bier hall in Manchester.

Playing Shuffleboard in Manchester's Albert's Schloss bier hall.

We've played a lot of different sports and games over the years and on a recent visit to Manchester added another to the list - Shuffleboard.

The table we played was at Albert's Schloss bier hall on St Peter Street. It's well worth a visit.

We had a few games against some local competitors. Unfortunately we came up short in the contests, but we put that down to the lack of warm-up. About eight pints by the look of it.

Check out the Albert's Schloss website for more details.

Related blog posts:
- Sports and games played
- Pub
- Pub Games
- Pub Sports

Pitch and Putt at Bruntwood Park, Cheadle

A visit to the Pitch and Putt course at Bruntwood Park in Cheadle.

Cheadle Golf Club's Pitch & Putt course at Bruntwood Park

Today we visited the second miniature golf course since moving to Cheadle Hulme. This one was the Pitch and Putt course at Bruntwood Park.

It looks a nice layout and we'll definitely give it a play one day.

Being under the flight-path of Manchester Airport brought back memories of playing Pitch and Putt at Stockwood Park in Luton.

Bruntwood Park's minigolf course became the became the 695th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since our travels began in September 2006.

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Jurassic Golf course at The Needles on the Isle of Wight

My friend Naomi Carey was recently on holiday on the Isle of Wight and managed to snap this great shot of the Jurassic Golf course at The Needles Landmark Attraction.

It looks well worth a play.

Back in 2009 we visited the Isle of wight on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and are hoping to get back there soon. There a few more new and refurbished courses for us to play there now!

Related blog posts:
- Minigolf and Crazy Golf on the Isle of Wight and a visit to Isle of Wight Lane in Bedfordshire

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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