Golfbaren Bangolf in Kristineberg and Hägersten

Visiting the Golfbaren minigolf courses in Kristineberg and Aspudden.

Last February we headed to Sweden for a mini-minigolfing trip to celebrate the first anniversary of the opening of the excellent Swing by Golfbaren indoor miniature golf course and speakeasy run by our friend and minigolf rival Hans Olofsson.

A minigolf hole between two trees at Golfbaren Aspudden

While in Sweden we managed to visit nine courses in 42 hours. The visit to Swing by Golfbaren was also the 800th course visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

At Goflbaren Aspudden

Before we left Hans gave us a tour of two of the other courses he owns. Both are outdoor layouts in the Stockholm suburbs - one in Kristineberg and another in Hägersten.

Golfbaren Kristineberg is right next to the railway station

Even though the courses were covered in snow it was was brilliant to see the locations and explore outside of the city centre.

Golfbaren Aspudden

Golfbaren Kristineberg was the 803rd course we've visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 34th overseas. Golfbaren Aspudden in Hägersten was the 804th overall and 35th overseas.

Golfbaren Kristineberg

Golfbaren Aspudden

This way to Bangolf

   

A plaque on one of the holes tells the story of the course's history and former owner 

There was a small farm park at Aspudden too

A rabbit eating an old Christmas tree

Check out the Golfbaren website for more information, opening times and prices.

An advert for the indoor Swing by Golfbaren venue at the outdoor Kristineberg course

Related blog posts:
- Sweden
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- From Stockport to Stockholm on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Link:
- Golfbaren

Sports World Mini Golf at O'Leary's in the Mall of Scandinavia

A visit to the Sports World Mini Golf course at O'Leary's in the Mall of Scandinavia.

Last year we visited Stockholm for a whirlwind 42 hours of minigolfing where we visited nine courses.

Hitting a home run

One of those was the Sports World Mini Golf course at O'Leary's bar, restaurant and entertainment centre in the Mall of Scandinavia.

It's a nice indoor venue where each hole is themed on a different sport.

Racing to a two

Tennis in a cage! 

Sports World Mini Golf was the 801st course we visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. It was the 32nd overseas course we've been to and the 473rd we played overall.

Check out the O'Leary's website for more info on the Sports World Mini Golf course.

O'Leary's in the Mall of Scandinavia was a brilliant venue, with a bar, restaurant and entertainment centre containing a laser tag arena, darts, shuffleboard, an arcade and more.

Related blog posts:
- Solna
- Sweden
- Stockholm
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- From Stockport to Stockholm on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Videos:
- Mini Golf on an Ice Hockey Rink at the Mall of Scandinavia
- Mini Golf in a Boxing Ring at the Mall of Scandinavia
- Mini Golf at O'Leary's in the Mall of Scandinavia 1 of 2
- Mini Golf at O'Leary's in the Mall of Scandinavia 2 of 2

Links:
- Sports World Mini Golf at O'Leary's
- Mall of Scandinavia

Swing by Golfbaren indoor minigolf course and speakeasy in Stockholm

A year ago today we visited our 800th minigolf course. The location was Swing by Golfbaren, a superb indoor minigolf course and speakeasy in Vasastan, Stockholm, Sweden.

The Swing by Golfbaren course was the 472nd we played and the 31st overseas course we've visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

The course has a 1920's theme and is a truly unique layout. There's an 'upstairs' 12-holes open for all to play, while hidden 'downstairs' are a further 6-holes which can be booked for private events.

Throughout the venue you can find out about the history of miniature golf, with displays, ephemera, stories and memorabilia from the 1800's to the modern day.

Check out the Swing by Golfbaren website for more information, opening times and prices.

When our minigolfing travels began back in September 2006 we had no idea we'd reach such a huge number of minigolf courses. Back then we'd seen there were 600 courses in the UK. To date we've visited 859 courses in total, with 821 of them in the British Isles.

Link:
- Swing by Golfbaren

Related blog posts:
- Stockholm
- Minigolf course visit 800!
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Swing by Golfbaren in Stockholm, Sweden
- From Stockport to Stockholm on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Monorails and Minigolf at Butlin's Minehead

A look back at the Monorails and Minigolf course at Butlin's Somerwest World holiday camp in Minehead.

My brother Christopher was recently looking through some old family photos and spotted this snap of us riding the monorail at Butlin's Minehead back in the early 90's.

Riding the Tango branded Monorail at Butlin's Minehead in the early 1990's

My family holidayed at the camp a number of times in the late 80's and early 90's and I've got brilliant memories of the monorail, funfair, laser tag and arcades there. It's little wonder that even now I'm such a big fan of the British seaside, monorails, crazy golf and video-games.

Emily and I also had one of our first holidays together at the camp in 2004 and we remember playing the Arnold Palmer Putting Course you can see in the postcard below. This card is from the time the camp was known as Butlin's Somerwest World from 1987 to 1999. Sadly we haven't got any photos of us from our pre-Crazy World of Minigolf Tour game on the course.

A Butlin's Holidays postcard of Somerwest World. Postally unused. Undated

While looking at the history of Butlin's for a feature in Picture Postcard Monthly to mark the 80th birthday of Butlin's in 2016 I found that the UK's first commercial monorail was opened at Butlin's Skegness in 1965! The Skegness holiday resort is the one remaining camp I haven't been to.

It's brilliant collecting old postcards of minigolf courses, monorails and holiday camps as they are superb pieces of social history, as well as bringing back some great memories.

Related blog posts:
- Butlin's
- Postcards

Link:
- Butlin's

The Golf Dome in Seaton Carew

A visit to the Golf Dome in Seaton Carew.

Last September we visited Hartlepool and were looking forward to having a game on the Golf Trail adventure putting course at the Golf Dome in the seaside resort of Seaton Carew. Sadly it had closed down.

The Golf Dome 

You can see the Golf Trail Mini Golf course in the background

Sadly the course and Golf Dome had closed down 

Posters for The Golf Dome

The Golf Trail Mini Golf course was the the 846th course visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Crazy Golf course at Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park

Revisiting the Crazy Golf course at Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park.

Last September we made our third visit to the Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park in Wales for a Holiday on the Buses Weekender. While on the camp we swung by the Crazy Golf course.

The course is housed within a fort

The ten-hole course was the 348th played and 582nd visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour when we first stayed at the camp in September 2014. We also visited in September 2017.

While you're staying at the camp the course is free to play

Related blog posts:
- Crazy Golf at Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Camp
- Crazy Golf at Pontins Prestatyn Sands Holiday Park
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Holiday on the Buses
- Prestatyn
- Pontins

Link:
- Pontins Prestatyn Sands

Coalville Miniature Railway

A look back at the Miniature Railway at Hermitage Recreation Ground in Coalville.

Back in June 2008 we took a road-trip to Northallerton and en route our first stop was the then new UrbanCrazy Miniature Golf course at Hermitage Recreation Ground in Coalville, Leicestershire.

Coalville's minigolf course

Looking through our archives I noticed that we also visited a Miniature Railway there.

Check out our other Miniature Railway blog posts.

Related blog posts:
- Coalville
- Miniature Railway