Princess Parade Crazy Golf course update

An update on the Princess Parade Crazy Golf course project in Blackpool.

A look at the Princess Parade Crazy Golf course

Earlier this year the teams at Blackpool Fulfilling Lives and Blackpool and the Fylde Street Angels joined forces to refresh and reopen the Princess Parade Crazy Golf course on Blackpool's North Shore.

How the course looked in May this year

The area has been given a massive clean up by the project team

The minigolf project is helping people in Blackpool by giving them the chance to work on the Crazy Golf course so it is playable and then staffing it for the season. It's a wonderful plan to give people the opportunity to receive work experience, while also bringing an historic, but disused, minigolf course back to life.

We had a play of some of the holes at the course last Thursday and it's coming along nicely

The course will retain as many of the original obstacles as possible, with repairs made to damaged elements

It's a pleasure to be a part of the project and I've enjoyed meetings and calls with the teams at Blackpool Fulfilling Lives and Blackpool & the Fylde Street Angels, Blackpool Council and the Blackpool Civic Trust since hearing about the endeavour.

I'm really looking forward to seeing and playing the course when it opens for business in April next year

Last week I revisited the course and met with colleagues and volunteers who are doing a superb job. The course and surrounding area are looking in a much improved condition to when I last saw it in person back in May.

More information on the project can be found on the Blackpool Princess Parade Crazy Golf Facebook Group and via Blackpool Fulfilling Lives and Blackpool and the Fylde Street Angels.

It'll be wonderful once the course is up and running again. We've got 21 postcards showing the North Shore Crazy Golf course with ten different views. Some of the cards have been postally used, while others are unused. It's great to see the photos of it in its heyday.

Blackpool Crazy Golf course, North Shore. PT18819 by Photo Precision Limited. Unused

The card below is the earliest posted example we have of the course. It was sent to Manchester on the 4th June 1969.

Crazy Golf Course and North Pier, Blackpool postcard. The Photographic Greeting Card Co Ltd. London. Posted to Manchester

Crazy Golf at Medmerry Park in Earnley

A look at the Crazy Golf course at Medmerry Park holiday village in Earnley, West Sussex.

My brother Christopher has visited another course on his branch of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. The 9-hole course is at Medmerry Park in Earnley, West Sussex.

He said it's the nicest looking course he's ever seen on his travels.

It does look very smart and there appear to be some nice hole-in-one opportunities on the layout. I'd love to give it a play.

Looking online the course Christopher saw is relatively new and replaces the old Crazy Golf course which was on the same spot.

A nice spot for a sit down

Visit the Windrush Holidays website to find out more about Medmerry Park.

Here are more snaps of the Crazy Golf course.

Christopher Gottfried has now been to 31 courses in the UK and nine overseas countries on his own branch of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. Altogether we've visited 948 courses.

Emily and I have also played in Earnley. That was the 15-hole Millennium Crazy Golf course at Earnley Gardens back in October 2011. It was the 270th course played on our tour.

Eleven years ago today...

...I won the Weymouth Open minigolf tournament.

Weymouth Winner

What a day!

The inaugural Weymouth Open minigolf competition was held on the 18-hole Pirate Adventure Mini Golf course at the Weymouth Sea Life Centre at Lodmoor Country Park.

One of the holes on the incredibly tricky layout

I had a very good record in Weymouth Open events. As well as winning the individual title in 2008 my team-mate Chris Harding and I were the Weymouth Open doubles champions in 2011.

The Weymouth Open team champs

I was also runner-up in the 2009 and 2011 events and seventh in 2010. In the 2009 tournament Kevin Moseley and I were tied after two rounds and it took 4-holes of a sudden-death play-off to separate us.

Putting aboard a pirate ship

I've heard that the Pirate Adventure Mini Golf course at the Weymouth Sea Life Centre has undergone some changed over the last few years. It'll be interesting to revisit the layout on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. The course was the 77th played on our travels. We've now been to 925 courses since September 2006.

Playing in the 2010 edition of the competition

Crazy Golf and Pitch & Putt at Trenance Gardens in Newquay

A look at the Crazy Golf and Pitch & Putt course at Trenance Gardens in Newquay.

During the summer of 2015 we visited 62 miniature golf courses on a two week road trip of the South West of England.

Two of those were at Trenance Gardens in Newquay, Cornwall.

A view of the Pitch & Putt course

The Crazy Golf course

Trenance Gardens is also home to a miniature railway.

The Little Western Railway

Tiger Woods gets into the world of minigolf with PopStroke

Legendary big golfer Tiger Woods has joined forces with US-based minigolf brand PopStroke.

PopStroke currently has one miniature golf putting venue in Port St. Lucie, Florida and TGR, Tiger Woods Ventures and PopStroke Entertainment Group plan to expand the PopStroke brand with new putting courses to open in Arizona and Florida in 2020.

PopStroke are another of the relatively recent wave of competitive socialising venues, with the minigolf course joined by a food and drink offering.

The PopStroke course and player experience includes interactive scoring via an electronically tracked golf ball, plus a scorecard and loyalty rewards app.

More information on the strategic partnership between TGR, Tiger Woods Ventures and PopStroke Entertainment Group can be found at "Tiger Woods Partnership" and "Tiger Woods and PopStroke Announce Partnership".

It's interesting to see a player from the world of regular golf getting involved in minigolf. Miniature Golf is certainly booming at the moment with new courses opening on a weekly basis.

During the major minigolf boom of the 1960's and early 70's Arnold Palmer was involved with the development of the Putting Courses that bore his name. The Arnold Palmer branded miniature golf courses were part of the Arnold Palmer Enterprises empire set-up in 1961 that saw the legendary golfer's name licensed and franchised to a wide-range of activities and products including Dry Cleaning centres and an Arnold Palmer brand foot detergent.

It's going to be interesting to follow the development of PopStroke. We're looking forward to playing a PopStroke course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Blackpool Pleasure Beach Adventure Golf

Revisiting the Adventure Golf course at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

I was in Blackpool yesterday and had to swing by the Adventure Golf course at Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

The weather was a bit different to my last visit in May.

In September 2009 I won the Blackpool Pleasure Beach Open minigolf tournament on the course.

We first visited the 12-hole adventure golf course in 2008 when we helped to launch the course and competed in the inaugural Blackpool Pleasure Beach Open tournament. The course was number 44 on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Visit the Blackpool Pleasure Beach website for more information.

It's still annoying that my name has never been up on the hut as I've got the course record - a 24 in the first round of the 2009 Pleasure Beach Open. Peter McGillivray's name and round of 25 shots has been up on the board since 2016

There used to be another minigolf course inside the Pleasure Beach - an Alpine themed one. That was the 46th course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The Alpine Golf course at the Pleasure Beach is now a lost course

Related blog posts:
- Blackpool
- Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Mario's and Luigi's takeaways in Blackpool

They're opposite each other on Dickson Road in Blackpool.

What a sight!

Mario's in Blackpool

Pizza Luigi in Blackpool

Over the last few years I've seen a number of Mario takeaways, but this was the first full-blown Luigi place I've spotted.

Pizza Luigi in Blackpool

There's another Mario's on Foxhall Road in Blackpool. That one features both characters on the window.

We've seen Mario and Luigi in some interesting places in the last few years.

There's a Mario mini market in Levenshulme, Mario & Luigi ice cream vans in Buxton and Hathersage, Mario movers in Newcastle and Mario's takeaway in Barnsley.

What a carrot!

What a sight!

A carrot of distinction

It might have come from the same sample of seeds as the one my brother spotted during National Gardening Week earlier this year.