A look back at our minigolfing adventures in 2019

A look at our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour to date.

This year we visited 82 miniature golf layouts. Of those we were able to play at 36 courses.

When our travels began in 2006 there were around 600 courses in the UK.

The North Bay Mini Golf course in Scarborough

In June we visited our 900th course overall when we played the North Bay Mini Golf course in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

Playing the North Bay Mini Golf course in Scarborough

In December we visited our 900th course in the UK when we played the indoor Pirates Cove Adventure Golf course at the New York Thunderbowl in Kettering, Northamptonshire.

Playing the Pirates Cove Adventure Golf course at the New York Thunderbowl in Kettering

It's been a year of variety and we've seen so many interesting and quirky courses.

The first new course visited in 2019 was the Plonk Golf course in Shoreditch, London

We also revisited and replayed a lot of excellent courses that we'd already ticked off on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour 'To Play' list.

We've now been to 941 courses since September 2006.

The first course visited this year featured a volcano

As did the last new course we played

902 of the minigolf venues have been in the British Isles. 39 of the layouts were overseas.

The first new course we played in 2019 was at Fletchers Family Garden Centre in Eccleshall, Staffordshire

We've played 539 courses on our travels, many of them multiple times.

A number of the other 402 courses we haven't played have been out-of-season, closed, flooded, derelict or abandoned.

• In 2018 we visited 64 courses.
• In 2017 we went to 74 courses.
• In 2016 we visited 47 courses.
• In 2015 we went to 84 courses.

How many minigolf courses will we visit in 2020?

Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas.

We hope you have a brilliant festive season.

Arcade Club in Leeds

A visit to Arcade Club in Leeds.

We visited the new Arcade Club venue in Leeds yesterday. What a place!

Earlier this year we visited the original Arcade Club in Bury and were very impressed by the selection of games on offer to play.

Always nice to visit Pac-Land

Once you've paid your entry fee (we paid £16 per adult) you get to play hundreds of games all set on free play.

Three floors of fun

It's an amazing place to spend anything from a few hours to a whole day.

A very small selection of the hundreds of games available to play

As someone who grew up going to arcades in the 80's and 90's it's superb to relive those memories by playing arcade classics like Pac-Land, The New Zealand Story and Bubble Bobble. But I also really like the fact there are games available that I'd only had a glimpse of back in the day, or those that were out of my price range to play.

Pac-Land

One of those was The Last Bounty Hunter, a live-action on-rails LaserDisc light-gun game. Back in the day it would've been one of the expensive 50p or a pound a go games I could only dream of playing. Watching older players pumping the machine full of money while firing away at a selection of bad guys and then seeing the really cheesy cut scenes as the actors die is indelibly burned on my mind like screen burn on a CRT monitor.

The Last Bounty Hunter

I easily got my money's worth by playing The Last Bounty Hunter and managed to get to the third stage. I could've spent more time on it but I had to wander and play other games.

The ground level is home to pinball tables, quirky Japanese import games, old racing and driving games and new arcade machines.

As a big fan of Resident Evil games there was one game I spotted and immediately wanted to play. After waiting for some other players to finish their go Emily and I jumped on the Taito game Elevator Action Death Parade. It was brilliant.

We arrived at 11.30am and there was a steady flow of people of all ages into the venue while we were there. Even though it was busy, there was a nice buzz and we never felt cramped in playing machines and there are plenty of games on offer we didn't have to wait long to play any games.

Tempest. I'd never played the arcade game before, but I love the Atari Jaguar version

There were still plenty of games I could've had a go on there but there just wasn't time.

The Neo Geo section

We're looking forward to our next visit to Arcade Club. There will also be a new Arcade Club venue opening in Blackpool next year. Wonderful news.

Bubble Bobble, a true classic

You can find Arcade Club at the Abbey Retail Park in Kirkstall, Leeds.

Arcade Club - retail entertainment done right

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

Crazy Golf at the Horse & Harrow Pub in West Hagbourne, Oxfordshire

Thirteen years ago today we visited the 10th course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

On a bitterly cold 23rd December 2006 Emily, Christopher and I headed along to the Horse & Harrow Pub in West Hagbourne, Oxfordshire to have a game on the beer garden Crazy Golf course there.

In all the years and hundreds upon hundreds of courses we've seen since, none have been anything quite like the 9-hole course.

Crazy

Back in 2006 we never realised how BIG our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour would become. To date we've visited 942 courses!

We popped back to the pub for a look at the course in April 2011.

How the course looked five years later

Looking online it doesn't look like the course is in the pub's beer garden anymore.

The Kitchen A-Team

If you need a new kitchen, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire - THE QUOTATION TEAM!

We spotted this 'A-Team' van in Cheadle Heath yesterday

Aka Multi Kitchens Ltd.

The Waste Team in Leeds and The Natural Tile Company in Belfast have cool A-Team vans too.

The Chase is on. Again. Possibly

It's possible my episode of The Chase will be on Pick at 5pm this Saturday, 28th December.

Facing The Beast

That's if the episode number hasn't been changed again.

The episode scheduled is listed as Series 5, Episode 16.

My episode has been listed as that before. As well as Series 5, Episode 39.

Shambles

Blogiversary of the Ham and Egger Files

Today marks thirteen years since the Ham and Egger Files began.

Thirteen years ago today I began blogging - where has the time gone!

People often ask me how a blog that is mostly about minigolf has the name the 'Ham and Egger Files'? The answer is that it didn't initially start out life as a minigolf blog.

On the 21st December 2006 I published my first post about how I planned to participate in as many obscure and minority sports as I could and see what would happen with the limited sporting ability I have!

The term 'ham and egger' has connotations ranging from that of 'ordinary person' to that of 'loser'. The origin of the term comes from prize fighters whose modest skills wouldn’t let them win large purses. Therefore, the fighter or their manager - who received a percentage of purses won - were never able to afford to eat better than ham and eggs.

Since that first post I have gone on to publish more than 3,500 posts! Admittedly most of them have been about minigolf.

At our 900th minigolf course - the North Bay Crazy Golf course in Scarborough

Our interest in minigolf and what would soon become our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour had actually begun on the 30th September 2006, but I didn't publish a post about the sport until the 29th January 2007 when I announced that I had joined the British Minigolf Association - a tournament circuit I made my actual debut on in Southend-on-Sea on the 28th April 2007.

Since my first year of blogging Emily and I have now visited 940 miniature golf courses, played in hundreds of tournaments and competed in lots of different sports and games. I've won quite a few titles along the way too, not too bad for a Ham n' Egger.

Back in 2006 we were still playing dodgeball and we ran leagues into 2007. I've dipped (dodged and dived) back into the sport intermittently over the years and just recently have got back into playing the ultimate underdog sport.

Dodgeballing at the Cheadle & Gatley Griffins Dodgeball Club

A massive thank you goes out to everyone who has ever read one of my posts, commented, shared, or guest blogged on the site, it's very much appreciated.

Emily and I are always happy to hear about new minigolf courses, new sports and games, new places to visit and interesting things to write about. Please do get in touch if you have any ideas or suggestions for future blog posts.

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. Please do sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter too.

Happy Underdog Day

Happy Underdog Day 2019.

Today is Underdog Day.

Happy National Underdog Day to ham and eggers, journeymen, jobbers, local competitors, enhancement talent, jabronis, wildcards, second placers, also-rans, palookas, runners-up, Mr Nobodies, silver medalists, and Average Joes everywhere.

The third Friday in December is the day to celebrate and honour unsung heroes, the second best among us and life’s runners-up. Not to forget those people that have made a name for themselves against the odds.

Related blog posts:
- Underdog Day
- National Underdog Day
- Dull Men's Club
- Day

Guinness World Record Attempt for the 'Most Brussels Sprouts Eaten in a Minute'

A look back at the 2009 Guinness World Record Attempt for the 'Most Brussels Sprouts Eaten in a Minute'.

I can't believe it's been ten years since I attempted to break the Guinness World Record for the 'Most Brussels Sprouts Eaten in a Minute' at Luton Indoor Market!

A star studded line-up of talent assembled to take part in the charity record attempt

What an event that was.

Check out the other Guinness World Records I've attempted over the years.

Me and Brad Shepherd with our certificates from the event

New underground Crazy Golf venue opening in Cardiff

A new indoor minigolf venue is heading to Cardiff.

Cardiff will soon be home to another new miniature golf course as Par 59 opens in the city.

The Par 59 venue will be home to two indoor, adults only Crazy Golf layouts along with bars and dining.

Par 59 is planned to open up in the basement level of the Capitol Shopping Centre in Cardiff in April next year.

The Par 59 concept is from the team at Depot.

Shopping centres are becoming a popular place to set-up a minigolf course with retailtainment enhancing the shopping experience.

Cardiff is set to be a real minigolf hot-spot with new courses opening in the city on a regular basis.

Visit the Par 59 website for more information.

New course at Maidenhead Mini Golf

A new 18-hole Adventure Golf course is being built at Maidenhead Mini Golf.

The 9-hole Maidenhead Mini Golf course has now closed until the Spring of next year when it will re-open as a new 18-hole Dinosaur Adventure Golf course.

The new layout at is being created by the team at HM Adventure Golf.

We played the Maidenhead Mini Golf course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour back in 2011.

Did you play minigolf in 2019?

I'm running a poll on Twitter and the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Facebook Page asking whether people have played minigolf this year.

Did you play minigolf in 2019?

If yes, please reply with how many times.#minigolf #crazygolf #adventuregolf #miniaturegolf #puttinggreen #golf #puttingcourse

— Richard Gottfried (@putting_gott) December 18, 2019

If you have, please reply in the comments with how many times.

Happy Gluten Free Baking Week

The week before Christmas is Gluten Free Baking Week.

I found out via the National Day Calendar that the week before Christmas is Gluten Free Baking Week!

Since I attended the Cheshire Coeliac Meeting in October I've got into baking gluten free snacks, savouries and cakes.

Gluten free sausage rolls

What shall I bake for Gluten Free Baking Week?

Christmas Crazy Golf in Coventry

A look at the festive hole at Teezers Retro Golf in Coventry.

Back in April we played a Christmas-themed minigolf hole when we visited Teezers Retro Golf in Coventry.

Check out the full blog post from our visit.



Have you played any Christmas-themed minigolf this year, or do you know of any festive crazy golf layouts?

Dino Falls Adventure Golf Volcano course

Playing the new Dino Falls Adventure Golf Volcano course at the Trafford Golf Centre.

Last night we played the brand new Dino Falls Adventure Golf Volcano course at the Trafford Golf Centre.

Emily playing hole 13

On a very cold but dry night we played a round on the new 18-hole adventure golf course that has been built around the existing and very popular Dino Falls Adventure Golf course at the golf centre in Manchester's Trafford City area.

The original layout has now been named the Rapids course.

Playing hole 16

In our round I managed to grab the win with a score of 43 while Emily hit a 46. We both hit a hole-in-one during our game. The best score of the day and course record was a 42.

Emily on hole 14

Check out the Dino Falls Adventure Golf website for more information, opening times and prices.

The safest place to stand is under an erupting volcano right?

We've been playing minigolf at the Trafford Golf Centre since 2009. Back then we used to travel up to the venue for tournaments I won on the old 9-hole Championship Miniature Golf course. Last year I won the Dino Falls Masters competition on the Rapids course.

Inside the volcano

The new Dino Falls Adventure Golf Volcano course at the Trafford Golf Centre was the 901st course we've been to in the British Isles and the 940th we've visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since 2006.

Playing hole 3

Short Game Area at the Trafford Golf Centre in Manchester

A look at the Putting Green in the Short Game Area at the Trafford Golf Centre in Manchester.

The Trafford Golf Centre in Manchester has a nice looking Putting area.

It's next to the two 18-hole Adventure Golf courses.

Ghetto Golf course planned for Burley, Leeds

A new Ghetto Golf course could be heading to Leeds.

Plans have been submitted for a new Ghetto Golf indoor minigolf venue to open in the Burley area of Leeds, West Yorkshire.

There are currently Ghetto Golf courses in Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle upon Tyne.

Ghetto Golf at Hoults Yard in Byker, Newcastle

We love visiting Leeds and a new course will give us another great reason to go back.

Related blog posts:
- Ghetto Golf
- Leeds

Happy Monkey Day

Today is Monkey Day.

A monkey on a hole at Congo Rapids Adventure Golf at Norwich Family Golf Centre

The unofficial holiday of Monkey Day is celebrated around the world every year on the 14th December.