Minigolfing in Doncaster a year ago today

This time last year we were playing Crazy Golf at Sunnybank Gardens & The Yorkshire Ice Cream Farm in Hatfield, Doncaster.

The course was one of 20 we visited in the first 20 days of 2020.

Little did we know then that it would be the last course we'd play together until we managed a round again in August last year!

The 11-hole layout at Sunnybank Gardens & The Yorkshire Ice Cream Farm was the 945th course visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Visit Sunnybank Gardens & The Yorkshire Ice Cream Farm on Facebook for more information.

The trip to Doncaster was our last holiday too and while exploring the town we found a Crazy Golf course at Elmfield Park in Bennetthorpe and a layout at Hexthorpe Flatts Park.

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Crazy Golf at Vickersway Park in Northwich

A look at the Crazy Golf course at Vickersway Park in Northwich, Cheshire. January 2020.

Back in September 2016 the 9-hole course became the 700th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

We've now been to 956 courses since September 2006.

American Golf National Adventure Golf Championship

A look back at the American Golf National Adventure Golf Championship at The Belfry.

The American Golf National Adventure Golf Championship is on YouTube (from 26m 55s).

It was brilliant to compete in the event alongside Peter Jones at The Belfry Hotel & Resort in 2017 and showcase tournament miniature golf to a national TV audience.

Peter Jones in action in our semi-final match-up

I'm looking forward to playing in minigolf competitions again in the future.

Playing hole 3 of the Ryder Legends Mini Golf course at The Belfry

The nation's 'craziest' putting couple

Check out the new issue of Today's Golfer magazine (March issue, number 409) to see a minigolf feature on us!

In October 2015 Richard was named 'Officially Britain’s Craziest Golfer' by Today's Golfer magazine and we were both named 'Britain's Barmiest Golfers' by the magazine in November 2016.

It's nice to have now been named as 'The nation's 'craziest' putting couple' too!

The retailtainment and minigolf boom

A look at the retail entertainment and minigolf boom.

Minigolf is a big part of the retailtainment boom, with courses opening as standalone entertainment activities, or as part of large shoppingtainment leisure offerings in malls, high streets and retail parks.

Some of these retailtainment activities are permanent, while others are pop-ups catering to a mix of audiences, from children and families, to adults looking for competitive socialising fun.

Miniature Golf has grown in popularity in the last decade and has moved from only being a traditional outdoor seaside summer activity to become a year-round game that can be played indoors, outdoors and at pretty much any time of the day.

A number of high streets, retail parks and shopping malls are now home to minigolf courses, with more new venues planned to open.

Minigolf is also a popular addition to boost footfall, create awareness and attract people to a location. Businesses also use portable and temporary minigolf layouts for product launches and promotions.

New minigolf courses in the UK

In 2020 we found out about a lot of new minigolf courses opening in the UK and already this year we've heard about four new locations in planning and development.

We know of 91 new miniature golf courses opening, in planning or under construction since the pandemic hit the UK.

Check out the new courses page for more information.

New minigolf courses in the UK

In 2020 we found out about a lot of new minigolf courses opening in the UK and already this year we've heard about four new locations in planning and development.

We know of 91 new miniature golf courses opening, in planning or under construction since the pandemic hit the UK.

Check out the new courses page for more information.

A Couple of Putts see in the New Year

Many thanks to our friends Tom & Robin at A Couple of Putts for sending us this ace new miniature golf postcard.

The minigolfing duo are seeing in the New Year by posting a hole-in-one video from a different course each day throughout January to #Make2021aHoleInOne.

Happy New Year! We’re feeling hopeful about 2021 and we’re kicking it off with some fun. Let’s have an ace of a new year!

Posted by A Couple of Putts on Thursday, 31 December 2020

Check out the A Couple of Putts website for more information.

The Minigolfer's Guide to Marketing

While there is some down time in lockdown why not check out my minigolf marketing ebook - The Minigolfer's Guide to Marketing.

Created after years of playing, promoting and consulting the book gives players, courses, federations, associations and clubs a guide to the world of marketing.

You can buy the ebook from Amazon and Kobo.

Miniature Golf Day 2021

Miniature Golf Day is always on the 21st September. This year that will be a Tuesday.

New indoor Crazy Golf opening in London

New Gravity Active Entertainment centre opening in Wandsworth, London.

A new indoor Crazy Golf course will be opening as part of a new Gravity Active Entertainment centre being created in a former Debenhams store in London.

The new Gravity Active Entertainment centre is planned to open in Summer 2021

The new Gravity Active Entertainment centre in Wandsworth will also be home to a bar & restaurant, pool, darts, high ropes, go-karting and more.

There are a number of Gravity Active Entertainment centres in the UK. The venue at Sol Central in Northampton opened last year and is home to a New York-themed minigolf course. The Maidstone venue has an Urban Street Mini Golf layout.

The retailtainment and minigolf boom

Minigolf is a big part of the retailtainment boom, with courses opening as standalone entertainment activities, or as part of large shoppingtainment leisure offerings in malls, high streets and retail parks.

Some of these retailtainment activities are permanent, while others are pop-ups catering to a mix of audiences, from children and families, to adults looking for competitive socialising fun.

Miniature Golf has grown in popularity in the last decade and has moved from only being a traditional outdoor seaside summer activity to become a year-round game that can be played indoors, outdoors and at pretty much any time of the day.

A number of high streets, retail parks and shopping malls are now home to minigolf courses, with more new venues planned to open.

Minigolf is also a popular addition to boost footfall, create awareness and attract people to a location. Businesses also use portable and temporary minigolf layouts for product launches and promotions.

Link:

• Gravity Active Entertainment

Related blog posts:

• Retailtainment
• New minigolf courses in the UK
• Gravity Active Entertainment

New Boom: Battle Bar in Glasgow

A new Boom: Battle Bar with crazy golf and other indoor games is proposed to open in Glasgow.

Boom: Battle Bar Glasgow will be the fifth venue from the brand.

As well as an indoor crazy golf course - known as 'Crazier Golf' - Boom: Battle Bar at the St Enoch Centre in Glasgow will no doubt be home to other competitive socialising sports and games such as axe throwing, darts and shuffleboard.

My friend and crazy golf rival Simon Brown played the Boom: Battle Bar 'Crazier Golf' course at the Brewery Quarter venue in Cardiff last November.

The first Boom: Battle Bar opened at the Castle Quarter shopping and entertainment centre in Norwich in July 2020.

There are also plans for Boom: Battle Bars to open in Liverpool and Oxford in 2021.

Visit the Boom: Battle Bar website for more information.

Boom: Battle Bars are a relatively new entrant to the world of competitive socialising and retailtainment. A number of shopping malls, town centres and retail parks are adding minigolf, crazy golf, adventure golf and other experiential entertainment and activity leisure offerings to their sites to attract and retain customers.

New Minigolf Putting Course to open in Chester

A new artificial grass Putting Course is planned to open at Westminster Park in Chester, Cheshire.

The layout will be on the site of a former grass Putting Green.

Westminster Park is also home to a Pitch & Putt course.

We're looking forward to playing both the Pitch & Putt and the new Minigolf Putting Course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in the future.

The course is being designed and built by Creative Golf Design. You can see a computer animation of the layout in the video below.

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Check out the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour enewsletter archive to see news and updates from our adventures.

London, Paris, New York but mostly Stockport

Shawfield Line Marking Specialists Ltd. is a business that operates in Stockport and some less exotic locations like London, Paris and New York.

National Miniature Golf Day 2021

National Miniature Golf Day takes place on the second Saturday in May. In 2021 that is Saturday, 8th May.

Bruntwood Park Pitch & Putt in Cheadle

Our first miniature golf course visit of the year.

We had a walk round Bruntwood Park in Cheadle on New Year's Day and while there took a look at the Pitch & Putt course.

Rules for the time of Covid

A view to the 7th tee

A frosty bunker

An icy green

The layout was the second miniature golf course we visited, and 695th overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, when we moved to Cheadle Hulme back in 2016.

Visit the Bruntwood Park Pitch & Putt website for more information.

Social distancing minigolf

The Bruntwood Park Pitch & Putt course was the first place saw social distancing measures in place in person. That was in May last year.

A look back at 2020

The last course we swung by in 2020 was the grass Putting course at Park Square in Cheadle Heath on the 29th December.

Before the first national lockdown hit and our out-of-home putting was paused we'd visited 948 courses since September 2006.

We had a very strong start to the year and visited 20 courses in the first 20 days of 2020.

We were still able to visit a total of 46 courses in 2020, including revisits. 15 of them were new layouts to us. We've been able to visit eight courses during the pandemic (March to December 2020), playing two of them.

We've now been to a total of 956 courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Leisure Orienteering at Bruntwood Park in Cheadle

While having a walk round Bruntwood Park in Cheadle on New Year's Day we spotted this nice old sign for Leisure Orienteering at the park.

The sign is at the Pitch & Putt kiosk in the park

It's one of the few remaining signs in the borough that carries the old council logo. We've seen others near the Stockport Pyramid, at Woodford Recreation Ground and on Adswood Road.

The logo for Stockport Leisure Services

I REMEMBER LITTLE CHEF

Do you remember Little Chef?

Many thanks to Megan Clark-Bagnall for sending me this brilliant badge from her mission to visit all of the remaining Little Chef diners in 2017 - a total of 41.

A very nice addition to my collection

What a quest. Find out more on Megan's Little Chef website.

While the brand was an ever present through my lifetime, I don't remember stopping at Little Chef's, or even Happy Eaters, when my family were on the road for day trips and holidays. Perhaps there weren't any on the routes from Abingdon to Barry Island or Minehead. I do however remember going to the Little Chef in Berinsfield, Oxfordshire for a meal in the late 80's or early 90's.

We also used to regularly pass by the Little Chef in Flimwell while en route to Hastings for minigolf tournaments.

The last Little Chef closed its doors in 2018. Interestingly the Little Chef website is still online.

Putt18 - Battle of the Brits

A new tournament for Putt18 players in the UK.

Minigolfers, golfers and other players from around the world have been playing the Putt18 golf game mat for fun and in competitions during the pandemic.

As well as official events players with the Putt18 game mat have been having friendly matches with the games shown online.

The next tournament is a Battle of the Brits taking place across the UK later this month.

Check out the Putt18 website for more information.

Putting at Home

Emily and I competed in the first Putt18 Four Nations Cup in May last year and I played in the inaugural Putt18 World Pro League that was completed in October 2020.

The Putt18 World Pro League was a fun and interesting way to keep on putting and compete during the pandemic. It was also a first in terms of getting players from around the world to compete on the same playing surface in a regular league format.

With no end in sight to the coronavirus pandemic and with Stockport in the highest level of restrictions it looks like we'll be doing a lot more putting at home and socialising via competitive isolation activities for some time to come.

Related blog posts:

- Putt18

- Putting at Home

- Competitive Isolation

New Boom: Battle Bar opening in Oxford

A new Boom: Battle Bar with crazy golf and other indoor games is planned to open in Oxford this year.

Boom: Battle Bar Oxford will be the fourth venue from the brand.

As well as a minigolf course - known as 'Crazier Golf' - Boom: Battle Bar in Oxford will no doubt be home to other competitive socialising sports and games such as axe throwing, darts and shuffleboard.

My friend and minigolf rival Simon Brown played the Boom: Battle Bar 'Crazier Golf' course at the Brewery Quarter venue in Cardiff in November last year.

The first Boom: Battle Bar opened at the Castle Quarter shopping and entertainment centre in Norwich in July 2020.

There are also plans for a Boom: Battle Bar to open in Liverpool in 2021.

Visit the Boom: Battle Bar website and Boom: Battle Bar Oxford Facebook Page for more information.

Boom: Battle Bars are a relatively new entrant to the world of competitive socialising and retailtainment. A number of shopping malls, town centres and retail parks are adding minigolf, crazy golf, adventure golf and other experiential entertainment and activity leisure offerings to their sites to attract and retain customers.