Back at Hastings Adventure Golf

A revisit to Hastings Adventure Golf.

Last weekend we headed to Hastings Adventure Golf for the first time since 2015. It's a minigolf venue we've spent many, many, many hours at over the years.

The Crazy World of Minigolf Tour swung back into Hastings

Hastings Adventure Golf has three 18-hole courses to choose from - a traditional Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf, a themed Adventure Golf, and a Pirate Golf layout.

A view of the Crazy Golf course

There's a nice seating area next to the Crazy Golf course

The toughest hole on the Pirate Golf course

A pair of seagulls chilling out in one of the pirate ships 

A view of the Adventure Golf course

The Crazy Golf has been there the longest, while the Pirate Golf replaced a Miniature Golf course when it opened in 2011. The Adventure Golf course has had some changes made to it over the years and we played two new holes on this visit - getting a hole-in-one on one of them first time!

One of the new holes on the Adventure Golf course

The green

The second of the new holes

A close up of the tunnel

The plateau on the new green

A view from the other side of the green

Hastings Adventure Golf's courses are approved by the World Minigolf Sport Federation

Visit the Hastings Adventure Golf website for more information, opening times and prices.

Once you've finished your round you can play the Lucky Last Hole for a chance to win a FREE GAME

The team at Hastings Adventure Golf have also created a new free mobile App you can download for the iPhone and Android. It's well worth a download as it gives you tips for playing each of the 54-holes there, a mobile scorecard, as well as rewards and offers when you sign-up and play.

"Last pick in a gang draft"

"Last pick in a gang draft" a portrait by Emily Gottfried

Happy April Fools' Day

Were you taken in by this morning's blog posts about a forced name change for minigolf and the banning of trainspotting, or did you see through them straight away?

Let me know if you fell for any other stories, or played some great pranks of your own.

What's in a name - from Minigolf to Crazy Golf

The triggering of Article 50 and the UK's divorce from the European Union will have an unexpected consequence for UK minigolfers. In 24-months from today all UK 'minigolf' courses will need to be renamed 'Crazy Golf' courses, regardless of whether or not they have wacky theming and obstacles including windmills and clown mouths.

Crazy Golf was invented in England in 1926. Here's the sign that proves it

The move is sure to divide fans of the miniature game.

The Crazy Golf course in Aberystwyth, Wales. In Europe this type of course is known as Swedish Felt, or Feltgolf. From 2019 it'll only be known as Crazy Golf on these shores

Crazy Golf is often used as a generic name for the game in the UK, and while some of our more serious European neighbours prefer to call it Minigolf, there are parts of Europe where you can still get a game of Crazy Golf. However, with the UK regaining its sovereignty it means these non-UK courses will also lose the right to be called 'Crazy Golf' or any variant of the name, such as Krazy with a 'K'.

No matter how crazy Minigolf courses like this one in Vista Alegre in Porto Cristo, Majorca look, they'll have to be called 'Minigolf'

2017 marks the 150th anniversary of the game's invention and the UK's first Miniature Golf course is still in operation at The Himalayas in St Andrews, Scotland. Quite what they'll make of the decision to rebrand the course as Crazy Golf I don't know!

It's hilly at The Himalayas in St Andrews, but it's not crazy. But it'll soon have to be

On our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour we've seen a lot of types and variants of the game. We're glad we managed to chalk up so many synonyms since 2006 as the British landscape is about to get a lot more boring.

Laying down the law. One of the many ways to say Crazy Golf in Welsh

Wales is perhaps going to be the hardest hit of the home nations. As a dual language country there are a lot of different ways to describe the game. We've visited almost all the courses in Wales and seen it called Golff Gwyllt, Golff Giamocs, Golff Gwallgof, Golff Gwirion, Minigolff, Golff Bach, Golff Mini, Maes Golff, Golf Byr, Cwrs Golff and Golff Anturus. That's a lot of signage which will need to be changed to say 'Golff Gwyllt'. It's all rather gwirion if you ask me.

No more trainspotting

In what could spell the end for my train nerdery I've heard word that trainspotting is to be banned next year!

Don't walk this way. Trainspotting ban to be enforced next year

Until recently train nerds were more than welcome to indulge in their passion for spotting the wide variety of different engines and rolling stock on our rails, no more so than at Stockport station.

Signs like these will be a thing of the past in a year today

But from 1st April 2018 - the same year the withdrawal of Pacer Railbuses is due to begin - Northern, along with other rail operators, will not allow non-travellers on the platform, bringing an end to a much loved (though often maligned) pastime.

Two things of the past - no more railbuses and no more train nerds in 2018

At least my YouTube Channel is well stocked with vids of the wide range of trains we get up north. Enjoy them while you can, as you won't see the likes of this cracker from next year.



I'll have to take up a new pursuit - any suggestions on what is a step-up/down from trainspotting or minigolf course hunting?

Related blog posts:
- Train Nerdery
- Dull Men's Club

Hastings Miniature Railway

It was nice to see the Hastings Miniature Railway running while we were in town last weekend. It's a wonderful little line running for half a mile along the Old Town seafront. It starts at Rock-a-Nore and has a station at Marine Parade, next to the boating lake and close to Hastings Adventure Golf.

Marine Parade Station

The Hastings Miniature Railway sign

The engine 'Speedy Fizzle' passing The Stade

One of the crossing points near the boating pond

Rock-a-Nore station. And a funicular railway in the background

Rock-a-Nore station

Visit the Hastings Miniature Railway website for more information.

Revisiting Hastings Pier

We recently visited Hastings for the first time since 2015 and it was great to have a walk on the new pier. We'd only ever been on it once before back in 2008.

We were really impressed with what has been built following the fire which almost totally destroyed it in 2010.

A view of the new pier from White Rock Gardens

The end of the pier is a nice wide-open space. We've visited a lot of piers on our travels and Hastings Pier is certainly different to most

A pair of Minions on the pier

We visited the pier just after the Hastings Pier Yarn Bomb had opened!

There was a lot of knitted bunting

Having a nice sit down next to a mermaid

  

A knitted beach hut

The knitting got almost everywhere

One of the un-yarn bombed benches at the end of the pier

While we were on the pier on Sunday we spotted an ice cream cart going round offering free knitted ice creams! They were gluten free to boot

Enjoying my knitted Ice Cream alongside Hastings character John 'Big Top Ted' McIver

Visit the Hastings Pier website for more information.

The Source Park in Hastings

While walking along the promenade in Hastings last weekend we noticed some of the buildings on the seafront had been reopened since we were last in town in 2015. One in particular caught our eye as it had been boarded up when we'd walked passed it before. We found out it was previously an underground Victorian swimming baths, but is now an indoor skate and BMX park! We had to have a look inside. We were really impressed with what we saw.

Hastings is now home to the World's Largest Underground Skatepark!

Inside the Source Park in Hastings

There's a great display board near the entrance which shows how the building used to look

Some old postcards on the display

Check out the Source Park website for more information.

Inflatable advertising man at United Carpets and Beds

While driving out of the Borough for a weekend away in Hastings we spotted a great piece of inflatable advertising at United Carpets and Beds on Buxton Road in Hazel Grove, Stockport.

While the United Carpets and Beds inflatable is not of the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube variety he is still attention grabbing

It's the second inflatable spotted since we moved to Stockport. Last Christmas I saw a Santa Claus wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man advertising the sale on at Terry's Fabrics in Cheadle Heath.

On our recent roadtrip we saw a couple of other interesting ways to advertise beds. Vic Smith Beds in Enfield is currently using a tank on his roadside advertising on the M25, while Sussex Beds in Bexhill is using a dinosaur outside their store to entice people in.

We've spotted a lot of inflatable advertising and wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men on our travels over the years. Unfortunately I haven't had a need to hire or buy a wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube man for my own marketing business. Not yet anyway...

Swingers Crazy Golf London Open

Swingers London hosting a new Crazy Golf Open tournament.

This summer London Crazy Golf course Swingers is hosting its first Crazy Golf Open championship - The Swingers Open.

The team at the Institute of Competitive Socialising is inviting corporate teams to compete in The Swingers Open, with the champions winning a luxury trip to Paris.

The Swingers Open will take place over 14 qualifying events starting on the 24th April, leading to the semi-final on the 4th September and culminating in the grand final a week later on Monday 11th September.

Businesses are asked to enter two teams of four players who will compete in a competition against other businesses from the same industry. The first event will see teams from the Tech industry tee-off.

Look at the size of that loop-di-loop!

Each of the winning teams from the qualifying rounds will receive a luxury Tanqueray No. TEN hamper.

The overall champions will win a trip to Paris including first class Eurostar travel, a night at Le Grand Pigalle, dinner and a Tanqueray experience. The championship winning team members will also get the chance to wear The Swingers Open green jackets, made exclusively by tailor Gresham Blake, and will receive The Swingers Open trophy!

Entry to the tournament costs £160 per team. Full details and entry forms are available on the Swingers London Crazy Golf website.

We haven't played the two new Swingers Crazy Golf courses yet, but in September 2014 we played a round on the Swingers Crazy Golf pop-up course in Shoreditch, East London. The course became the 581st miniature golf course visited and 347th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Playing at the original Swingers Crazy Golf course in 2014

Check out the Swingers Crazy Golf website for more information, opening times, prices and tournament entry details.

It's great to hear about a London miniature golf tournament taking place. Back in 2009 I competed in a tournament double-header at the London Open and Weymouth Open - I finished as runner-up in both events! I was also the runner-up in the 2011 London Invitational Tournament. I have some history of winning in London as well and hold the Crazy Golf with Bompas & Parr Championship June Playoff title, as well as the overall Selfridges course championship which I won in 2012.

Winning

Link:
- Swingers Crazy Golf

Related blog posts:
- Crazy Golf in London
- Playing Swingers Crazy Golf in Shoreditch

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.

Junkyard Crazy Golf on the tube

Spotting an advert for London's Junkyard Crazy Golf on the London Underground.

Thanks to my mate and minigolf rival Gareth Holmes for sending me this snap of an advert for London's Junkyard Crazy Golf course he spotting on the tube earlier this week.

The Junkyard Crazy Golf advert on a Northern Line tube train

We haven't been to the four London Junkyard Crazy Golf courses at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane yet, but the Manchester courses are two of our most local minigolf layouts and were the 718th and 719th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

One of the holes at Junkyard Crazy Golf in Manchester

Check out the Junkyard Crazy Golf website for further details, opening times and prices.

It's always nice to see minigolf advertising. Last year we saw an advert for the Shanklin Seafront Crazy Golf course on an Island Line tube train.

Related blog posts:
- Crazy Golf in London
- Playing Junkyard Golf in Manchester

Link:
- Junkyard Crazy Golf

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.

Adswood Park Miniature Golf course

Finding out about the Adswood Park Miniature Golf course in Cheadle.

Since we moved to Cheadle Hulme last summer we've enjoyed exploring the area's parks and finding out about the borough's history. Through the Stockport Heritage Trust Group we've found out there used to be a Miniature Golf course in Adswood Park on Councillor Lane on the Cheadle / Cheadle Hulme border!

Adswood Park on Councillor Lane in Cheadle

During a discussion about Adswood Hall on the group's Facebook Page one of the Stockport Heritage Trust Group members posted a link to an old map of the area and Emily noticed the words 'Miniature Golf Course' in Adswood Park. Further investigation uncovered one photo on the Stockport Archives website showing a Putting Green with a flag in it.

Adswood Park opened in 1913 and it's our nearest greenspace. When we first arrived in Cheadle Hulme and had a wander round the park we thought we saw some raised edges / bunker type bumps in the park. They may very well be a remnant of the old grass minigolf course. One of the other Stockport Heritage Trust Group members recollects that the course had around 6-holes and may have been there until the early or mid-nineties.

The Miniature Golf course used to cover this part of Adswood Park

In our time up here we've also found a grass Putting course at Park Square offices just up the road in Cheadle Heath, a Pitch & Putt course at Bruntwood Park in Cheadle and we recently heard there was once a Crazy Golf course in Alexandra Park, Edgeley.

Links:
- Stockport Heritage Trust Group
- Stockport Archives
- Adswood Park

Related blog posts:
- Adswood Park
- Cheadle
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Miniature Golf course at the Park Square offices in Cheadle Hulme
- Pitch and Putt at Bruntwood Park, Cheadle
- Old Crazy Golf course at Alexandra Park in Edgeley, Stockport

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.