May is National Golf Month

Next month is National Golf Month!

While we're BIG fans of miniature golf, Emily and I do occasionally play a bit of regular golf, albeit mostly Pitch & Putt. We also enjoy playing grass Putting courses and we've visited a fair few of those on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Emily playing the brilliant Putting course in Cromer

The National Golf Month campaign is coordinated by the British Golf Industry Association and its members. This year's National Golf Month is focused on getting more women golfing.

Emily teeing-off at Bruntwood Park's Pitch & Putt course in Cheadle. The layout is combined with a Footgolf course, hence the BIG cup

This year marks the 150th of the world's first miniature golf course. The Himalayas Putting course at St Andrews was created in 1867 specifically for female players to use. It's a wonderful course and location and a real pleasure to play.

Emily playing The Himalayas Putting course at St Andrews in 2012

Each year there are two quasi-official annual 'days' when you can celebrate the game. National Miniature Golf Day falls on the second Saturday in May. In 2017 this will be on Saturday 13th May. So even more reason to get out and have a round of (mini)golf next month!

Emily playing the Putt in the Park course at Battersea Park on Miniature Golf Day 2015

Check out the National Golf Month website and social media channels for more info and updates.

Playing on Stockwood Park's 'Mini Golf' course in Luton. My last round on the 9-hole course before we moved north last summer

From the archives - Hastings Minigolf course

A look back at the Minigolf course in Hastings.

Hastings seafront minigolf course in 2008

Back in October 2007 the Minigolf course in Hastings became the 40th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. While it looks innocent enough, it was one of the trickiest courses we've ever played!

Emily in a practice round ahead of the 2008 World Crazy Golf Championships

There are always a lot of seagulls down Hastings seafront!

Emily in action

The old first hole

The old last hole

The course in 2010

The course was replaced by a new Pirate Adventure Golf course in May 2011, which we revisited last month.

Visit the Hastings Adventure Golf course website for more information, opening times and prices. You can also download a new Hastings Adventure Golf App for Android and iPhone which allows you to earn rewards each time you play the course.

Videos:
- British Championships practice 2009
- Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open 2010

Winning the American Golf Adventure Golf Pairs Regional Qualifier in Wrexham

Minigolf pairs success for Stockport and Rhyl combination.

Minigolf champs of Wrexham

Peter Jones and I have qualified for the Grand Final of American Golf's 2017 Adventure Golf Pairs Championship.

A long second putt on the first hole at Clays Golf Centre

Over the weekend we heard we'd won the Regional Qualifier played at Clays Golf Centre in Wrexham and in doing so have booked our place in the final to be played at The Belfry in September.



We can't wait to take on the challenge on the 12-hole Ryder Legends Mini Golf course there!

Playing the par-5 fifth hole at Clays Golf Centre

Links:
- American Golf
- Clays Golf Centre
- The Belfry Hotel and Resort

Related blog posts:
- Mini Golf at Clays Golf Centre in Wrexham
- 2017 American Golf Adventure Golf Championship

Videos:
- Adventure Golf at Clays Golf Centre in Wrexham 1 of 4
- Adventure Golf at Clays Golf Centre in Wrexham 2 of 4
- Adventure Golf at Clays Golf Centre in Wrexham 3 of 4
- Adventure Golf at Clays Golf Centre in Wrexham 4 of 4

The Geoff Capes Driving School in Stockport

I reckon you'd have a strong chance of passing your test if you learn to drive with Geoff Capes!

Crazy Golf at Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan

Playing the Crazy Golf course at Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan.

On Saturday 8th April we headed to Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan to compete in the first-ever Great Northern Minigolf Open competition played out on the two miniature golf courses in the park.

The course was open and proving popular

The second course we played was the old Crazy Golf course operated by the Friends of Haigh Country Park group.

The view from hole one

At £1 per game the course is the lowest price we've ever found for an 18-hole course on our travels. Amazing value for money.

My first hole in one of the day - scored on the 'windmill with no blades labyrinth' hole!

The course was incredibly popular and had a good throughput of players all day. It's an interesting layout as the course has been added to over the years so has quite a hotch potch of obstacles. Not that that is a bad thing, it was certainly unique.

The course is quite crazy

The Haigh Woodland Park Crazy Golf course was the 728th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 701st in the UK. It became the 428th played on our travels since September 2006. 

Some holes have newer fibreglass obstacles

Others have older obstacles

While others have a mixture of traditional and modern elements

 

A bowler hatted spider!

Humpty!!!

The tank obstacle was particularly odd and quite out of place on the course. It was an interesting and very tough hole

What a steep ramp

Emily playing the tank

The 17th

The 'green' of the 18th hole

In the second and final round of the Great Northern Minigolf Open tournament the scores were:
1st - Scott Lancley - 38
2nd - Richard Gottfried - 44
3rd - Emily Gottfried - 49
4th - John Moore - 50
5th - Russ Dent - 51
6th - Cat Patterson - 59

The competitors in the Great Northern Minigolf Open competition

Visit the Friends of Haigh Country Park website for further information and course opening times. Back in 2012 the course was partly derelict, but the Friends group have done a brilliant job of getting it spruced up and fully open again.

An interesting bench at Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan

On our recent visit to Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan we spotted this interesting park bench as we were walking towards the Miniature Railway. One for the Park Bench Appreciation Society to make a note of.

I wonder which of the two benches proves more popular...

Adventure Golf at Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan

Playing the new Adventure Golf course at Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan.

On Saturday 8th April we headed to Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan to contest the first-ever Great Northern Minigolf Open tournament on the two minigolf courses in the park. First up was the new Adventure Golf course.

The Haigh Woodland Park Adventure Golf course is in a wonderful setting

The 18-hole course is Wigan-themed and was great fun to play. There was a lot of variety and some very large obstacles. It was certainly tricky in places too.

The new course in Wigan was great fun to play and quite tricky in places

The course became the landmark 700th we've visited in the UK and our 727th overall since our crazy golfing adventures began in September 2006.

The course offers ball retrievers for any errant shots into the water hazards. I wonder if this pole extends...

One of the BIG minigolf holes

And its accompanying green!

Back in 2012 I visited Haigh Country Park and the Play Haigh Golf Complex there. Where the new Adventure Golf course now stands there was once a grass Putting Course called The Himalayan Putting Green.

The old Putting Green has made way for the 18-hole Adventure Golf course

The new Adventure Golf course was proving popular on our visit - as was the park in general. It was a good job we teed-off our event at 10.45ish as the park and course only got busier during the day. The weather was wonderful which certainly helped.

The course was nice, bright and colourful

In the first round of the Great Northern Minigolf Open competition the scores were:
1st - Russ Dent - 44
2nd (tie) - Richard Gottfried - 49
2nd (tie) - Scott Lancley - 49
4th - Emily Gottfried - 52
5th - John Moore - 54
6th (tie) - Cat Patterson - 65
6th (tie) - Ryan Lancley - 65
8th - Ethan Rottenbury - 67
9th - Zoe Lancley - 83

We're looking forward to visiting Haigh Woodland Park again

Check out the Haigh Adventure Golf website for further info, opening times and prices.

The course was designed and built by the team at HM Adventure Golf. Visit their website for more info on their work.

Miniature Railways at Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan

We recently visited Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan to play the two minigolf courses there. We'd also seen there were two Miniature Railways in the park, so had to have a look.

Quite a big engine for a miniature railway

There's a 'Miniature Railway' and a 'Miniature Gauge Railway' at Haigh Woodland Park. The Miniature Railway (and larger of the two) was running on our visit.

Bargain

The engine in action approaching the halt at Haigh Woodland Park. We're looking forward to returning and exploring more of the large park in the future

Visit the Haigh Woodland Park website for more information about the two railways and opening times.

Check out our other Miniature Railway blog posts.