"As Man-O-War protects the sea, Players have a par of three."

Minigolf Course Visit No. 131 - Heatherton Park, near Tenby

A visit to Heatherton Park to play Adventure Golf.


The last stop for actual play during our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour of Wales on the 16th August 2009 was at Heatherton Park near Tenby, where we played the very good 18-hole Pirates of the Caribbean Adventure Golf Course.





Heatherton Park was a great place to visit and the site is packed full of different activities. Open all year round, each activity is pay as you play. For more information check out the Heatherton World of Activities website.

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour list of courses visited and played
- Wales
- Minigolf etc. - English to Welsh translations

Not playing Minigolf at The Merlewood Hotel in Saundersfoot

While in Saundersfoot we did find the original Minigolf course we were looking for, however it turned out to be:
a) a 9-hole Putting Green, and
b) for guests at The Merlewood Hotel only






Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour list of courses visited and played
- Wales

Minigolf Course Visit No. 130 - Saundersfoot

Next to Pendine Sands was Saundersfoot, where we were looking for the 9-hole Minigolf course at The Merlewood Hotel (more on that later), but instead found another 9-hole Crazy Golf course just off the main promenade.





Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour list of courses visited and played
- Wales
- (No) Minigolf at The Merlewood Hotel, Saundersfoot

Minigolf Course Visit No. 129 - Pendine Bay / Pendine Sands

The next stop, and fourth course of the day, on our tour of Wales was to the 9-hole Crazy Golf course at Pendine Sands. The course was the 129th played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. Not a bad course, but some of the obstacles didn't work too well with a normal golf ball. The Shark's mouth looked great but sadly didn't work in play.


We had been told by the guy at Pembrey that the course at Pendine Sands was a concrete Crazy Golf course that was looking to be repaired (his last visit was the year before).

By the look of the site beside the new course, the old one has been dug up.



Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour list of courses visited and played
- Wales

Minigolf Course Visit No. 128 - Pembrey / Pen-Bre Country Park

The next Minigolf course visit on our Welsh Crazy Golfing road trip took us to Pembrey (Pen-Bre) Country Park.

The course was described as a Crazy Golf course, but reminded me a lot of Eternit/Beton types of course. Very tough in places, but with a bit of practice there could be plenty of Ace opportunities.




The golf area also had a Pitch & Putt course and a two-hole Putting Green (below):


In the two-hole Putting Green challenge, I beat Emily 4 shots to 5.

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour list of courses visited and played
- Wales

Minigolf Course Visits 126 & 127 - Gowerton Golf Range

A visit to Gowerton Golf Range near Swansea.

Heading out of Swansea we visited the Gowerton Golf Range to play on the 9-hole Minigolf course as part of our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.








The Gowerton Golf Range was also home to a very good 9-hole Putting Course (#127).


Links:
- Gowerton Golf Range
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Bowlingo at Mumbles Pier

Following the 2009 Cystadleuaeth Minigolff Cymraeg we headed to Mumbles Pier for a game of our second favourite seaside resort sport - Bowlingo.





The pier and facilities are very good, although the wooden slats on the pier have some of the widest gaps of any pier I've visited!




Some parts of the pier were also under repair when we visited.

Minigolf Course Visits 124 & 125 - Swansea / Abertawe

The courses we played in the 2009 Cystadleuaeth Minigolff Cymraeg tournament were the 124th and 125th Mini Golf / Crazy Golf courses visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Both courses in Swansea were played 'blind' with no practice time prior to the tournament itself.

Both courses were of similar design and build and shared many of the same obstacles, the course at The Mumbles (below) was judged to be the tougher of the two.






Is this the 'Lucky 19th Hole'?

Although we didn't get to play the Crazy Golf course at Singleton Boating Lake on the day before the Cystadleuaeth Minigolff Cymraeg we did go along to have a sneak preview.





Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour list of courses visited and played
- Wales

2009 Cystadleuaeth Minigolff Cymraeg (Welsh Minigolf Tournament)

The first Cystadleuaeth Minigolff Cymraeg (Welsh Minigolf Tournament) was contested on Saturday 15th August in Swansea (Abertawe).

The 2009 Cystadleuaeth Minigolff Cymraeg tournament was played over two rounds (36-holes) on Swansea's two Crazy Golf courses. The players in the field were BMGA Tour members and Midlands Minigolf Club members Richard and Emily Gottfried from Luton, and Jas, Cindy, Seve and Leo Kukielka from Cwmbran.

Due to the poor weather conditions in the morning the first round was switched from the Crazy Golf (Golff Gwyllt) course at Singleton Boating Lake for the less flooded course at Southend Park at The Mumbles.

After the first round Jas Kukielka and Richard Gottfried led the tournament on 41(+5) with Richard slightly ahead on five aces to Jas's two. Cindy Kukielka was one shot further back on 42(+6).


With the weather conditions becoming more settled the second round at Singleton Boating Lake saw some improved scores with Jas, Richard and Cindy all scoring par or better.


However, it was Jas's 34(-2) second round score that saw him to a two-round total of 75(+3) and pick up his first Minigolf Tournament victory. Richard Gottfried finished in second place on 76(+4) and Cindy Kukielka achieved her first podium finish with an excellent 78(+6) for third spot.


Photos from the event are below: