226 Cleethorpes (Oddballs) - Crazy Golf - Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

A visit to the Oddballs Crazy Golf course in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire.

The second Crazy Golf course played after Skellingthorpe on our Lincolnshire & Norfolk Road Trip took us to Cleethorpes. A very nice seaside town, which is also home to a number of other minigolf courses.

The 18-hole Oddballs Crazy Golf course was the 226th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. It also has the BIGGEST Windmill obstacle of any minigolf course I've seen, or played to date!

In our Irregular Mini Golf Tour Match-up...I defeated Emily 50-53.

Related blog posts:
- List of courses visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Minigolf, Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf Courses on the Lincolnshire Coast

Not a Minigolf Course (or Obstacle) but it looked like one - spotted in a Cleethorpes B&B's Garden

Minigolf and the BMGA in The Sun Newspaper today!

The sport of minigolf and the British Minigolf Association get a mention in a feature on interesting/eccentric/unusual societies and organisations in The Sun newspaper today (page 28), the story is also online - "Hole lotta love for minigolf courses"

Very interesting stuff. I'm quite tempted to join the English Tiddlywinks Association too!

A Minigolf 'Show & Tell' on BBC Three Counties Radio this Saturday - 28th May, from 9am

I'll be doing an appearance on Gaz Wesley's Saturday Morning Radio Show on BBC Three Counties Radio this Saturday (28th May, from 9am).

The format for the appearance is a 'Show & Tell'! It'll certainly be a first for me to show Minigolf and Crazy Golf 'in action' on the radio!

You can listen live on the BBC Three Counties Website.

Crazy Golf at Daisy Made Ice Cream in Skellingthorpe, Lincs

Crazy Golf at the Daisy Made Ice Cream Farm in Skellingthorpe, Lincolnshire.

We started out on our big minigolf and seaside roadtrip around Lincolnshire (and a little bit of Norfolk) on Wednesday 18th May 2011 hoping to have as much fun on our visits to as many seasides, minigolf courses and amusements as possible in the five days we had.

In total we visited ten seasides, 40 minigolf courses (playing 24 of them), umpteen amusement arcades, a fair few Hill Billy Shooting Shacks and one Laser Quest!

The first stop on our 460 mile roadtrip was to Daisy Made Ice Cream in Skellingthorpe, Lincs! The centre had a 12-hole farm-themed Crazy Golf course, which was very good to play indeed. They also had a Drive-Thru Ice Cream Parlour!

The course location was a tip-off via twitter, from Roland Overvoorde at the Canal View B&B in Saxilby near Lincoln.

The course is a B-Type of Swedish Felt Minigolf and was in great condition. The staff at Daisy Made Ice Cream were very friendly and we had a great round, despite the rainy weather conditions (the only poor weather on the whole trip).

In our Irregular Mini Golf Tour Match-up...I beat Emily 24(par) to 30(+6).

Related blog posts:
- List of courses visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Minigolf, Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf Courses on the Lincolnshire Coast

Link:
- Daisy Made Ice Cream

A 'perfect' round of 9(-9) on a Crazy Golf course by Minigolfer Richard Gottfried

At the 241st Minigolf course we played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour I managed to score a 'Perfect' round of 9(-9) by hitting 9 holes-in-one in a row!

This 'feat' was achieved on the 9-hole Crazy Golf course at Bainland Country Park, near Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire.

Video evidence of the 'achievement'.



The layout of the holes on the course 'greens' was a first for us on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. Instead of one hole, they had five cups to shoot into!? Without a scorecard/instructions to explain the course specific rules, Emily and I played a round, scoring normally with one stroke scored for each shot to get the ball into a hole, and then also totalling up the scores on points (each cup had a point score ranging from 1-5) - with the lowest score winning. On both counts Emily was victorious in the Irregular Mini Golf Tour contests. We have played this fibreglass type of Crazy Golf many times on our tours before, in fact there is a version of this course in Luton's Wardown Park.

The five cups on the green of the Crazy Golf course at Bainland Country Park in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire

The aim in any round of competition minigolf is to score as many holes-in-one as possible, with Par for each hole regarded as two shots. Many courses have their own Par system, with some holes being a Par-3, 4 or 5.

European WMF standardised Miniature Golf (Eternit) courses enable players to score perfect rounds of 18(-18) as there is an 'Ace Line' on each hole. The minigolf website Minigolfnews.com holds records of such achievements and states that almost 300 players have achieved perfect rounds of 18 on Eternit Miniature Golf! In the UK our Crazy Golf, Minigolf, Putting and Adventure Golf courses do not allow for such low scores due to the design and build of the course.

My best competition score on an 18-hole Eternit Miniature Golf course came in 2008 when I competed for Great Britain in the WMF Nations Cup in Tampere, Finland. I scored a 39(+3) in the fourth of my four rounds on the surface in the competition. Such is the rarity of these courses in the UK that these are the only four full competition rounds I have ever played on Eternit! The UK is home to some Eternit-type Miniature Golf courses, but many have had felt added, or are in very poor condition due to their fragile nature.

The lowest ever score on an 18-hole Adventure Golf-type Miniature Golf course on UK soil was actually scored quite recently, by Oleg Klassen of Germany, in the 2011 WMF World Adventure Golf Masters in Hastings, in May 2011, when he scored a 24(-12).

Rick Baird, USA, who plays the Putt Putt version of Minigolf recently scored only the third-ever perfect round of 18(-18) in the Professional Putters Association.

My best competition score on an 18-hole Minigolf course was at the 2010 BMGA National Open at Star City where I scored a 28(-8).

My best competition score on a 12-hole Minigolf course is 24(par), which came in my win of the 2009 Blackpool Pleasure Beach Open tournament.

Back in August 2009 I was looking good for a low score on a 9-hole Crazy Golf course in Towyn, Wales, but hit some threes and was left thinking, what could have been?

Related blog posts:
- List of courses visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Minigolf, Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf Courses on the Lincolnshire Coast

Our latest Seaside, Minigolf, Pier and Amusements Roadtrip - Lincolnshire & a bit of Norfolk

Our latest Seaside, Minigolf, Pier and Amusements Roadtrip took us to Lincolnshire and a little bit of Norfolk.

Over five days we visited seven seasides, visited 34 minigolf and crazy golf courses, went to countless Amusement Arcades and visited a few Piers too.

Great fun indeed, and details, photos and videos to follow over the coming weeks!

Related blog posts:
- List of courses visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Minigolf, Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf Courses on the Lincolnshire Coast

Part III of the Putter King Interview Series - An Interview with UK Minigolfer Richard Gottfried

As a well travelled minigolfer the Putter King website in Japan recently interviewed me for their series of interviews with Minigolfers from around the world (following on from former US Open Champion Brad Lebo).

Part III of the Putter King Interview Series - An Interview with UK Minigolfer Richard Gottfried

And for Japanese speakers there is an abridged version (I hope) here.

Putter King is Japan's first indoor miniature golf franchise, you can find out more at their website.

Crazy Golf & Minigolf Courses in and around Luton, Bedfordshire

Here are links to Ham & Egger Files Blog Posts about the Minigolf courses we've visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in Luton, Bedfordshire since 2006.

Woodside Animal Farm, Slip End - 18-hole Minigolf 2006 & 2010 & 2011

Wardown Park - 9-hole Crazy Golf

Wardown Park - 9-hole Miniature Golf

Stockwood Park - 9-hole Mini Golf

Tea Green, Wandon End - 9-hole Minigolf

Tea Green, Wandon End - 9-hole Putting Green

Old Bedford Road - 3-hole Feature Golf Lawn

Other Course Visits on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Worthing Splash Point Minigolf - Course Revisit - May 2011

On our mini-tour of the South Coast between Hastings and Worthing on Sunday 15th May 2011 we made a revisit to the excellent 18-hole Splash Point Minigolf Course in Worthing, West Sussex.

Unfortunately we were just a little too late to have a round, but we did have a nice chat to course co-owner (and fellow BMGA Tour Pro) Peter Emmerson.

The course has had a few changes/additions made since it opened last year, including:
- A loop-the-loop has been added to hole 5
- Hole 12 now has two new rocks and a new ace line
- The rock on hole 15 has now moved to make the tee shot harder
- Hole 18 has a new rock making the direct route to the hole extremely hard.

The course record stands at 29.

When we played the course last year it became the 181st played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!

Last July I was runner-up in the BMGA British Matchplay Championships held at the course.

Photos of the course (after hours) - May 2011.

2011 Splash Point Open

The Splash Point Minigolf Club are hosting a two round evening minigolf competition on Saturday 18th June.

Entry to the event will be £20 and will include all-day practice on the 18th plus two rounds of strokeplay competition in the evening. There will be prizes for 1st, 2nd, 3rd and for 2nd to last place!

For more information on the course and to contact Peter or Anthony for tournament entry please visit http://www.splashpointminigolf.co.uk/

Mini Golf (Pitch Putt) in Shoreham by Sea (I think)!

On our little tour of the South Coast between Hastings and Worthing we spotted another 'Mini Golf' at Shoreham by Sea (I think). We didn't play it as we were running short on time, and it was a Pitch & Putt variety of Miniature Golf.

Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Brighton & Hove Minigolf Courses Not Played This Time Around

With time running out on our mini-roadtrip and with us wanting to reach Worthing on Sunday 15th May, we were unable to stop and play the newly extended to 18-holes Madeira Drive Adventure Golf course, or the concrete Crazy Golf by the Pier in Brighton.

Driving onwards we also spotted a Crazy Golf course at the King Alfred Leisure Centre in Hove, but didn't get to play it. We'll head back to have a game on it soon...

Crazy World of Minigolf Tour