Mr Mulligan's Pirate Golf in Milton Keynes

A visit to Mr Mulligan's Pirate Golf course in Milton Keynes.

On the way home from a recent trip to Milton Keynes I swung by Mr Mulligan's Pirate Golf at the Abbey Hill Golf Centre for a round on the 18-hole course.

Welcome to Mr Mulligan's Pirate Golf

Back in December 2011 the course became the 281st played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. It's changed a bit since my first visit. Most noticeable is the change of name from its previous incarnation as Pirate Island Adventure Golf.

A skull's eye view of the 18th and 2nd holes

The course itself was still in good condition and the huge pirate ship that houses the first two holes of the 18-hole layout is still a dominant site upon entering the car park at the Abbey Hill Golf Centre!

Hole 1 is an indoor hole, with hole two having upper and lower level tee-off points

The 'High Rise Pirates' tee-off area of hole 2

As it was a bit drizzly on my visit I was able to have a clear course ahead and behind me so got to enjoy the £8.25 round at a leisurely pace.

There's a pair of dueling pirates near the fourth hole

Mr Mulligan's Milton Keynes course is really tough, with some large minigolf holes, tricky obstacles and uneven greens. It's a course worthy of its par score of 55 (I shot a 51! And that included a hole-in-one on the very long fourth hole).

The very long fourth hole. Nicely aceable

You can find Mr Mulligan's Pirate Golf at the Abbey Hill Golf Centre on Monks Way in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK8 8AA.

The coffin is a new addition

You used to have to play over the gap and avoid the water

The Scallywag's Tee

A soggy green

Another one of the skellingtons on the course. There are loads of them there now!

There's a stack of treasure beyond the double plateau

You have to travel by raft to get on and off the island hole

Rummy the crocodile. Or is it an alligator?

A view from the island hole

I do like good theming

Visit Mr Mulligan's Pirate Golf website for details of the course, opening times and prices, as well as the other Mr Mulligan's Adventure Golf courses in Castleford, Nottingham and Woking. We've played at Castleford and Woking, but are yet to get to the Ramsdale Park Golf Centre course.

Related blog posts:
- Pirate Island Adventure Golf at Abbey Hill Golf Centre, Milton Keynes - Minigolf Course Played #281
- Milton Keynes
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Links:
- Mr Mulligan's Adventure Golf website
- Mr Mulligan's Adventure Golf, Milton Keynes website
- Mr Mulligan's Adventure Golf on the Abbey Hill Golf Centre website

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter.
 

Subscribe to our mailing list

Grünerløkka Minigolf Park in Oslo, Norway

Finding out about a Miniature Golf course in Norway.

As regular readers of the blog will know I do like a bit of post. Especially if it's minigolf-related. So I was very pleasantly surprised with a nice piece of ephemeral advertising that recently dropped through my letter box.

The Grünerløkka Minigolf Park can be found in Oslo

Many thanks to Anthony Pope from Splash Point Mini Golf course in Worthing, West Sussex for posting the leaflet from the Grünerløkka Minigolf Park in Norway to me. Anthony tells me he visited the Oslo course in December. Sadly it was closed when he arrived. It sounds like one of our visits on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!

The inside of the promotional leaflet

The course is an 'Eternit' style of Miniature Golf and the 18-hole layout is approved for competitions by the Norwegian Minigolf Federation. Hopefully we'll get to give it a play one day.

The front, back and a bit of the middle

Emily and I actually appear on a minigolf promotional item - down in Dorset the courses put together a leaflet that asked the question "Where is the best Crazy Golf course in Dorset?"

Links:
- Grünerløkka Minigolf Park website
- Christiania Minigolf Club website
- Norges Minigolf Forbund website
- Splash Point Mini Golf website

Related blog posts:
- Ephemera
- Advertising
- Leaflet
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Anthony Pope
- Splash Point Mini Golf
- Eternit

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter.

The Putting Penguin Minigolf App

Minigolf reviewing through the Putting Penguin App.

Our friends over at the Putting Penguin website have created a new app!

With Pat Sheridan of the Putting Penguin team on his visit to the UK in March

The minigolf app allows you to access a mobile version of the site, courses reviews and links. You can also submit course reviews through it.

I downloaded the app last week through the Play Store and reviewed the new Peterborough Minigolf course - the 382nd course played and 662nd visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Playing the Peterborough Minigolf course at Dobbies Garden Centre

Check out my review on the Putting Penguin website.

Download the Putting Penguin app for free in the Google Play Store.

Links:
- The Putting Penguin website
- The Putting Penguin on Twitter
- The Putting Penguin on Facebook
- Peterborough Minigolf

Related blog posts:
- The Putting Penguin
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Playing the new Mini Golf course at Dobbies Garden Centre in Peterborough
- Minigolf with The Putting Penguin at Putt in the Park

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter.

WMF World Minigolf Championships 2015

The World Championships of Minigolf are taking place in Lahti, Finland.

This week sees the WMF World Minigolf Championships taking place in Lahti, Finland with 127 players from 19 countries and four continents lining up to compete.

The Great Britain men's team, sponsored by UrbanCrazy, will be in action and they face nine other teams in the four-day competition. You can follow all the results live online - the tournament tees-off from the 19th August 2015.

The 2015 WMF World Minigolf Championships are being held on the Feltgolf and Miniaturegolf courses at the Lahti Minigolf Centre. Good luck to all of the participants, especially those making their debut appearances on the world stage.

Emily and I made our debuts for the GB team at the 2008 EMF Nations Cup in Tampere, Finland and had a great time.

The 2008 Great Britain team - Jouni Valkjarvi (coach), John 'Big Top Ted' McIver, Marion 'Mation' Homer, Sean 'Freebird' Homer, Tim 'Ace Man' Davies, Steve 'F1' Gow, Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried, Andy 'Sarge' Booth, 'Squire' Richard Gottfried

We've also played for the national team in tournaments in Stockholm, Sweden and Hastings, England and we're both ranked in the WMF's international General Class ranking lists.

The GB team playing the Beton Concrete Minigolf course in Tampere, Finland

Emily playing the Swedish Felt minigolf course at the Manse Ratagolf Club in Tampere, Finland

Receiving some tips on the Middle Hill Eternit Miniaturegolf hole from Crazy Golf legend Tim 'Ace Man' Davies

In international minigolf action

Playing an incredibly long Feltgolf hole in Finland as Steve 'F1' Gow looks on

The World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) is the umbrella organisation of Minigolf sports association's worldwide and continental associations in Asia, Europe and America.

Following the recent WMF Delegates Conference eight new national minigolf federations were accepted into memebership, with Belarus, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Togo, United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam joining the existing 47 members. And this year New Zealand and Kenya are appearing in an international tournament for the first time.

The WMF is a member of SportAccord - the union for both Olympic and non-Olympic international sports federations, and organisers of international sporting events. The WMF is also a member of AIMS, the Alliance of Independent Members of SportAccord.



Check out the links below for more on the 2015 WMF World Minigolf Championships.

Links:
- WMF World Minigolf Championships website
- WMF World Minigolf Championships on Facebook
- World Minigolf Sport Federation website
- World Minigolf Sport Federation on Facebook
- British Minigolf Association website
- Great Britain Minigolf Sport Team on Facebook
- Lahti Minigolf Centre website

Related blog posts:
- Course Played #50 Tampere, Finland - Beton
- Course Played #51 Tampere, Finland - Eternit
- Course Played #52 Tampere, Finland - Swedish Felt (including the 'Story of the Rotten Shark'!)

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter.

Gilmores Golf in Newquay

Playing the Gilmores Golf miniature golf course in Newquay.

Gilmores Golf can be found on Tower Road

The 639th course visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour was the Mini Golf course at Gilmores Golf on Tower Road in Newquay, Cornwall.

The 18-hole Mini Golf layout was the thirteenth played on our tour of the South West of England and the 40th visited during our two-week trip.

At course visit #639

Gilmores Golf became the 376th course played overall on our tour when we had a match on the 9th June 2015. In the contest Emily scored 46 to take the win as I scored 48.

We really enjoyed our visit to Gilmores Golf. The course had only recently reopened under new management and were gearing up for the season. When we first arrived in town we headed along for a look at the course ahead of playing it the next day. We didn't expect the course to be open, but as the concept is to have a bar, restaurant and evening events the course is open morning, noon and night.

Charter member of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Christopher Gottfried actually visited the course in 2013 when he spotted a sign for the course while on a surfing holiday.

The course is of the 'Beton' variety of minigolf which normally has a concrete playing surface and metal rails. The Gilmores Golf course has added felt, which makes it more playable considering the wear and tear on the course - it's been on the site since the 1960's! Check out photos of the course below.

When we visited we chatted to the course owner Elsie who enjoyed hearing about our quest to play all of the UK's minigolf courses. We'd also taken along some of our old postcards showing the course as it looked in the 1970's. It was nice looking at them again on the exact spot, albeit 40 years removed.

For more information, opening times for the minigolf (and the on-site Mexican restaurant) and prices visit the Gilmores Golf website and Facebook page.

During May and June 2015 we visited 62 more courses on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. Along the way we visited the 600th and 650th courses overall, and the 600th course we've been to in the UK.

Links:
- Gilmores Golf website
- Gilmores Golf on Facebook
- Gilmores Golf on Twitter

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Mini Golf in the South West of England
- Christopher Gottfried celebrates seven years of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour by not playing Minigolf in Newquay, Cornwall

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter.