Gullon (sin gluten) gluten free biscuits and crackers

While at Hitchin Market this morning we spotted these big boxes of gluten free biscuits and crackers on one of the food stalls!

I've bought the chocolate cookies before (they're very scoffable), but I've never seen the Sharkies biscuits or the crackers. Brilliant stuff.

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free
- Coeliac
- Sin Gluten
- Funny things about being a Coeliac

Links:
- Gullon
- Coeliac UK

Oi Polloi Crazy Golf interview

The team at fashion retailer Oi Polloi recently did a photo shoot on a Crazy Golf course in Fleetwood, Lancashire for the range of Grenfell menswear they are stocking.

During their search for a suitable minigolf course they found my blog, got in touch and interviewed me for their blog.

Check it out at "Interview: Richard Gottfried and the crazy world of crazy golf."

Putting into a shed on the UrbanCrazy minigolf course in East Finchley

The Crazy Golf course in Fleetwood, Lancashire

Links:
- Oi Polloi website
- Oi Polloi blog

Related blog post:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

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.

You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

Workplace Challenge Fancy Dress Dodgeball Tournament in Luton

team BEDS&LUTON - the county sports partnership for Luton and Bedfordshire - is organising a Dodgeball competition in Luton as part of the Workplace Challenge initiative.

The Workplace Challenge Fancy Dress Dodgeball Tournament is taking place on Friday 22nd April from 6.30pm-9.30pm at Putteridge High School in Luton.

Find out more about the tournament on the team BEDS&LUTON website.

Back in 2005 we ran a Dodgeball league with players from around the UK travelling to events in Luton.

As part of the 'Get Back Into...' programme I joined the Luton Dodgeaball Club in 2010, I followed this up with a stint in the Harpenden Dodgeball Club.

Links:
- team BEDS&LUTON
- Workplace Challenge
- UK Dodgeball Association

Related blog posts:
- Dodgeball
- team BEDS&LUTON

Happy April Fools' Day!

Hope you've had a fun morning of spoof stories and joke news.

Of course there are going to be more courses built this year (and long into the future).

One of the many many many excellent courses to play in the UK

We're looking forward to playing more on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour as we near the 700 courses mark!

At the site of England's first-ever Crazy Golf course. It's in Skegness

Related blog posts:
- April Fools' Day

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.

You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

No new minigolf courses being built this year

New course construction halted for 2016.

In news released today we've heard that no further miniature golf courses will be opening this year!

According to the European Minigolf Union no new mini, crazy or adventure golf courses will be approved until after the EU referendum on Thursday 23rd June.

Emily playing at a newish indoor Adventure Golf course in Sheffield in February

Hans Zoff of the EMU has said "While we know the game of minigolf is gaining in popularity around the world, and especially in the UK, we are unable to sanction the design, planning or construction of any further courses until after the result of the Brexit poll in June."

It's a real shame that there aren't going to be any new courses opening until after the polls have closed, but at least there are over 700 courses to visit and play around the UK.

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.

You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf at Haven's Caister-on-Sea Holiday Park

The photos our friends Matt and Helen Dodd took of the Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course at the Haven Golden Sands Caravan Holiday Park in Mablethorpe, Lincolnshire reminded us of this snap our friends Sophia and Karl Moles took while on holiday at Haven's Caister-on-Sea Holiday Park in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk a few years ago.

One of the obstacles on the Arnold Palmer Putting Course at Haven's Caister-on-Sea Holiday Park in Norfolk

It's great to see there are still Arnold Palmer Putting Courses dotted around the coast. They're definitely a great part of minigolf history.

Check out Haven's web pages for the Caister-on-Sea Holiday Park for more photos of the Crazy Golf course. They've got an interesting paint job on the classic windmill obstacle.

Link:
- Haven

Related blog posts:
- Sophia Moles
- Karl Moles
- Arnold Palmer
- Haven
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

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. You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

Crazy Golf at the Haven Golden Sands Caravan Holiday Park in Mablethorpe

Our fellow minigolf adventurers Matt, Helen and Emily Dodd have been on a trip to the fine county of Lincolnshire and found plenty of courses to visit there. With the Dodd's staying at holiday parks they were able to play some courses that we never got to when we first visited Lincolnshire in 2011.

A dogleg hole at Haven's Golden Sands Crazy Golf course. You don't normally see a bridge/ramp on the fairway

This Arnold Palmer Putting Course was played in the Haven Golden Sands Caravan Holiday Park in Mablethorpe. What a great discovery.

A BIG minigolf elephant on the themed Arnold Palmer course

Plenty of obstacles in the path to the cup on this hole!

Tricky

Even trickier!

The hole below is a regular sight on Arnold Palmer Putting Courses and is very often a good opportunity for a hole-in-one. But this is the first time I've the hole with additional obstacles!

The ledge hole in Mablethorpe

A version of the hole in Whitby, Yorkshire

As hole 16 in Hastings, East Sussex

There is another Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course in Mablethorpe. The Hooks Island Crazy Adventure Golf was a 13-hole layout (12-holes, plus lucky last hole) when we played it in 2011.

Lincolnshire is a real hotspot for minigolf. Skegness alone has 102-holes spread across nine seafront courses!

The Arnold Palmer Putting Course in Skegness still has an old scorecard in use. It lists many of the Arnold Palmer courses that are long gone. A great bit of minigolf history

Related blog posts:
- Mablethorpe
- Matt Dodd
- Helen Dodd
- Arnold Palmer
- Haven
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Link:
- Haven

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. You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

A revisit to Splash Point Mini Golf in Worthing

A BIG day for Splash Point Mini Golf.

Minigolf is hard work

We were in Worthing on Saturday for my brother's birthday party, which also coincided with the annual Jet Wash Day down at the Splash Point Mini Golf course in Denton Gardens.

There was no sign of Top Gull, but some pigeons were enjoying walking on the newly cleaned course

Course owners Anthony and Peter were part-way through their nine-hour shift to blast the dirt and grime from the 18-hole course ahead of the opening of the course for the 2016 season.

A local squirrel admires the newly refreshed course

We also spotted a new feature on the course for this year. A bench.

The bespoke bench at Splash Point Mini Golf course. Hand crafted by co-owner Peter 'Empton' Emmerson

It's always nice to have a sit down

In addition to Jet Wash Day Splash Point Mini Golf will be hosting two competitions this year. Check out details of other BIG 'days' in the minigolf calendar too.

We always enjoy our visits to sunny Worthing

While in town we were lucky enough to find a nice old postcard in a flea market just off the seafront. The card, published by Valentine & Sons Ltd and posted on the 7th July 1958, shows the Putting Green in Denton Park. Always a nice sight to see on old postcards.

The old multi-view postcard showing the Putting Green in Denton Park

A view of the new Mini Golf course in Denton Gardens

Links:
- Splash Point Mini Golf course website
- Splash Point Mini Golf course on Twitter

Related blog posts:
- Mini Golf Dates for your Diary 2016
- Splash Point Mini Golf in Worthing
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

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.

You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

Clown on a Moped

What better way to celebrate my brother Christopher's 30th birthday than with a surprise party in Worthing. And a Clown on a Moped!

Tommy Tickle's guest appearance at Christopher's surprise birthday party went down a treat

Christopher is a charter member of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and on our travels we've putted through some clown's mouth obstacles.

The Clown obstacle at Luton's now demolished Wardown Park Crazy Golf course. One of the first we played on our tour

The Crazy World of Minigolf Tour began at the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course in Southsea in September 2006. The town is home to a number of other miniature golf courses, including this one on Southsea Common 

Check out Tommy Tickle's Clown on a Moped website, YouTube Channel, and give him a like and a follow on Facebook and Twitter. He was brilliant entertainment - even two of three coulrophobes at the party enjoyed his act!

Brighton-based Tommy Tickle - the world's number one Clown on a Moped. Available for all sorts of functions

Tommy Tickle appeared in the brilliant BBC documentary Clowns, it's well worth a watch.



Link:
- Clown on a Moped website

Related blog posts:
- Christopher Gottfried
- Worthing

North Marine Crazy Golf in Bridlington

Playing minigolf at the North Marine Putting Greens in Bridlington.

Last summer we finally made it to the seaside town of Bridlington. It'd been on our 'to visit' for quite some time.

Unfortunately we only had a couple of hours there so couldn't fully explore - but we did visit the minigolf courses there. And played two of them.

The first we played was at the North Marine Putting Greens, where you can find two grass Putting courses along with a very interesting Crazy Golf course. It's a mixture of holes - with some of them of the Swedish Felt variety, and others are Fibreglass. There are also some unique obstacles dotted around the course.

The Rules

 

The Crazy Golf course at the North Marine Putting Greens became the 383rd course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 663th visited since September 2006.

It was also the first course we've been to that's got a Frankenstein's Monster on it

The course is 15-holes(!?) and in our contest Emily beat me 36 to 41.

Happily we both managed to get a hole-in-one. Well, Emily got three in a row on the final holes!

The pair of Putting Greens looked nice too. We'll definitely give them a play when we're back in Bridlington.

The North Marine Putting Greens overlook Bridlington Bay

No 1 Green

No 2 Green

While in Bridlington we also played the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course and had a look at the Crazy Golf course on the Foreshore Sands.

We're really looking forward to a return visit to Bridlington later this year as there's plenty to see and do there.

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.

You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

Indoor Pirate Adventure Golf in Whitby

Playing the updated Pirate Adventure Golf course at Whitby's Pleasure Island Amusement Arcade.

We love visiting Whitby in North Yorkshire and on our last trip to the seaside town we revisited the Pleasure Island Amusement Arcade. We were quite surprised to find that the Adventure Golf course we had played on our previous trip had changed a lot!

At the Pleasure Island Adventure Golf course in Whitby

In March 2014 the indoor Pirate Adventure Golf course had become the 327th course played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. And with the significant changes it also became the 386th played!

Hole 8 used to be the 1st

As well as the addition of some new holes - notably the first - most of the course had actually been reversed. Crazy!

This didn't used to be the 1st hole

Check out the photos of the course as it was on our most recent play of the course in August 2015, and how it looked in March 2014.

On the new 1st

In our match-up on the course Emily smashed me 18 to 25.

Emily on the tricky 3rd hole

Hole 8 used to be the 1st! 

The 4th hole is another new addition

Emily on the new 4th

This didn't use to be the 7th hole

 

A crocodile! Or is it an alligator?

I'm not sure the Fountain of Eternal Youth works...

The Shooting Shack there has been massively upgraded too.

We love a good old seaside shooting shack

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.

You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.