Monday, October 05, 2015

Adventure Golf at The Manor House & Ashbury

Photos of the Adventure Golf course at The Manor House & Ashbury near Okehampton, Devon.

Our friend and minigolf rival Adrian Amey recently sent us through some snaps of a course he'd played - and it's one we haven't been to on our tour.

Photo of the Adventure Golf course at The Manor House & Ashbury near Okehampton, Devon
The new Adventure Golf course is at The Manor House near Okehampton

Even though we haven't visited the course I was able to guess the location with my first try. What a skill.



Earlier this year we explored much of the South West of England and visited 62 minigolf courses in Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. Unfortunately The Manor House & Ashbury Hotels don't allow day visitors so it seems unlikely we'll get along to have a game on the course.


Another of our friends, and my Midlands Minigolf Club team-mate, Tiger 'Galactus' Pragnell is a big fan of The Manor House & Ashbury and has played both the old Crazy Golf course and new Adventure Golf on his holidays down there.

Fellow golf stuff collector Martin Vallance is a Greenkeeper at The Ashbury Golf Hotel and has a collection of over 70,000 logo golf balls! Crazy.

Link:
- The Manor House & Ashbury Hotels website

Related blog posts:
- Mini Golf in the South West of England
- Crazy About Minigolf Balls
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Sunday, October 04, 2015

Putt In The Park Mini Golf at Battersea Park in London

Playing Minigolf at London's latest course.

Photo of the Putt In The Park Mini Golf course at Battersea Park in London

On Monday 21st September* we made the 671st visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and played the 389th course since we began our Tour in September 2006. The location was London's newest course - Putt In The Park at Battersea Park.

Putt In The Park Mini Golf course at Battersea Park in London
We'll play minigolf whatever the weather

The 12-hole venue opened earlier this summer and is the second course from the team behind the Wandsworth Park Minigolf course.

Photo of the Putt In The Park Mini Golf course at Battersea Park in London
Quite autumnal

In our match-up Emily defeated me by one shot - 36 to 37. I was incredibly fortunate that Emily was unlucky on the last hole or the margin of my defeat would've been much much worse!

Putt In The Park Mini Golf course at Battersea Park in London
Emily on the first

Putt In The Park Mini Golf course at Battersea Park in London
Richard tees-off

Putt In The Park Mini Golf course at Battersea Park in London
Emily shot a great 2 on the 2nd hole

Putt In The Park Mini Golf course at Battersea Park in London
The tricky 4th

Putt In The Park Mini Golf course at Battersea Park in London
Putting on hole 5

Putt In The Park Mini Golf course at Battersea Park in London
Emily on the 3rd - the wheels truly came off Richard's game at this hole!

Putt In The Park Mini Golf course at Battersea Park in London
Hole 11

Putt In The Park Mini Golf course at Battersea Park in London
Emily making easy work of the 4th

The Battersea Park course is three miles from its sister course at Wandsworth Park. That Putt In The Park venue was the 323rd played on our Tour.

Putt In The Park Mini Golf course at Battersea Park in London

For more information on the Putt In The Park courses, opening times and prices visit the Putt In The Park website.

Putt In The Park Mini Golf course at Battersea Park in London

When we began traveling around and playing minigolf there were an estimated 600 courses in the UK. This year we visited our 600th overall and 600th in the UK - at Swanage and Goodrington Sands respectively. On our road-trip around the South West of England we also visited the 650th course in the UK - in Padstow.

Having visited 21 miniature golf courses overseas means that the Putt In The Park course in Battersea became the landmark 650th we've visited in the UK.

Link:
- Putt In The Park website

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Mini, Crazy and Adventure Golf courses in and around London
- Putt in the Park Minigolf at Wandsworth Park, London
- 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.

* It was apt that such a BIG minigolf course visit would take place on the 21st September as the date is always Miniature Golf Day!



Thursday, October 01, 2015

Launch of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Newsletter

Subscribe to the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Newsletter.

We've been blogging about our minigolf travels since 2006 and in that time we've visited over 670 courses.

Photo of Richard and Emily Gottfried at the Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course in Prestatyn, Wales

As well as following our adventures here on the Ham & Egger Files you can find us over on Facebook, and Emily and I both tweet.

And now, we've launched our own Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Newsletter!

Sign-up below to receive news, updates, events and other fun and interesting stuff.

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Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Nine years of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Today marks nine years since the start of our crazy golfing travels!

Photo of the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course on Long Curtain Road in Southsea

Back on the 30th September 2006 we visited my brother Christopher down in Southsea, Hampshire and while there had a game on the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course on Long Curtain Road near Clarence Pier. On the lucky last hole I managed to 'fire the cannon' and won a free game. The rest is history!

The Free Game Pass that set the ball rolling!

Since that first course visit we've visited a grand total of 671 courses around the world. Of these we've played 389, while 282 of them have been unplayable for a variety of reasons.

Who knows why so many courses around the country fall into disrepair!?

Earlier this year we hit some BIG minigolf landmarks on our tour, with visits to the 600th and 650th courses in overall and in the UK while on holiday in the South West of England.

This summer I also revisited Southsea for Christopher's Stag Do and managed to squeeze in a round on the Victory Trail Adventure Golf course at Treasure Island - and I once again hit the top hole to win a free game!

Photo of the Victory Trail minigolf course at Treasure Island Adventure Golf in Southsea
The Victory Trail at Treasure Island - where our tour began

There's some nice theming on the Pirate course

As well as some tricky holes

The 8th on the Victory Trail

The last hole

The Lucky Last Hole in Southsea - scene of a few Free Game wins. None have ever been claimed

We estimate there are around 50 more courses we're yet to visit in the UK. Although when we began there were around 600 courses!

Check out the photos and links below from some of our landmark course visits.


Southsea has been a happy hunting ground for free game cards

#25 Great Yarmouth (Jungle Golf at the Gardens)

The Jungle Golf course is now the site of a Segway Grand Prix track

#50 Tampere, Finland (Beton Concrete Minigolf)

Emily on international duty with the GB team in Finland


The tricky minigolf course in Guildford

#100 visited overall and played #173 Gorleston-on-Sea (Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf at Pop's Meadow Putting Green)

Photo of the Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course at Pop's Meadow Putting Green in Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk
A felt-less Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course


The BIG 100th course played

#125 Swansea/Abertawe (Crazy Golf at Singleton Boating Lake)

The Crazy Golf course in Swansea


A windmill on the Masters course in Southport

#175 Las Vegas - King Putt (North West Las Vegas, USA) - Indoor Mini Golf

Photo of the King Putt Mini Golf course in Las Vegas
King Putt Mini Golf course was a cool stop on our tour

#200 Castleford Cosmic Golf Indoor Blacklight Minigolf at Xscape - Curse of the Mummy in 3D

The 200th course played was a blacklight indoor minigolf in Castleford

#250 Stockholm, Sweden (Beton Minigolf at Tantogårdens BGK, Tantolunden Park)

Photo of the Minigolf course at Tantogårdens BGK, Tantolunden Park, Stockholm, Sweden
Emily playing the Beton Minigolf course in Stockholm, Sweden ahead of the 2011 Nations Cup tournament

#258 played and #400 visited overall Clevedon - Crazy Golf

Crazy Golfing on at the 400th course visited

5-Year Anniversary Revisit - Southsea (Treasure Island Adventure Golf - Victory Trail)

Photo of the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course in Southsea
Five years after first playing the Victory Trail we revisited the course for a game


Photo of the Treasure Island Adventure Golf course in Southsea
The Warrior Trail course in Southsea. The second course ever played on our tour


Crazy Golf in Bognor Regis
Playing Crazy Golf in Bognor Regis


Many thanks to everyone who has helped us out with tips of where to play over the last nine years. It's much appreciated.

I wonder where we'll have traveled to by this time next year!

How many more scorecards and free game passes will we have added to our collection too?

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Southsea

Links:
- Treasure Island Adventure Golf website
- MiniatureGolfer.com website

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

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Minigolf Spot-the-Ball competition

Picking up a prize in a Splash Point Mini Golf course online competition.

Emily recently used her years of minigolf knowledge and experience to claim first-place in the Splash Point Mini Golf 'Spot-the-Ball' contest!

Emily won a decommissioned flag from Splash Point Mini Golf. The course has now introduced new red flags

Photo of the Splash Point Mini Golf course in Worthing
Emily had to guess where the ball - played by Portugal's Nuno Cunha (the reigning British Masters champion) - was. You can see the answer here

Splash Point Mini Golf is an 18-hole course in Worthing's Denton Gardens. The game has been played on the site since the 1920's, with the Splash Point Mini Golf course a new addition to the town's attractions in 2010.

The course was the 181st played on our tour and we've revisited a number of times since. It's well worth a visit.

Splash Point Mini Golf has hosted a number of tournaments since opening and the layout is a real test of minigolf skill. Check out the great video from the 2012 British Masters filmed by the team at 2dogimaging.



Visit the Splash Point Mini Golf website for more details. The @Worthing_Golf Twitter feed is also worth following as there are frequent reports on local weather conditions, just in case you turn-up in Sunny Worthing to find the course closed owing to inclement weather.

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

Related blog posts:
- Splash Point Mini Golf in Worthing
- Worthing

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