Museum Week 2018

This week is Museum Week.

Running from the 23rd to 29th April, Museum Week is back for a fifth edition and celebrates the vital role culture, art, science and education plays in the development of societies, forging links which know no borders between women and men. This is why Museum Week 2018 is dedicated to shared values of living together, citizenship and tolerance.

The Crazy Golf Museum - the worldwide archive of miniature golf memories, histories and ephemera

Over the week there are seven different hashtags focusing on a different areas, with the overall theme of #womenMW.

Although the role of women in society is obviously just as important as that of men, it is far from being properly recognised. On Monday 23rd April Museum Week will focus on famous women in the fields of history, art, culture and science, as well as all those anonymous women whose lives structure our societies. Not women chosen for their beauty, but artists, intellectuals, workers, and so on.

The hashtags are:
#womenMW
#cityMW
#heritageMW
#professionalMW
#kidsMW
#natureMW
#differenceMW
#MuseumWeek

Find out more on the Museum Week website.

As a BIG fan of Miniature Golf and a Curator of the Crazy Golf Museum I wouldn't be doing what I am if it wasn't for women creating the game of minigolf.

Emily playing the world's first Miniature Golf course back in 2012

The world's first minigolf course was the Himalayas Putting course at St Andrews, Scotland. The layout was created in 1867 specifically for female players to use. Emily and I visited and played The Himalayas in 2012. It's a wonderful layout and a must-play course for fans of minigolf.

You can read more about the history of the St Andrews Ladies’ Putting Club on their website. It's interesting to note there had previously been a small putting area set-up before 1860, while the 9-hole course opened in 1867.

Today there is a 9-hole and an 18-hole course, both open to the public for a nominal charge.

Scorecard from the 2017 USPMGA Master's minigolf competition held at the Hawaiian Rumble Mini Golf course in North Myrtle Beach. Donated by Pat Sheridan of The Putting Penguin

A selection of Putt-Putt tokens from the Museum's vaults

Pencils from the Arnold Palmer Putting Course in Prestatyn

Some of the other key dates in world minigolf are:

• 1916 - The first minigolf course in the USA. James Barber opened the 'Thistle Dhu' layout in Pinehurst, NC.
• 1926 - The very first Crazy Golf course in the UK opened on South Parade in Skegness, Lincolnshire, England.
• 1926 - The first artificial miniature golf course in the USA. Garnet Carter created the 'Tom Thumb' miniature golf course near Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga, TN.
• National Miniature Golf Day always falls on the second Saturday in May.
• Miniature Golf Day is always on the 21st of September.
• 30th September marks the day we visited our first course on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour back in 2006.

Check out the Crazy Golf Museum website and Crazy Golf Museum-related blog posts for more info.

Crazy Golf at One Adventure in Droylsden

New indoor Crazy Golf course at One Adventure in Droylsden.

Reading the Tameside Reporter newspaper recently I spotted an item about the new indoor glow-in-the-dark Crazy Golf course at One Adventure in Droylsden, Manchester. It's very nearby to us so we're looking forward to a game there soon.

You can find One Adventure on Floor 2 of Greenside Mill in Droylsden, Manchester M43 7AJ.

In addition to the Crazy Golf course you can also do axe throwing, laser tag and a lot more!

A delightfully dull, brilliantly boring evening from the Dull Men's Club

The Dull Men's Club is organising a Delightfully Dull, Brilliantly Boring Evening in Preston on the 15th May.

At the event you'll be able to meet men and women who enjoy ordinary, everyday things — things that are often thought of as mundane, dull, boring — but actually can be quite interesting. Meet people who have been in DMC calendars and the book Dull Men of Great Britain: Celebrating the Ordinary. We do more than watch paint dry.

Dr Sandi Mann, aka ‘Dr Boredom’, author of The Science of Boredom: The Upside of Downtime, will tell the attendees about the benefits of boredom and her research on the Thirty Habits of Boring People.

The "Anorak of the Year 2017.4" will also be announced at the event (".4" as we are now 40% into 2018).

The evening event will be held at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), Fylde Road, Preston PR1 2HE.

More details and tickets are available on Eventbrite.

You can also join 15,750 other people at the Dull Men's Club Facebook Group - a place in cyberspace where dull men — and women who appreciate dull men — share experiences of enjoying everyday, mundane things, far from glitz and glam — "Celebrating the Ordinary".

The Carpet Factory in Middleton is NOT a Tesco Extra

Close, but not.

So close to Tesco, in more ways than one

Related blog posts:
- Bootlegs

National Miniature Golf Day 2018

It's less than a month until National Miniature Golf Day 2018.

A snap of a shot during the 2015 National Miniature Golf Day tournament in Skegness

The first of the years Miniature Golf Days is fast approaching.

National Miniature Golf Day falls on the second Saturday in May, this year that's Saturday 12th May.

Where will you be teeing-off?

We played at Championship Adventure Golf in New Brighton on National Miniature Golf Day 2017

For some ideas and inspiration check out our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour blog post to see the 809 courses we've visited on our travels over the last twelve years.

Related blog posts:
- National Miniature Golf Day
- Key minigolf dates for the year ahead

Update to our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour newsletter

Update to subscriptions to our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour enewsletter.

We love keeping you updated with information on our travels on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and since 2016 we've sent out a newsletter.

You may have heard about the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), that comes into effect on the 25th May 2018. To help comply with GDPR consent requirements, we need to confirm that you would like to receive the newsletter from us.

We hope that our newsletters are useful to you. If you're already a subscriber and would like to continue hearing from us, please update your subscription settings by clicking the button in the email we've sent to you today (15th April).

If you haven't yet subscribed, but would like to please sign-up online.

Links:
- View our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour newsletter archive
- Subscribe to the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour newsletter

The DinoFalls Masters

Results of the DinoFalls Adventure Golf Masters competition at the Trafford Golf Centre in Manchester.

On Friday 6th April I competed in the first-ever DinoFalls Masters Adventure Golf competition at the Trafford Golf Centre in Manchester - and won it!

Playing a tricky tee-shot up onto a ridge

The 18-hole DinoFalls Adventure Golf course is a nice layout and is an eye-catching sight from the M60.

Putting on the 18th

The event saw hundreds of players complete a round and submit their scores. My win in The DinoFalls Masters came with a score of 37.

I returned to DinoFalls Adventure Golf to compete in a Midlands Minigolf Club Invitational Tournament on Wednesday 11th April and won that too. What a great week.

The Midlands Minigolf Club competitors at DinoFalls Adventure Golf

MMGC DinoFalls Invitational Tournament results:
1. Richard Gottfried - 40*
2. Henri Myers - 40
3. Alex Hyman - 41
4. Rocky Bullin - 43
5. Steve Sturdy - 45
6. Ruth Burke - 46
* won a sudden-death play-off at the first extra hole

The DinoFalls Adventure Golf course at the Trafford Golf Centre was the 476th played and 792nd visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Check out the DinoFalls Adventure Golf and Trafford Golf Centre websites for more information.

I've now won four tournaments at the Trafford Golf Centre site. In addition to the DinoFalls Masters and the MMGC Invitational I won the 2009 Mini Masters and Mini Open on the 9-hole Championship Miniature Golf course which used to be at the venue. That particular course was the 84th played on our tour. It closed in 2013.

I certainly cracked the DinoFalls Adventure Golf course on my recent visits

Mr Mulligan's Lost World Golf opening in Milton Keynes

New Mr Mulligan's Adventure Golf course opening in Milton Keynes.

The Milton Keynes Adventure Golf venue is opening on 27th April and will have two 18-hole indoor Adventure Golf courses, as well as a restaurant and late-night bar.

A view of Mr Mulligan's Lost World Golf

We've visited and played most of the Mr Mulligan's Adventure Golf courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, most recently at the new Lost World indoor Adventure Golf course in Cheltenham. Last month Mr Mulligan's Space Golf launched in Newcastle.

Mr Mulligan's Lost World Golf in Stevenage

The new indoor Adventure Golf course at Mr Mulligan's will be using the Lost World Golf theming also found at the Stevenage venue.

One of the UV obstacles at Mr Mulligan's Adventure Golf

Milton Keynes also has an outdoor Mr Mulligan's Pirate Golf course. Located at the Abbey Hill Golf Centre that course was the 281st played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Other Mr Mulligan's courses can be found at Castleford, Nottingham, Woking, Sidcup and Tonbridge. There are plans for more new sites in the coming year too!

Check out the Mr Mulligan's Adventure Golf website for more information and updates on the launch.

Links:
- Mr Mulligan's Adventure Golf website
- Mr Mulligan's Lost World Golf, Milton Keynes on Facebook

Related blog posts:
- Mr Mulligan
- Milton Keynes
- Indoor Adventure Golf
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Caddies Crazy Golf and Restaurant in Southend

There's a new indoor Crazy Golf course opening in Southend next month.

The venue will feature two Crazy Golf courses and a range of food and drink including BBQ, craft burgers, vegan dishes and desserts.

Check out the Caddies Crazy Golf course website, Facebook and Twitter for more information.

We're looking forward to checking it out on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - we've played the other minigolf courses in Southend a LOT over the years.

Related blog posts:
- Southend
- Southend-on-Sea
- Indoor Minigolf
- Minigolf in Essex
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Start of the Petanque season in Stockport

Today marks the start of the Pétanque season in Stockport as the Woodstock Pétanque Club take to the terrain at Alexandra Park in Edgeley.

The club meets on the second and fourth Sunday of the month and play between 1pm and 4pm.

Playing a shot last April

The club receiving coaching from the English Petanque Association last summer

Check out the Woodstock Pétanque Club Facebook Group, Twitter and website for more information.

The Woodstock Petanque Club

Mini Golf Masters

This week will see a number of Mini Masters miniature golf tournaments taking place.

Teeing-off on Wednesday 4th April is the first MiniLinks Mini Major of the year at MiniLinks in Lytham Saint Annes.

Hole 1 of the MiniLinks Par-3 miniature golf course

DinoFalls Adventure Golf at Trafford Golf Centre in Manchester is hosting its first-ever DinoFalls Masters tournament between Thursday 5th and Sunday 8th April.

On Sunday 8th April two CrazyPutt Masters Tournaments are being held at the CrazyPutt Adventure Golf courses in Nottingham and London.

You can find the CrazyPutt Adventure Golf courses at the Riverside Family Golf Centre in Nottingham and the N1 Golf Greenwich Peninsula Golf Range in London.

In April 2007 I made my British Minigolf Association tournament debut in the British Masters. This year the 18th staging of the event will be at Mr Mulligan’s Dino Golf in Sidcup on Sunday 22 April.

We visited the Adventure Golf courses in Sidcup back in 2010

Back in 2009 I won the Mini Masters at the Championship Miniature Golf course in Manchester.

The 2009 Mini Masters Champion

Balls

My April Fools' Day story yesterday may have been a load of balls, but chipping in a rugby ball shaped golf ball might've got me closer to the hole than all these shots with pro minigolf balls.

At the Blackpool Pleasure Beach Adventure Golf course in 2008. Time has certainly flown by since that visit

What a postcard!

A look at a Blackpool beach scene in 1975.

We bought this great old postcard from a car boot sale yesterday. It was just 10p. What a scene.

Look at that sunburn!

We've been to Blackpool a fair few times over the years, but we've never seen the beach anything like that. Although it was sunburn weather on my visit to nearby St Annes on Sea last year.

The card has a nice special postmark on it with a list of the resorts that make up the 'Happy Holiday Coast'

We'll be heading back to Blackpool soon as we've heard there's an Adventure Golf course up the Blackpool Tower!

Related blog posts:
- Blackpool
- Postcards

Happy April Fools' Day!

Happy April Fools' Day!

Did you get reeled in by our egg-shaped minigolf story or not?

A spoof story about an egg-shaped golf ball on April Fools' Day AND Easter Sunday was impossible to resist

New regulation minigolf ball

We've heard there's going to be a new shape of golf ball allowed in minigolf tournaments - it's oval!

The egg-shaped ball will certainly add to the unpredictable nature of Crazy Golf tournaments.

Who knows who hatched the ingenious plan to inject more fun into the sport of minigolf. Hopefully we'll find out later today

Popular in our antipodes, the balls are used for the game of Golf Cross aka Kiwi Ball and enjoyed a short trial run at Adventure Island Mini Golf in Birmingham back in 2013 thanks to minigolf star Tiger Pragnell. Unfortunately the test event ended prematurely with myself and team-mate Adam Kelly in the lead. I'm looking forward to using the ball again - even though it rendered any course notes irrelevant with it's ludicrous bounce and roll.

There are thousands of different specialist minigolf balls available for use in tournament play, with hundreds more produced each year. I own a fair few - including a special Ball of Fame created to celebrate the second time the Midlands Minigolf Club won the British Club Championships

With the sport gaining momentum down under it's little surprise that the strange new ball is going to be used in competitions more often. The New Zealand Mini Golf Federation recently hosted the second NZ Minigolf Open competition at Lilliputt's T Rex Alley and Safari mini golf on Tamaki Drive in Auckland. The pro event was won by Australia's Allan 'The Putter King' Cox.

I bet my mate, minigolf rival and North West rugby correspondent Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley will be pleased to hear about the move too.

We've played quite a few variants of 'golf' including most kinds of miniature golf, although we're yet to play the Putt Putt brand of the game. Some of the versions include Pitch & Putt, FootGolf, Crazy Golf Pool, FootPool and Pit-Pat.

A look at the new Jurassic Bay Adventure Golf course in Shanklin, Isle of Wight

The new Jurassic Bay Adventure Golf course in Shanklin on the Isle of Wight is now open.

Many thanks to my mate Dan Paynton for sending over these snaps from his visit to the new Jurassic Bay Adventure Golf course in Shanklin on the Isle of Wight.

Dan visited and played both the new Jurassic course and the Pirates Cove course.

 

The Pirates Cove Adventure Golf course - when we first visited in 2008 this area was a grass Putting Course

It's crazy to see how many transformations the Jurassic course has had in the last few years!

The first version of hole 12 we saw in 2008

In 2008 we visited the Isle of Wight and the first course we played there - and our 63rd overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - was the Miniature Golf course on Shanklin Seafront. Since that visit the course has been refurbished and changed from the concrete 'Beton' style to an 'Arnold Palmer Putting Course'. We played that version of the course in 2016.

It'll be interesting to see how hole 13 has changed on the new dinosaur adventure golf course

A view of the course in 2016 - the windmill is now gone

Hole 10 in 2016

Hole 12 in 2016

Interestingly the base layout has remained largely unchanged in the three iterations. It must be the only minigolf course in the world that has had these particular changes made to it over the years.

This is how the large banked dogleg hole looked in 2008

This is how it looked in 2016

The 2018 version

Check out the post from our visit to the course in its last guise to see more of the differences and similarities.

Visit the Shanklin Seafront website for more information, opening times and prices.

Related blog posts:
- Shanklin
- Isle of Wight
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

What a typo!

What about this for a typo...

Whoops

Findar in Stockport's Parks

Checking out the new Findar app at Adswood Park in Cheadle Hulme.

This morning we popped over the road to our local park for a wander and to try out the new Findar app.

Starting this Bank Holiday weekend 15 parks in the borough will feature in a trial of a new  Augmented Reality app, similar to Pokemon Go, which allows park visitors to spot four characters. The pilot will last until June.

The first of the Findar characters we found on our visit to Adswood Park

On our 'thorough' walk around and through Adswood Park we found three of the four characters. We can't think where number four is!

We spotted this sign from the other side of the park. Emily found a witch there

The app has been created by Stockport resident Chris Hunt and is a UK first. Chris has said “There’s a number of great, examples of Augmented Reality, such as Pokemon Go,the Gruffalo Trail and Snapchat but none have crossed over into the mainstream to help bring people in to public areas."

Emily and a unicorn in Adswood Park

The 15 parks featuring the Findar app are:

• Abney Hall Park, Cheadle
• Adswood Park, Cheadle Hulme
• Alexandra Park, Edgeley
• Bramhall Park, Bramhall
• Brinnington Park, Brinnington
• Bruntwood Park, Cheadle,
• Cale Green Park, Stockport
• Great Moor Park, Stockport
• Heaton Moor Park, Heaton Moor
• Marple Memorial Park, Marple
• Reddish Vale Country Park, Reddish
• Romiley Park, Romiley
• Torkington Park, Hazel Grove
• Vernon Park, Stockport
• Woodbank Park, Offerton

Check out the news item on Stockport Council's website for more information.

You can download the Findar app on the Google Play Store.

Adswood Park is a nice small park straddling the Cheadle Hulme / Cheadle border close to Cheadle Heath. Last year we found out the park used to be home to a Miniature Golf course!

We're also part-way through visiting all the parks and green spaces in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport after the Friends of Alexandra Park suggested it as a pleasant way to pass the time. We've been to eleven out of the 33 listed so far, plus eight that were not on the list.

Related blog posts:
- Adswood Park
- Cheadle Hulme
- Stockport
- App

Check out my latest guest blog post on Minigolfnews

Visit Minigolfnews to read my latest guest blog post for the site. It's about us reaching another big minigolf milestone - the 800th course visit on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

At Swing by Golfbaren in Stockholm, Sweden last month. The course became the 800th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. Read all about the visit in my guest blog post on Minigolfnews

New Mighty Claws Adventure Golf course at Playgolf Colchester

The team at Mighty Claws Adventure Golf are almost ready for play to tee-off at their new second site and storyline in Colchester - A Roman Ruckus!

The new dinosaur adventure golf course, Mighty Claws Adventures: a Roman Ruckus is set to open in Colchester in mid April, featuring state-of-the-art, animatronic large scale dinosaurs, a thundering waterfall and an ancient Roman fortress.

The brand is the brainchild of Allan Saud, and the interactive, 18-hole Mighty Claws Adventure Golf course is an immersive play environment, adapted from the children's story book series 'Mighty Claws Adventures' by Nat Luurtsema.

The first Mighty Claws Adventure Golf course opened at Playgolf Bournemouth last Spring. The courses feature giant dinosaurs including Troodon, Ankylosaurus, Stegosaurus and Parasaurolophus as well as a small herd of Velociraptors and big, intimidating T-Rex.

This time players find themselves in an exciting Roman adventure - appropriate for such a centre of Roman history as Colchester.

The 18-hole Mighty Claws Adventure Golf course will be open from 10am until dusk, seven days a week at Playgolf Colchester.

Check out the Mighty Claws Adventure Golf website for more information.

We're looking forward to playing the course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We've been to Colchester quite a few times and visited the minigolf courses in the town's Castle Park and Gardens. Sadly we've never played a single shot there as the courses were never open when we swung by.

This was one of the minigolf courses we visited in Colchester. We never once saw it open to play. It was removed in 2015

Links:
- Mighty Claws Adventure Golf
- Playgolf Colchester

Related blog posts:
- Mighty Claws Adventure Golf
- Adventure Golf
- Colchester
- Playgolf
- Essex

Pirate Bay Easter Open minigolf competition in Guernsey

The Pirate Bay Adventure Golf course in Guernsey is hosting the inaugural Pirate Bay Easter Open minigolf competition this week until the 10th April.

The tournament is open to all, with players submitting their scores between the 24th March and the 10th April. 20 children and 20 adults will then make 'the cut' and be invited to compete in the grand final on the 15th April.

Thanks to my mate and minigolf rival Tiger Pragnell for letting me know about the event.

Find out more on the Pirate Bay Adventure Golf website.

We're looking forward to visiting Guernsey and having a round on the new course. My fellow minigolf enthusiast played the course last year and guest blogged about it here on the Ham and Egger Files.

Pirate Bay Adventure Golf is located at The Golf Club @ St Pierre Park, Guernsey.

Bognor Regis Mini Golf is 25 years old

Many congratulations to the team at Bognor Regis Mini Golf on reaching the BIG minigolf milestone of 25 years in business!

Emily and I played the 18-hole Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course at Waterloo Gardens in Bognor Regis back in October 2011. It became the 275th course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

In our match-up Emily beat me 39-42 with a start of two Aces in a row. However this was followed by two 3's, but she still scored an 'out' of 18. Some superb play on a superb Crazy Golf course.

Check out the Bognor Regis Mini Golf Facebook Page for more info.

Minigolf Summit 2018

The first-ever Minigolf Summit is taking place in Costa Nova, Portugal this May.

The team at Minigolfe in Portugal are incredibly keen to get the word out about minigolf and are putting in a lot of effort to promote the sport. Last year saw Portugal's first-ever Minigolf Tour take place over three events at courses in the Azores, Vilamoura and Costa Nova.

This year the team are organising the first-ever Minigolf Summit in Costa Nova. The summit will see events take place between the 19th and 29th of May, including:

• The 22nd edition of the XXII Palheiros da Costa Nova tournament
• Meetings and events to discuss inclusion of players of all ages and abilities
• The European Deaf Minigolf Open tournament
• Minigolf School Sports Challenge
• The first-ever minigolf tournament for the blind

Check out the Minigolf Summit website for more information.