Happy birthday Putt-Putt - 65 years old today

Today marks 65 years since the world's first Putt-Putt course opened.

The first Putt-Putt Golf course was set-up by Don Clayton in Fayetteville, North Carolina, USA back in 1954.

Over the years a number of our fellow miniature golf enthusiasts, bloggers, minigolf rivals and friends have shared photos of some of their favourite Putt-Putt courses.

Putt Putt in Richmond, Indiana. Photo by Tom and Robin at A Couple of Putts

Putt-Putt is the only patented game of miniature golf and began in Fayetteville, North Carolina in 1954. In the 1960's Putt-Putt franchises began opening outside of the US, in locations such as South Africa, Australia and Japan. There were also courses in the UK, the first of which opened in Sunderland in 1968. Others followed at Flamingo Land in Yorkshire and in Buxton, Derbyshire. However, information on these UK courses is limited. You can read the Putt-Putt story on the Putt-Putt Fun Centres website.

The Putt-Putt miniature golf course in Three Anchor Bay in Moullie Point / Sea Point, Cape Town, South Africa. Photo by PJ Goedhals

The Putt Putt Fun Center course in Hickory, North Carolina photographed by Pat Sheridan of The Putting Penguin minigolf website

Putt Putt Pro Matt Bellner playing the course in Arlington, TX

Matt Bellner playing the Putt Putt course in Lake Charles, LA, USA

On the competitive side of the game, Putt-Putt tournaments have been played since 1959. You can read about the history of the PPA and APA on the Professional Putters Association website.

Putt Putt Fun Center in Richmond, Indiana. Photo by Tom and Robin at A Couple of Putts

Allan Cox, aka The Putter King, has been playing Putt-Putt in tournaments and for fun for a number of years and has perfected his shots on a lot of Putt-Putt courses down under.



Unfortunately the closest Emily and I have got to playing Putt-Putt are some postcards, some game tokens, a jigsaw puzzle and a photo one of my family took of a course while in South Africa!

A photo of the Three Anchor Bay Putt-Putt course in January 2017. Photo by Adam Trigg

A Putt-Putt postcard from South Africa

I do have a lot of Putt-Putt tokens in my collection

A Putt-Putt Puzzle of a very crazy Miniature Golf course. Published by Hallmark Cards Inc. Many thanks to our friend 'Hacksaw' Jon Drexler for sending it across the pond to live in the Crazy Golf Museum

Check out the Putt-Putt Golf website for more information on Putt-Putt brand minigolf. You can find out more information about Putt-Putt tournaments on the Professional Putters Association (PPA) website.

Hopefully we'll get to play the Putt-Putt format of the game on our travels in the future.

Related blog posts:
- Putt-Putt
- A token blog post
- Putt-Putt in Cape Town, South Africa
- A Putt-Putt Postcard from South Africa
- Putt-Putt Germiston in Johannesburg, South Africa
- Putt-Putt at Three Anchor Bay in Moullie Point/Sea Point in Cape Town

Links:
- Putt-Putt Golf
- PPA Database
- Professional Putters Association (PPA)

Mr Sparkle in Hitchin

Continuing the funny Homer Simpson bootlegs thread, we spotted this Mr Sparkle poster in Hitchin a few years ago.

Fishbulb

Happy Summerween

Today is Summerween. And so is tomorrow. 

A Summerween Jack-o-Melon

Summerween is celebrated on the second to last Friday of the month, or the 22nd June.

Caddyshackers Crazy Golf in Leicester

A visit to the Caddyshackers Crazy Golf course in Leicester.

Last Sunday we visited Caddyshackers Crazy Golf in Leicester city centre to compete in the Caddyshackers Open minigolf tournament.

The entrance to Caddyshackers Crazy Golf course - it's not your average place for a game

We were joined in the team event by our friends and often minigolf rivals Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd and Jam 'Jamdre the Giant' Trubridge.

The dream team!

We had fun on our qualifying round on the tricky and quirky indoor course.

The skateboard and BMX hole

Beat the keeper

A brewing hole

At home

A rubbish hole

The 18th hole

Blimey!

The ablutions hole

Yes, the pan is the cup!

Up the ramp and into the lav

Emily putting for a two

Having a well earned sit down

This office hole was very very tricky

The Caddyshackers Crazy Golf course was the 903rd visited and 522nd played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The team behind Caddyshackers will soon be opening a tenpin bowling alley on the floor above the Crazy Golf course

Check out the Caddyshackers Crazy Golf course website for more info, opening times and prices.

Plonk Golf now open in Hoxton, London

New Plonk Golf Clubhouse now open in Hoxton.

The team at Plonk Golf have opened their first bar. The Plonk Golf Clubhouse venue offers a 7-hole Crazy Golf course, arcade games, table football, pinball and more.

This is hole 4 of the Plonk Golf course in Shoreditch, one of a number of Plonk Golf courses we've played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

You can also find Plonk Golf courses in Camden Market, Shoreditch, London Fields, Islington, The Horniman Museum and Gardens in Forest Hill, Battersea and ZSL London Zoo. There are also plans for a new course in Paddington. Check out the Plonk Golf website for more information.

Another colourful Plonk Golf creation

Back in April 2015 I played at Plonk Golf's first course, at Efes Snooker Hall in Dalston, London. That was the 596th course visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We're now up to 905 course visits since September 2006.

A half-outdoors hole at Plonk Golf course in Shoreditch

Related blog posts:

- Plonk Golf

- London

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

'Homer Simpson' in Great Yarmouth

The chalkboard image of Homer Simpson that Emily spotted in Chicago reminded me of this 'Homer Simpson' we spotted in Great Yarmouth back in July 2016.

Where's Homer's nose?

Holbeck Putting Green in Scarborough

A visit to the Holbeck Putting Green in Scarborough, North Yorkshire.

Before we left Scarborough on Sunday 9th June we fully explored the South Bay and South Cliff Gardens, home of the Holbeck Putting Green.

The views from the course are superb

The course was the 901st visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 521st we've played since September 2006.

The next stage of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the journey to 1,000 courses started at the Holbeck Putting Green

It was brilliant chatting to Gerry, the man running the course, as he had an in-depth knowledge of the Putting Green's history, and also that of other courses in Scarborough.

The Holbeck Putting Green was opened in 1925 and was the first Putting Green to be established in the town.

While nowhere near the course record, my score of 44 was the third best of the season so far. The best round in 2019 was a 40, with the second best a 43.

If you're in Scarborough the Holbeck Putting Green is well worth a play.

Looking through my postcard collection I found two cards showing the Putting Green. Both cards are undated.

Putting Green, Holbeck Gardens, Scarborough 867 The Queen Series. Postally unused. Undated

Putting Green and Holbeck Clock Tower, Scarborough. Lilywhite Ltd. Postally unused. Undated

How the course looked on our visit

If I'd had more time I would've had a few more rounds on the challenging links Putting course

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Mini Golf in Scarborough
- Scarborough

The Flintstones Crazy Golf in Weymouth

A look back at The Flintstones Crazy Golf course at Bowleaze Cove in Weymouth.

I was looking through some of the weird and wacky Crazy Golf courses we've visited over the years and found this snap of me playing a 'Flintstones' themed course back in 2009.

Fred and Barney look on as I tee-off in Weymouth

The Flintstones Crazy Golf course at Bowleaze Cove was the 77th visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour back in October 2008. I played it while in town to compete in the Weymouth Open tournament.

We've now visited 905 courses on our minigolfing travels since September 2006.

'Homer Simpson' and 'Peter Griffin' in Chicago

Emily found this superb chalkboard sign while in Chicago last month.

Someone is obviously better at drawing Peter Griffin.

Godfather Pizza in Leicester

More Godfather bootleg goodness.

We spotted the Godfather Pizza place while in Leicester to play Crazy Golf at the weekend

We've seen quite a few gangster-related businesses on our travels. There are a lot in Stockport!

Treetop Adventure Golf in Leicester

Treetop Adventure Golf is now open at the Highcross Shopping Centre in Leicester.

We swung by the brand new two course, 36-hole indoor Adventure Golf venue while in Leicester on Sunday and were pleased to see the course really busy with players.

Treetop Adventure Golf in Leicester is home to two 18-hole courses, the Ancient Explorer and the Tropical Trail. There's also a cool looking, electronic Lucky 19th hole.

One of the holes on the Ancient Explorer course

A tricky little plateau hole

A hill and a loop on a dogleg hole!

The borders on the tropical trail course differ to the Ancient Explorer and have a woody feel to them

We're looking forward to playing the Treetop Adventure Golf courses in Leicester in the future.

I wonder who won?

The Treetop Adventure Golf courses in Manchester were the 799th and 800th we visited in the British Isles.

There were lots of people enjoying their mini golf adventure inside Treetop Golf when we visited

Next time we're in South Wales we'll have to check out the popular Treetop Adventure Golf course in Cardiff too.

Check out the Treetop Adventure Golf website for more info on the three venues.