The Minigolfer's Guide to Marketing

It's always nice when I start the day seeing purchases of my minigolf marketing ebook

My ebook to help minigolf players better market themselves, their clubs, tournaments and courses is available to purchase from Amazon and Kobo.

Thanks to everyone who has bought a copy, read it, used it and reviewed it.

If you're looking at running a minigolf project do get in touch to see how I can help.

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Vegas, baby, Vegas!

Cooltrader

A look at Cooltrader shops.

Cooltrader in Blackpool. Can you see the tower?

One of my favourite fairly obscure supermarket brands. What's yours?

Cooltrader in Edgeley, Stockport. The first branch of the chain I saw

Cooltrader was formerly a brand owned by Iceland. 54 of the 58 Cooltrader stores were bought by Heron Foods in 2012. Heron Foods is now owned by B&M. Some Heron Foods shops are located in old Woolworths sites.

The closed Cooltrader in Blackpool

Cooltrader in Shrewsbury. One of only two I've seen open on my travels

Happy National Hot Dog Day

Today is National Hot Dog Day.

The whole of July is National Hot Dog Month.

Find out more about National Hot Dog Day and National Hot Dog Month on the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council website.

Putt18 World Pro League - Week 2

I'll be teeing-off in week 2 of the Putt18 World Pro League at 4.15pm this Friday, 24th July.

You can watch my round live on Facebook.

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More information on the Putt18 golf game mat can be found on the Putt18 website.

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Bart Simpson at Stonham Barns Crazy Golf

A bootleg Bart on a miniature golf course.

The Crazy Golf course at Stonham Barns was the 33rd visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour back in August 2007. We've now been to 949 courses since 2006

The old Crazy Golf course at Stonham Barns Golf Park has now been replaced by the Smugglers Bay Adventure Golf course. That was the 815th we visited.

Long Lost High Street Shops - Tandy

A look back at Tandy.

I was lucky enough to spot Tandy branding on some signage at a shop while in Hitchin last year. The Tandy signs had been uncovered as the shop on Churchgate was being refurbished following the closure of Electronic Universe. The reveal showed that Electronic Universe had at one point been a Tandy dealer.

In 2016 I spotted this Tandy sign at the back of the shop.

It's always a shame to see CRT tellys going to waste

Working at Tandy

My first job was at a Tandy franchise shop in Abingdon, Oxfordshire where I remember selling a number of electronic products bearing the 'RadioShack', 'Genexxa' and 'Realistic' brand names.

It's always fun spotting old brands & signage and a treat when it's something rare like Tandy.

Tandy said goodbye to the UK high street in 2001 as the last of the shops was converted after acquisition by Carphone Warehouse.

RadioShack

Until fairly recently there was a RadioShack in Lytham Saint Annes. Unfortunately that store closed its doors in 2019.

I bought a VHS tape in there when I first found the shop in 2017

Other relics of the high street

We've also seen the remnants of Woolworths, Toys R Us and Kwik Save on our travels.

Our most local, still visible 'dead brand' can be seen at the old Blockbuster Video store in Fallowfield, Manchester.

Little Thief

I'm missing being out and about in Manchester. Every time I have a wander around the city centre I spot a new piece of street art.

Looking through my snaps from previous walks round town I spotted this Little Thief sticker by GRW82 Greatt Whyte.

Social distancing at Mr Mulligans Lost World Golf in Stevenage

A look at the social distancing and hygiene measures at Mr Mulligans Lost World Adventure Golf in Stevenage.

Many thanks to the team at Mr Mulligans Lost World Adventure Golf in Stevenage, Hertfordshire for sending over details of the social distancing and hygiene measures they've put in place.

There are two 18-hole indoor adventure golf layouts at the centre at Stevenage Leisure Park - the Jungle Explorers and Ocean Adventurers courses.

Find out more

Visit the Mr Mulligans website for more information, opening times, prices and booking details.

The cups have been partially filled so balls are easier to retrieve

Another filled cup

A minigolf rhyme!

Finding Mr Mulligan

You can find Mr Mulligans courses in Basildon, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Castleford, Cheltenham, Milton Keynes (indoor and outdoor), Newcastle, Nottingham, Sidcup, Stevenage Tonbridge and Woking.

Playing at Mr Mulligans

We've visited all the Mr Mulligans courses apart from the ones in Basildon, Bournemouth, the indoor course in Milton Keynes, Nottingham and Tonbridge. We had planned to go on holiday to Bournemouth in April and would've played the courses there then.

On our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour visit to Mr Mulligans Lost World Golf in Stevenage

The last Mr Mulligans venue I played at was the three-course space-themed centre in Birmingham last October.

At Mr Mulligans Space Golf course on the day before Halloween last year - back then the only thing to worry about was a little bit of radioactive material on the course

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Putting at Home with the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club

We found out about the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club in Knowle West, Bristol last month and have joined the club's Putt Party online events.

The Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club have created a home-based minigolf club and work is underway to build brand new minigolf course at the Filwood Community Centre.

Members of the club have been designing and making their own crazy golf holes using a wide-range of materials. The 16 households are putting the finishing touches to the layouts ahead of a competition to declare the best design this coming Saturday. Emily and I are really looking forward to being guest judges at the event. We've seen some superb designs so far.

Check out the Filwood Fantastic Mini Golf Club's Facebook Group and the Filwood Community Centre website for more information.

Boom: Battle Bar at the Castle Quarter in Norwich

The new indoor games venue is opening at the Castle Quarter shopping and entertainment centre in Norwich this month.

Norwich's new indoor entertainment venue is opening its doors on the 23rd July. Boom: Battle Bar is home to a minigolf course, boules piste, axe throwing arena, electric darts and shuffleboard.

Many thanks to the team at HM Adventure Golf for sending over photos of the minigolf course there.

  

Visit the Boom: Battle Bar website for more information, opening times, prices and booking details.

We're looking forward to playing at Boom: Battle Bar in the future.

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Caddy Shack now open at Sol Central in Northampton

The new Caddy Shack Mini Golf course at Sol Central in Northampton is now open.

Caddy Shack is a New York-themed venue and home to a minigolf course, tenpin bowling and darts and is part of the Gravity Activity Entertainment centre at Sol Central.

Many thanks to the team at HM Adventure Golf for sending over photos of the minigolf course there.

  

We're looking forward to visiting Caddy Shack and playing the crazy golf course there on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour in the future.

Check out the Caddy Shack website for more information.

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Old Iceland

Spotting some old Iceland signage on a modern Iceland store.

I had to take a second look when I saw these signs on the Iceland supermarket in Holywell, North Wales.

Iceland with pre-year 2000 branding. In 2018

I hadn't seen Iceland signage and branding like this for a while!

There can't be many other branches of Iceland still carrying this old style can there...?

It's always interesting finding quirky signs and old shopfronts on my travels. In recent years I've seen the ghostly remnants of Tandy, Radioshack, Woolworths, Blockbuster Video, Toys R Us and Kwik Save on the high street.