Peterborough could soon be home to a new glow-in-the-dark indoor crazy golf course.
It'll be a new course for us to visit on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour when we're visiting friends in the area.
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I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
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| Hole 4 of the Plonk Golf course in Shoreditch |
Plonk Golf are opening a new 9-hole indoor Crazy Golf course at Peckham Levels in London later this month.
I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
West Park Golf Centre in Chelmsford, Essex will soon be home to a new adventure golf course.
The centre will be creating an 18-hole adventure golf course planned to open in January next year.
The course will be called Rascal Bay Adventure Golf and it'll be the third in the brand following the Brentwood, Essex and Manston, Kent locations.
Check out the West Park Golf Centre Facebook Page for more information.
We visited West Park Golf Centre on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour way back in December 2009. The old Crazy Golf course there was the 157th course played on our travels. We've now been to 956 courses since 2006.
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I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
The inaugural Putt18 World Pro League season has concluded with Matt Ansley of New Zealand taking the title.
Matt was the wire-to-wire winner of the league with a tremendous display on the Putt18 Golf Putting Game Mat.
The Putt18 game mat consists of six tee-off boxes and three target score zones. Players must hit their balls from each of the tee boxes in turn aiming at the Par-4, Par-5 and Par-3 targets while avoiding fairways, bunkers and water hazards that carry penalty points. After the 18 shots have been played you tot up your score to see what you've shot for your round.
Players from Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain and the USA competed in the seven event series.
Each player had a 20-minute time limit to play four 18-hole rounds for a 72-hole total score in each of the seven events. There were additional points on offer for low scores and the round total.
20 players competed in the league. Matt Ansley took first place with a score of 866 points. Dave Gomm (GB) was runner-up with 693 points, with John Ansley (NZ) in third place with 655 points.
Also in the prize money were Cameron Couper (NZ) with 578 points and Josh Mars (AUS) with 455 points.
The leading US player was Pat Sheridan in 8th place on 352 points.
During the tournament Matt shot an average score of 63 per round.
As well as being runner-up Dave Gomm shot a world record low round score of 57.
In the team event New Zealand won, with Australia runners-up and Great Britain in third place.
I finished the league in 18th of 20 players with 107 points.
In the strokeplay rankings I finished in 17th place of 20 players with 2,189 shots and an average of 78.18 per round of 18 holes.
Check out the Putt18 World Pro League Facebook Group and Putt18 website for more information.
The Putt18 World Pro League has been a fun and interesting way to keep on putting and compete during the pandemic. It's also been a first in terms of getting players from around the world to compete on the same putting surface in a league format.
Read more in my blog post about Keeping social and competitive in the new world of physical distancing.
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I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
Check out the interview in The Viaduct magazine about our mission to visit every pub, club and bar in Stockport during lockdown this year.
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| The first pub we visited - The Kings Tap in Cheadle Hulme |
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| Pub number 73 - The Crown Inn in Stockport town centre with the viaduct behind it |
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| Pub number 265 - The Nursery Inn in Heaton Norris |
I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
It was the 260th course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.
In a first for us the course charged an extra 30p if you wanted a scorecard and pen to score your game!
Emily won our minigolf match-up with a score of 39 to 43.
We're looking forward to a return trip to Weston-super-Mare in the future.
I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
The two other Happy Shopper shops I've seen this year have both been closed. One of those was also in Sheffield.
I remember seeing the Happy Shopper shops and branded products a lot when I was a kid in the 80's and 90's.
The Happy Shopper branding from the 1970's was changed in the year 2000 and I think it lost a lot of its charm and individuality. Many of the former Happy Shopper stores were rebranded as Premier shops.
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| Interestingly the social distancing signs on the door showed the original Happy Shopper branding with the smiling blond face appearing before the word 'Happy' rather than in place of the 'o' as seen in the second incarnation of the logo |
The Happy Shopper brand has been part of the Booker Group since 1996. Booker itself is now owned by Tesco.
Related blog posts:
I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
It was nice to see the old Happy Shopper branding still up on the signs at what was once Pops Mini Market on Sharrow Lane in the Highfield area of Sheffield.
As the Happy Shopper branding was updated in the year 2000 I didn't think it would still be possible to see it 20 years later. I was glad to be wrong.
Last month I found a Happy Shopper in Preston purely by chance while en route to look for an abandoned Toys R Us.
I remember seeing the Happy Shopper shops and branded products a lot when I was a kid.
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| The Happy Shopper on Page Hall Road in Sheffield |
The Happy Shopper branding was changed in the year 2000 and I think it lost a lot of its charm and individuality. Many of the former Happy Shopper stores were rebranded as Premier shops.
Happy Shopper does still exist, as both convenience stores and own brand food & drink products. It has been part of the Booker Group since 1996. Booker itself is now owned by Tesco.
Related blog posts:
I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
One of the best finds during my 'retail archaeology' expeditions this year is the social distancing signage using the original Happy Shopper branding from the 1970's, 80's and 90's at The Happy Shopper convenience store in Sheffield.
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| A slightly unexpected sight on a sign of the times in 2020 |
I remember seeing the Happy Shopper shops and buying their own-branded products a lot when I was a kid growing up in Oxfordshire back in the 80's and 90's.
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| The Happy Shopper on Page Hall Road in Sheffield |
The Happy Shopper branding from the 1970's was changed in the year 2000 and became a lot simpler design. I thing it certainly lost a lot of its character.
The original Happy Shopper branding has the smiling blond haired face appearing before the word 'Happy' rather than in place of the 'o' in the word 'Shopper' as seen in the second, and probably more widespread, incarnation of the logo.
The two other Happy Shopper shops I've seen this year have both been closed. The first was in Preston and the second was also in Sheffield.
Check out my Instagram account for more social distancing signs I've spotted on my urban walks during the coronavirus pandemic.
I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
My brother and Charter Member of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour has sent over some photos of the Castaway Island Mini Golf course in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
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| Social distancing measures at the entrance/exit to the course |
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| The anchor has been there since it was an Arnold Palmer Putting Course |
Castaway Island Mini Golf replaced the 9-hole and 18-hole Arnold Palmer Putting courses on the promenade. We visited in July 2016 and the course became the 693rd on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.
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| At the Arnold Palmer Putting Course on the site in June 2007 |
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| How Castaway Island Mini Golf looked in July 2016 |
Christopher and his family have visited 37 courses on their branch of the tour, 26 of those have been unique to them. Emily and I have visited 956 courses on the main tour.
Christopher has been to six courses in 2020. He revisited the indoor adventure golf course at The Windmill Theatre in Great Yarmouth too.
We've been to a total of 46 courses in 2020, with 15 of those being new courses visited. We've swung by eight new courses in the time of coronavirus.
We've got 40 of the original 600 we set out to visit left and a lot of new courses to play at too!
Together we've been to 982 courses since the 30th September 2006.
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I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
I'll be playing my final four rounds in week 7 of the first Putt18 World Pro League at 11am (BST) tomorrow, Sunday 4th October.
You can watch my rounds live on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Facebook Page.
I've been competing against fellow minigolf players from Australia, New Zealand and the USA in the seven event series.
I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
14 years ago today we began our first full day of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We've now visited a total of 956 miniature golf courses. When we began there were 'only' 600 in the UK!
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| Terry's Traditional Crazy Golf course in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire. The 483rd course played on our adventures |
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I’m a Champion Miniature Golfer on a tour of the UK’s minigolf and crazy golf courses. Coeliac living a gluten free life. Train nerd. Retro gamer. Urban explorer.
