More hangover golf at Jungle Rumble Bristol, this time on the "Secret Swamp Course''.
It wasn't very swampy or secret, and I wasn't very good at it! I was beaten by Paul, and Rachel was the overall winner. Lizzie must have been suffering from excess birthday celebrations and only managed 4th place :(
Uh oh - the gap is closing, I think Rachel now has six wins and I have nine.
There are a few pics that I took on my 'phone below.. more to come later
Mini golf if not a good hagover cure.
I recently visited Munich for a stag weekend during Oktoberfest. The stag was my fellow FFC season ticket holder; Rupert the Bear.
Much beer was consumed and a great time was had by all, with only a few minor injurys. On the final day we met up for some mini golf in Olympiapark. The course had some crazy holes with loops, ramps and basketball net type hole!
My form was shocking, and even with a few fluked aces I still eneded up with a massive score. I blame the mashed finger, bloody foot, beer and Jägermeister from the night before.
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| Oktobergolf |
Of course, as Rachel wasn't playing the score didn't matter anyway.
We made a trip to to the west country in the cow bus, which now has a nice roof rack from fleabay.
We visited Symonds Yat, Tintern Abbey, Cheddar Gorge and of course Jungle Rumble Golf. I'll skip the stinky cave cheese and cider stories and get straight to the golf.
Kim, Alex, Austin and Issy joined us for the round of golf we played at Jungle Rumble. We played the more child friendly adventure golf course, and paid £34 between us, quite pricey. Apart from the cost, it was really good fun, especially learning a few tricks from Austin. He invented a new technique that involved picking up the ball and placing it right next to the hole, it worked well!
There are some good holes with sounds effects, flashing lights and Aztec props. I don't remember everyone’s scores - but I do remember that I won, again. Should I have conceded to the kids? Probably. Did I? Of course not.
There is a plan to go back and play the other course and the crazy golf at Cheddar, check back later for an update.
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| Jungle Rumble |
Well we finally made it down to the City Mini Golf @ Devonshire Square and it was a great course with lots of different obstacles. One particular hole of note was the Ferris wheel hole where you had to get the ball in the ferris wheel bucket. I was not successful but Kristian on the second attempt made it in!
...and now over to our North America correspondent, Lee for an important news update;
Being located on the other side of the pond and unable to compete in the Milton Keynes tournament this weekend, we thought it a good idea to venture down to our nearest mini golf course and play as though we were there! So here goes, not only is this the first international course on the site but it’s also got another special feature...
Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you Gophers 'Glow In The Dark' Mini Golf located in Guelph, Ontario in Canada!
What you get
Entrance was about 11 dollars each - that’s around 7 quid in real money - and for that you get your ball a putter and two glow in the dark sticks that can be worn around your wrist and neck if you have no dignity. You get 18 holes on the course and all are par 3 except the final which is a par 2 and it takes about an hour to complete.
The Game
Ann-Marie and I were fairly close for the first 5 - we were just warming up after years of inactivity on the mini golf scene. At hole six though I stepped it up a gear and sunk a birdie while Ann-Marie floundered and hit 2 over. The gap started to increase and on hole 10 it was pretty much game over. A nasty uphill hole littered with seashells and fish was her undoing and the frustration showed. Final count on that one alone was a 12 (in reality, it was probably a whole lot more... we stopped counting) while I hit a 4. Sadly, hole eleven did nothing to help her, another horrible 12 - she was clearly flustered by the 10 year old in front of us hitting par.
The final hole is an uphill polar scene, a large glacier and some traps to catch the ball if it rolls back down the slope. It’s a one shot hole that will make or break a seasoned golfer. We both missed the main hole - I scored a two (the first trap) and Ann-Marie dropped it in for three (the bottom trap).
Final Score (Par is 53)
Ann-Marie - 97
Lee - 66
I'm unsure if this rule applies to the English game but they state on the way out that there is a '6 strike count' which means 6 is the maximum you can count on each hole. Bringing that into play, Ann-Marie ends up with 81 and I come away with 65.
Loser pays for the beer so I'm off to collect my winnings!
(Ann-Marie wants me to say that she did beat me 6-4 at glow in the dark air hockey shortly after the golf...)
Five players, nine holes, one winner - ME!!!!!
Willen Lake adventure golf in Milton Keynes is a great little course with some tricky holes. Shame it's only 9 holes.
Well done Al for getting two aces in a row, very impressive. Special mention for Lizzie's trick shot that left the course and re-entered right next to the hole. Can you show me how to do that please?!
Pictures from the weekend away from the golf course; Towcester, Canada.
Pics from Jurassic Adventure Golf last weekend. Some nice features at this course, animatronic dinosaurs, waterfalls, caves and erm, the 'bum' hole!
Looks like the new Jungle Rumble adventure golf course in Bristol is now open. Strangely, the web site seems to be straight from 1997! I hope the web site doesn't reflect the quality of the course.
We played a quick game one of our local(ish) courses at the weekend, Jurrasic Adventure Golf, New Malden. It was a bit wet, but still fun. We had a bit a real golf practice on the range too, I think I need some lessons!
The adventure golf was a draw, details and some pics soon.
Wimbledon Park Crazy Golf 
We made a quick trip to Wimbledon Park's crazy golf course to tie in with two weeks of tennis madness.
I took six puts on the fourth hole and gifted Rachel the lead, but she couldn't take the pressure and handed it back by the 18th.
Ha ha! I win again and extend my lead to three games.
Also, not crazy golf but Wimbledon related; I was lucky enough to get Centre Court tickets for the final day of the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. I tried to take some pics of Roger Federer vs Andy Roddick and some other stuff from the day:
The course was fast since it was concrete and notable holes were the Nasa space shuttle which Kristian thought resembled something rude! Take a look at the pic and see for yourself!
The following morning we happened across a remote farm called Berryfields where we indulged in the best Cornish Cream Teas. It was my first time and my fear of cream and jam was overcome especially since the scones were love heart shaped!
Next stop was the gorgeous village of Padstow at Greens Cafe Crazy Golf.
After an EPIC 40 mile bike ride along the Camel Trail we decided to attack the crazy golf. A very picturesque little course, overlooking the bay. Main features include lighthouse, tyre hole and Castle.
The sweltering heat and fatigue from earlier bike exploits took its toll on Kris and all was lost on the dreaded pyramid hole.
There were a couple of hole in ones for Kris but this was not enough to beat an on form Rachel who won by ten shots! Perfect end to a perfect day!
Well we set off on our Cornwall Campervan trip and first stop was Bude for a round of Crazy golf! Only a nine hole course but we played twice to make up 18.
At long last the cow print camper van curtains have been made! And they look fabulous if I do say so myself! All ready to rock at Download!
There are some pics of the Bristol Jungle Rumble adventure golf under construction here at the builders web site.
There is also a page on the Cabot Circus web site with a map Cabot Circus showing where the golf is going to be, on level three - corner of Brigstowe Street and Penn Street.
SHOCK JOINT WIN FOR PAUL & RACHEL!
So joint first for Paul and Rach, third for me, Lizzie in fouth with Al bringing up the rear, despite that ace on the 16th hole!
Think I'm gonna have to check the totting up of that scorecard ;-)
Paul & Lizzie, thank you for you kind hospitality, and thanks Al - great times as always.
Here are some pics of Victoria Falls Adventure Golf;
And some snaps from the rest of the weekend.
Over the spring bank holiday we took the camper to Hastings, Folkstone and Canterbury. Amazingly, another fault free trip for the van!
Hastings Marine Parade has hosted the World Crazy Golf Championship and has three mini golf courses right next to each other, lucky us! In the end we only got around to playing two of them, three games in one afternoon just felt a bit much.
The crazy golf game was a draw and I won the adventure golf, taking me into the overall lead - at last!
Ow bist!
Bristol is getting 'the best mini golf course in the world'! A new AstroTurf Jungle Rumble adventure golf course at Cabot Circus.
I'm quite excited about this as a born and bred Bristolian, I think I'll judge for myself if it's the best course in the world when it opens next month.
I no longer live in Bristol, so playing there means a trip down the M4 in the cow bus. Expect a full review soon moy luvverz.
The van has new hub caps, from fleabay! Now I'm going to have to clean and paint the rusty wheels 'cos they're not hidden by the plastic wheel trims anymore. I still have to post about our last trip to Hastings, Folkestone and Canterbury.. maybe next week.
We made the first successful trip in the camper van! It goes quite well for a dodgy old van, cruising along at about 60-65 mph, just not up hills. It's 1.6 litre diesel engine can't really get the van up anything more that a mild incline faster than 25-30 mph!
First stop was Lyndhurst in the New Forest, then a picnic spot in the forest for lunch followed by a bit of a drive, then a cup of tea and some van customisation at another picnic spot.
We stayed in a campsite that I can't remember the name of! It was pretty cheap and very good, so when I remember what it's called I'll post an update. After a BBQ, a few drinks and a good night's sleep, we set off for Weymouth.
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Naturally, I kicked ass at pirate golf! Pics in the previous post. To be fair, it was actually quite a close game and I just scraped a win.
Some of the other places we went before heading home were; Durdle Door, Poole and Brownsea Island. All great fun, pics and more about that some other time.
Rachel wins the first round with two aces! I lost it on the one with the raised hole, putt the ball up, it rolls down the other side, putt up, roll down, and repeat that six times. Grrrrr.
At least the course had a windmill, the all time classic crazy golf feature. There is also a water wheel and a lighthouse. 
Next door to the course is a kids 'Mini Racers' track, little electric racing cars for kids. That looked way more fun, if only I was seven years old again. Now that I think about it, there was no age limit on the sign. I think I'll go back and try it.
I had no idea minigolf was taken so seriously by some. I just discovered the World Minigolf Sport Federation and the British Minigolf Associaion. The BMGA have Masters and Open events.
Perhaps we should join!
It was probably a good thing that we didn't try and play at Adventure Island as the British Masters was being played there on Saturday. I exepect it would have been busy, my game would have crumbled under the scrutiny of the BMGA players!
In the 2009 Masters results, it seems like the winning player scored 17 on the first and second rounds. Not sure how that's possible on an 18 hole course.
This lead me to search for the laws of the game, the WMF has a massive set of rules. The BMGA rules seem shorter, so those are the ones we're going to play to. I look forward to quoting some obscure (madeup ;-) ruling next time Rachel is winning a game and I need some help.
We made it to Leigh-On-Sea on Saturday morning and collected the tour bus - Whoo! The car dealer had put it through a MOT test as requested and it passed with no problems.
I'm now the proud owner of a 25 year old VW Caravelle Camper conversion. It's not the prettiest or best equipped camper I've ever seen, but it should do nicely for a few festival trips and seaside visits.
It was raining and I was a bit anxious about the van's ability to get me back to London in time for the football, so we decided to call off the adventure golf and head straight home.
Instead of the game at Adventure Island, the 'pre-season' warm up at Arnold Palmer Mini Golf a couple of weeks ago has now become the official first game of the tour. A report on this game is up next.
The van got me back quickly and safely, despite me taking a wrong turn or two. Best event of the day was Fulham's win 1-0!!
We're all going on a European tour, European tour, European tour (maybe).
The tour is kicking off soon with a game at Lost City Adventure Golf in Southend-On-Sea. We are going to Southend on Saturday to pick up the tour bus and thought it would be a waste not to pop into the Lost City at the same time.
It’ll have to be a quick game, as I’ve got to be back in London for the Fulham v Stoke match at 3pm. Come on you whites!
More about the tour bus soon, it’s an 80’s VW camper with some special bovine customisations in the pipeline.