#6 Celtic Challenge, Celtic Manor, Newport

Type: Crazy
Price: £4 each
Duration: 30 minutes
Rating: 5/5

Review:

This is the second of the courses at Celtic Manor as alluded to in my very first review. This is a crazy golf course, but nowhere near the average quality of other courses. This is a bit of a luxury course, as you might expect from the Celtic Manor, now a world class hotel and golf resort.

Hole 3 - Celtic Roundhouse

The obstacles are straight out of the top drawer including an 8' Celtic Cross, an enormous Celtic calendar and even a roundhouse complete with a thatched roof! Some serious money has been spent here not only on the course decoration, but the course itself is a brilliant smooth surface and very well designed. The holes are tricky enough to be challenging but none are impossible to complete in one or two good shots.

By far the best feature of the course was the two rafts used to get on and off hole 3 "Wales by the Sea".

This is billed as the easier of the two courses, and has a par of 28 as compared to 34 at the Kingdom of Legends. However, we found it far more challenging and had a great time.

This is a briliantly themed and top class course and well worth a trip, expecially with the equally fantastic Kingdom of Legends alongside.


Result:
We were joined by Rick, of Barry Island fame, who hit a 1 over par of 29 along with Stu. Debs was caught out by a few obstacles and scored 34.
We also played the other course as a decider and Rick scored -6, Stu -4 and Debs -2. A hole in one on both courses helped Rick to a famous win!

Hole 8 features the curiously named "Great Rock"

Hole 6 has two full size rafts!

Hole in one!

#5 Arnold Palmer's Putting Course, Great Yarmouth

Type: Crazy
Price: £3.50 each
Duration: 30 minutes
Rating: 3.5/5

CLOSED - REPLACED BY CASTAWAY ISLAND

Review:
I'm not exactly what the link to Arnold Palmer is; Great Yarmouth isn't exactly an international golf hot spot after all... However, this is a very neat little crazy golf course. It's not really the most crazy of crazy golf courses you're likely to come across, but it is called a putting course and it's excellent for practise.




All the holes featured classic crazy golf obstacles such as ramps, posts and a water mill! The odd thing about the obstacles though was that most of them weren't very obstacley.

As you can see on the photo to the left, the 17th and 18th holes have posts and rocks, but they're not actually blocking anything and you simply have to putt straight through. It was the same on most holes which meant the course as a whole didn't have much variation.

 We still enjoyed it as it was a beautiful day and the course was tidy, well maintained with a good surface.




Result:
Neither of us had a great round, with Debs incredibly narrowly missing at least 3 holes in one. On a par 36 course (All the holes were Par 2, boo) Debs scored 51 and I hit 45.

Another obstacle that just needs a straight putt

One ball got stuck on a ramp, poor design!

My single hole in one!

#4 Smuggler's Cove, Barry Island

Type: Adventure
Price: £3 each
Duration: 35 minutes
Rating: 4/5

Review:
This course is a favourite of ours, though it has to be said it's because it's closest to us! On this occasion we were joined by our friend Rick, who is also a keen mini-golfer. This is a classic pirate-themed adventure golf course, though quite why there are pirate themed mini golf courses in the first place, we're just not sure.

This is a fun 12 hole course, but not particularly challenging. The theming is very good, and it includes treasure chests, waterfalls and even the front of a ship! It was very well maintained, with a nice clean surface and no bunkers or stone borders which can easily spoil the course if it's not kept tidy.

However, the main problem with the course was the lack of variety. In general the holes are well designed but there aren't that many obstacles to negotiate, and all the walls are solid so you can bounce the ball around quite easily. It's still a good fun course above the promenade overlooking a big beach. The ice-cream's good too!






Result:
A disappointing round for Debs, ending with a 'Gentleman's Draw' for Rick and Stu on -5.