#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.

#3 Sandbanks Crazy Golf

Type: Crazy
Price: approx £4
Duration: 35-40 minutes
Rating: 4.5/5

Review:

It was a slightly miserable blustery day on one of the most expensive places to buy a house in the world, Sandbanks. We found a very well designed course over many levels with 18 holes. This was a crazy golf course, with classic pipes, ramps and bumps to negotiate.


 We found this very enjoyable, and the poor weather meant we were almost alone on the course and could go at our own pace. There was a good variation in the holes and obstacles and our scorecards show a mixture of straightforward and tricky holes.

It was at the upper end of courses in terms of pricing at £4, but for a very well maintained 18 holes we decided it was worth it.

The only reason this course doesn't get 5/5 is holes 16 and 17 which we both maxed out and couldn't complete. We felt they were a bit unrealistic and spoiled the flow of the game.







Result:
Two holes-in-one from Stu couldn't stop a stonking victory for Debs! She won by a huge 7 shots.

#2 Crazy Golf, Saundersfoot

Type: Crazy Golf
Price: £1.50
Duration: 20 minutes
Rating: 1/5

Review:
Saundersfoot Bowls Club is situated just behind the main strip at the harbour front, and tucked around the side is a crazy golf course. It seemed like very much of an afterthought to the Bowls Club and was very poorly maintained. It was a fairly cheap looking 9 hole 'self contained' set added to a patch of grass. The tee-off positions were metal and dented, and the surface was covered in leaves, twigs, tree seeds etc. Even if it was clean, it was a fairly uninspiring 9 holes with obstacles and ramps.


We were very disappointed with it, and wouldn't have been surprised if we were the first people to play on it all week (maybe even longer). The last hole required you to to hit the ball up a ramp, and jump the ball into a small hole in a plastic gorilla's mouth. This was absurd, and we both had about 6 attempts without getting close. The uneven surface and small hole made it impossible, something the man in the hut we gave our clubs back to joked about "I bet you picked it up and dropped it in the monkey's mouth like everyone else didn't you!"

Saying that, it was only £1.50 and was probably only there for a bit of extra income for the bowls club. We still enjoyed it a bit though, but that's just because we probably enjoy mini-golf too much.

Result:
There was no par for this course and we ended up with the same score.

#1 Kingdom of Legends, Celtic Manor, Newport

Type: Mini-golf
Price: £4
Duration: 30 minutes
Rating: 5/5

Review:
This is a brand new course at the now world famous Celtic Manor. There are two 9-hole courses, the 'Celtic Challenge' adventure course and the other that replicates some of the best known real holes from around the world.

There are holes modelled on St Andrews, Pebble Beach and Augusta and some inspired by past Ryder Cup venues such as The Belfry, Valderrama and Valhalla, not forgetting the signature 14th hole on The Twenty Ten Course at Celtic Manor.

We only played the second course as it's more advanced, and we didn't fancy £4 each for each course. The surface was excellent astroturf, very smooth with white astroturf for bunkers. The stream running through meant all the holes had real water hazards, based of course on the real holes. There were ramps for these hazards, which meant some tricky positional shots were needed.

As expected the course design was great, you can hardly argue with that as these holes some of the most famous in the world! We really enjoyed the challenge, but felt £4 was a little steep for 9 holes. However, the course was superbly maintained, which you can expect to continue being a 5 star hotel resort.

Result:
On a par 34 course, Debs won by 3 strokes with a brilliant 4 under par. The hole in one at "Augusta" all but sealed the victory early on!