33 replies to this topic

[VicHockeyFan]

I see they just opened a course at Island View next to the driving range, picture below. And I see the course at Elk Lake is in complete disrepair.



How are other courses fairing?

[Holden West]

I don't think I've ever seen a mini-golf course that was in good repair.

I understand there's one near Cowichan Lake.

[VicHockeyFan]

The one pictured boasts that they have no windmills or clowns. I thought that was a requirement. The relatively new courses at Cordova Bay are usually kept in pretty good shape. The one on the Highway to Sooke is usually not bad either. I have not been by the one on Blenkinsop lately.

Elk Lake just kills me. A pretty decent beach access, with a run-down mini golf, and pretty lousy surf rental shop, what I think is a poor restaurant (but I haven't been in there in at least 20 years), then mini-storage and a garden centre. WTF? A decent take-out restaurant there could be another Beacon Drive In. Or at the very least something nicer than Ice Cream Mountain. It'd be a must-stop kind of place, like Willows Galley.

[VicHockeyFan]

They could make Harris Green into a good mini-golf layout, with REAL grass too.

[Baro]

In terms of how they play, the one out on Blenkensop is about the best in town. The rest just don't play well, there's no room for strategy/risk and no rewards for taking risk (do I shoot straight down the middle, or try for this little tube that will get me a hole in 1?)

What I hear is that if you want good mini-golf, you gotta go to Parksville.

[VicHockeyFan]

Sookey Sam's was always a pretty good play, hillside course. The one formerly on the Colwood strip was pretty simple but for a few holes that could kill you, put you right out of contention with a 15-stroker (Real men do not play with a top limit, where you pick up after, say, 6 or 8 shots).

[aastra]

Mt. Doug and Mattick's Farm are both decent. Agree about the no-limit thing.

[sebberry]

I always found the Mattick's farm one to be a bit boring, unless they have changed it lately.

Any time I go I play at the Blenkensop course. Seems to be pretty decent with a few good challenges.

Where was the one on the Colwood strip? I remember it a long time ago, which car lot took over?

[VicHockeyFan]

Where was the one on the Colwood strip? I remember it a long time ago, which car lot took over?

http://maps.google.c...=12,320.18,,0,1

[Bingo]

Reg Midgley took over the course on the Colwood Strip. I find the Matticks course too shady under the trees. My favourite course is Paradise Adventure, at the castle at the north end of the beach in Parksville.

[Sparky]

The octagonal building in the background was the clubhouse from the mini golf built by Gerald Hartwig. It is my understanding that the property was acquired by his father, Hans a number of years ago. Hans was the founder of Wigmar Construction who owned and built Nootka Court and 1208 Wharf Street among others.

From what I have heard the mini golf did not make much money.

[Baro]

Matticks is actually the worst mini-golf I've ever played. Zero strategy. Every tube and piece of scenery holds zero purpose. It's like it was designed by someone who's never actually played mini-golf, just saw a few pictures. it's also always wet and dark and the green covered in pine needles.

Stroke limits can be useful for when you have spazzy friends that will give up and stop trying after a 10+ stroke hole after they hit their ball with driving force over a rock and into the neighbouring property...

[VicHockeyFan]

Stroke limits can be useful for when you have spazzy friends that will give up and stop trying after a 10+ stroke hole after they hit their ball with driving force over a rock and into the neighbouring property...

That's the problem with many players. If you are not serious about your mini golf, you should not be out on the course. Same goes for kids that only play on an infrequent basis, and have no concept of the risk/reward strategy of multiple routes to the cup. Get out of my way!

[Baro]

I wish more people understood what serious business mini-golf was...

[VicHockeyFan]

I wish more people understood what serious business mini-golf was...

Tell me about it. I think it was about 1996, August 14th, 30 degrees. I was playing a full two rounds at Mattacks, I'm neck and neck with a friend, only one stroke separates us, going into hole 34. I'm down flat on my stomach, reading the green before my tee shot. This freaking 4-year-old hovers near the side of the fairway, cats his little shadow across my lie. He'd never heard such words that came from my mouth that day.

The result:



^ Well, sort of like that, with no fairway but more windmills and clowns in the background.

That little brat totally threw me off. I hope he burns in hell.

[Bingo]

Tell me about it. I think it was about 1996, August 14th, 30 degrees. I was playing a full two rounds at Mattacks, I'm neck and neck with a friend, only one stroke separates us, going into hole 34. I'm down flat on my stomach, reading the green before my tee shot. This freaking 4-year-old hovers near the side of the fairway, cats his little shadow across my lie. He'd never heard such words that came from my mouth that day.

The result:



^ Well, sort of like that, with no fairway but more windmills and clowns in the background.

That little brat totally threw me off. I hope he burns in hell.

He may have been admiring your golfing pants.

[Holden West]

A mini-golf tour of south-western BC

In the past two decades, B.C.'s Okanagan Valley and the Fraser Valley to the west have reinvented themselves as centers of agri-tourism, drawing sophisticated foodies and wine connoisseurs from across North America. But old-fashioned roadside attractions such as mini-golf still survive — remnants of the area's past as a family holiday spot, dotted with sleepy lakeside beach towns.

No Island courses, unfortunately.

[dirtydeeds]

My wife and I hit the mini links quite often with the kids. It is a great way for us to have some fun together and get the competive thing going on too. (unfortunately she is up on me this year) Though Blenkinsop is nice, in Parksville they have taken it to a way higher level. Lots of great courses and easy for the kids with greater risk and reward stratagy availlable for the more serious mini golfer. We prefer Rip Tide Lagoon near Rathtrevor, a great day trip

[Victoria Watcher]

[attachment=31626:screenshot-www.instagram.com-2021.09.04-10_19_09.png]

 

https://www.instagra...dmanorvictoria/

 

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https://www.hauntedmanorvictoria.com/

 

 

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Edited by Victoria Watcher, 04 September 2021 - 06:23 AM.

[todd]

I'm usually frightened going downtown.

Edited by todd, 04 September 2021 - 09:45 AM.