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Blue Fox Walk Minigolf
1603 Hopmeadow Street (Rte 10)
Simsbury, CT
(860) 601-9055
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Our Review | CT Life Article

Our Review

• Last Reviewed: 6/12/2004
• By: Chris (MiniGolf CT Staff)
• Overall Rating (1-5): 5
• Maintenance: 5
• Playability: 4
• Price: 5
• Fun: 4
• Difficulty: Hard

Blue Fox Walk Minigolf is the epitome of great miniature golf. I had the opportunity recently to take part in a tournament there, and I wasn’t bored after playing the course six times in one day. The course has a series of unique and challenging holes that make it stand out when compared to most others in the state.

From the very first hole (not a straight-in shot by any means), you realize that a slightly different putting style is necessary. I found that seemingly light hits will cause the ball to travel far, and there are secrets to getting hole-in-ones on several holes that involve using the hills and banking.

Hole #5 is the trickiest hole on the entire course. The hole and part of the green is raised, and it’s very tricky to get the ball up onto the raised section. Oh, did I mention there’s also a water trap? In the first round of the tournament, I managed to hit the ball in the water trap twice. Fortunately, there was a 7-stroke limit! My best success came in hitting the ball short, then hitting my second shot left-handed (since I’m right-handed, it took away just enough power to get it to sit up right next to the hole).

I can’t say enough about this course – despite being a 45-minute drive from Hartford, on the Simsbury-Granby town line, it is well worth the drive. The only points taken away were one on each playability and fun, since Hole #5 may be impossible for some to hole in on their first few tries.

CT Life Article

• Written by: Steven Frank
• Published: Connecticut LIFE, July 2004

Located on a serene stretch of Hopmeadow Street near the Granby town line, Blue Fox Walk is part of Fox Enterprises – a family-owned business that includes the Hartford FoxForce World Team Tennis organization, an 18-hole public golf course, a nine-hole semi-private golf course and a bowling alley next to the mini golf course.
Someone looking for typical mini golf course antics such as a windmill or a loop-de-loop would not prefer Blue Fox Walk. It resembles a real golf course, albeit on a much smaller scale.
There is rough, a different texture and shade of green extending slightly over ther regular green, on every hole. There are also sand traps, lightly colored obstacles, on several holes. There is even a water hazard and rocks to contend with.
“It’s subtle, but a challenging course,” said Mary Dean, manager of the course and bowling alley, Blue Fox Rock’n Bowl.
Gary Shiff, vice president for the U.S. Pro Mini Golf Association, called Blue Fox Walk “the best course in the state.” The association’s Mini Golf Hartford Open was held in June at Blue Fox Walk for the fourth consecutive year.
“It’s a hard course but fun. It’s interetsting and different,” said Joyce Laverdiere, a Blue Fox Walk employee.
The most challenging stretch of the course is between the fifth and seventh hole. The fifth features a water hazard, the sixth requires a blind putt (Hole not visible from the tee) and the seventh is double decked with two holes.
“It’s about being outside. And each hole is different so that makes it exclting,” said Kim Sitterle, a Granby native who now lives in San Antonio, Texas, and took her three-year-old son, Trey, to play a round in late June.
There is also plenty of eye candy throughout the 18-hole, par 39 course. The landscaping features a large water fountain in the middle of the course.
The water is blue – but not the blue found in the ocean. Instead, it’s colored like a Smurf. Dean said the color was designed to go with the Blue Fox name.
The course also has a bridge going over the water and lots of shrubs and flowers along each hole.
After a round, youngsters and adults can indulge in any of the on-site ice cream parlor’s 62 soft serve flavors.
Options range from the traditional vanilla and chocolate to papaya and kiwi. The parlor also offers several types of shakes and fruit drinks.

The preceding is an excerpt from the article “Putts up? Having a ball with mini golf,” reprinted with permission of Connecticut LIFE.

Our Review Criteria

• All numerical criteria are on a basis of 1-5. For most items, 1 is worst, and 5 is best.
• Overall: The reviewer's overall opinion of the course. 1 or 2 is not good. 3 is average, but nothing special. 4 is worth a visit, and 5 is an exceptional course.
• Maintenance: How well the course is kept.
• Creativity: Is this a cookie-cutter type of course, or does it have some flair?
• Price: How does the price of the course compare to the quality?
• Fun: Simply put, how fun is the course?
• Difficulty: 1-5, 1 easiest, 5 hardest
• A number of older reviews have a "Playability" rating. This indicates how able is one to play the course. Things like bent cup rims, twigs, clogged pipes, and too-difficult holes were included here. (These considerations are now part of Maintenance; Creativity was added in place of Playability in 2005.)