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Club Golf
109 Adams Street
Manchester, CT
(860) 645-6363
Map | Website

Our Review | Visitor Review 1 | Visitor Review 2 | Visitor Review 3 | Visitor Review 4 | CT Life Article

Our Review

• Last Reviewed: 8/3/2004
• By: Chris (MiniGolf CT Staff)
• Overall Rating (1-5): 3
• Maintenance: 2
• Playability: 4
• Price: 3
• Fun: 3
• Difficulty: Average

When did this miniature golf course come into being? It seems to have been in business for at least a couple of seasons, yet there’s something that’s brand-new (batting cages, I guess), and no other site seems to have a listing for it. Well, I found this course in an article of Connecticut Life (I’ll try and get the article onto this site), and was eager to try it. Unfortunately, I found the course a bit subpar (pun intended).

The course is nice enough, with a large waterfall and water flowing through some of the course. And many holes were very unique, including a three-tiered hole that looked quite nice. And for being tucked into a long, narrow patch of land, it sure didn’t seem too squished (though the course was designed in a Figure 8 pattern, meaning that it may be a bit confusing to figure out where to go from hole 4 to 5. There’s a cute sign, which in addition to pointing the way to the holes, also has arrows for “Up” and “Ground.”) But in the end, there was something lacking.

Speaking of something lacking, maintenance could fall into that category. A small sign in the clubhouse (which I noticed only for being very observant) stated that the course was under renovation, and a couple of holes were being redone. But for now, there were loose bricks (a couple of which were missing) bordering the holes, including one where I personally needed the ball to bounce off of (it couldn’t, because of no brick). Wood chips doubled as debris on several holes, and the 18th hole’s green was inaccessible except by walking (or jumping) over some dirt – fortunately it was a hot and therefore dry day when I went!

One hole that was most unusual was the 15th, which looked similar to a Skeeball game – and I had just as much luck Skeeballing the ball up there as I did hitting it (read: no luck). A ridge right next to the tee mat meant that getting it up the incline without having to yell “fore” was nearly impossible – the sides of the incline weren’t enough to contain the partially in-flight ball.

The course had an unfinished feel to it, but it has great potential. Club Golf needs to get some people out there to plant some grass where there’s dirt, repair the bricks, and bulldoze the 15th hole, and this course could be recommended. Right now, however, I cannot recommend this course.

Visitor Review 1

• Reviewed: 7/4/2005
• By: Kathy
• Overall Rating (1-5): 0
• Maintenance: 0
• Playability: 1
• Price: 1
• Fun: 1
• Difficulty: Hard

I will never come back to this place again to play mini golf! It was a lovely day and I decided to take my nine year old daughter to try out this new course. We both were terribly dissapointed. Right from the start, it seemed quite obvious there is NO money being applied to the up keep of the course. The bricks that line each putting green are all falling off and or missing. We even tripped over a couple! The landscaping around the course is in dyer need of up keep. We found it very disappointing to look at a pond with scummy water. Then to top things off, my daughter's ball went off the course because of some missing bricks. It went into the shubs and brush that lined the course. Because there was so much messy brush around the shrubs we could not locate her ball. I went in to explain my story and was told I'd have to pay $2.00 for the missing ball! By some miracle we found her ball. But, needless to say I will never come back to play mini golf on this course again!

Visitor Review 2

• Reviewed: 5/25/2006
• By: Larry
• Overall Rating (1-5): 2
• Maintenance: 1
• Creativity: 2
• Price: 3
• Fun: none provided
• Difficulty: none provided

Course in tough shape, no one there cares to fix it up. No creativity, over priced. Avoid.

Visitor Review 3

• Reviewed: 8/4/2006
• By: Carl
• Overall Rating (1-5): 1
• Maintenance: 1
• Creativity: 1
• Price: 1
• Fun: 1
• Difficulty: 3 (Average)

I will never go back to this course simply because of the terrible service that I recived. They were very rude, disrespectful, and ignorant in the way they treated my party. And this was by a man claiming to be the General Manager and 1/3 part owner of the business. Besides that the driving range was poorly taken care of. I had a hard time finding a mat with a tee on it.

Visitor Review 4

• Reviewed: 2005
• By: Eric
• Overall Rating (1-5): 1
• Maintenance: 1
• Creativity: 2
• Price: 2
• Fun: 1
• Difficulty: 3 (Average)

This course should be closed down. They never clean the course, weeds are grown amuck, bricks falling down, the water smells like a urinal, the course is poorly drained. I can't believe someone would actually think this place is any good. I would rather weed my sidewalk.

Visitor Review 5

• Reviewed: 5/2007
• By: portraitartist
• Overall Rating (1-5): 1
• Maintenance: 1
• Creativity: 2
• Price: 2
• Fun: 1
• Difficulty: 3 (Average)

I took the family out to play a little mini golf. As we drove into the complex, the batting cages and driving range looked great, however, after paying our entrance fee we found that the course is best described as forgotten. It seemed that it had not been maintained at all....torn greens, loose bricks, rotted wood, and to top it off, what looked like rotten water shooting out of a fountain. I have never seen a dump like this and reported it to the town building inspector. My review: stay away. good luck

CT Life Article

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

Unlike Blue Fox Walk and Hidden Valley, Club Golf has some of the bells and whistles one expects to find at a miniature golf course. Obstacles and themes include a loop-de-loop, narrow barn and a shipwreck hole with buried treasure.
There are, however, a variety of more subdued barriers such as hills, depressions and sand traps.
In fact, there are so many of these that a small variation in shot could be the difference between a hole in one or two or five (the stroke limit).
“We focus on a course that’s still fun for the older crowd but not punishing to the kids,” said Tony Hayes, Club Golf manager.
Like many of the area courses, Club Golf has a running stream of water. There is also a rock waterfall structure in the center.
”There are courses out there that are beautiful. But then, you go to one of the old classics that look like heck. But they’re packed with people because it’s fun,” said Jeff Marholin, a contractor who was hired to help revamp the course. “This has the look of those nice courses and it’s fun.”
Hayes said the course’s renovation – which costs approximately $250,000 – includes batting cages, a practice putting green, a new arcade and new greens on all 18 holes. There will be a new hole where golfers simultaneously put their balls on a track and watch them race to the finish line – no golf skill required.
Hayes added that about one third of the holes will be changed and that landscaping will also be improved.
“We have 50 yards of mulch coming in. This place hasn’t been mulched in years,” said Hayes, who started in May and estimates the renovation to be completed by early July.
The facility already has a year-round, double decked, driving range and offers lessons via a full-time Professional Golfers’ Association professional.
Its extracurricular components resemble more of the ones found at a regular golf course. The inside, which features a wooden floor with tables and a television, has a snack bar that includes steamed hot dogs and hard ice cream.
The Vaidya family visited the course over July 4th weekend, when many of them played mini golf for the first time.
“It’s great fun, especially when you come in a group,” said Anirudha Vaidya, who lives in Long Island.
And the location, about a mile from I-84 and the Buckland Hills Mall, is tough to beat.
“All the pieces to the puzzle are here. We just have to put it together,” Hayes said.

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.)