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Ocean Beach Park
1225 Ocean Avenue
New London, CT
(860) 447-3031
Toll-free: (800) 510-7263
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Our Review | Visitor Review

Our Review

• Last Reviewed: 7/31/2002
• By: Chris (MiniGolf CT Staff)
• Overall Rating (1-5): 3
• Maintenance: 3
• Playability: 4
• Price: 3
• Fun: 4
• Difficulty: Average

Update 7/27/07: The review below was done five years ago. I recently received an e-mail from the general manager of the Ocean Beach course, stating:
I hope you will stop by and take another look at our course. We have been working hard at restoring all the park, and have finally started putting some effort into the mini golf course ... I think you will be pleased with the course and its improvements. We did try to keep the original style, as this is one of the old classics, but have worked on the greens, etc etc.
Best Regards,
Dave Sugrue
General Manager
Ocean Beach Park
I will make an effort to review this course again before the summer is out. Until then, I present the five-year-old review. ~ Christopher

Ocean Beach Park in New London is an expansive “fun park” where the excellent beach is only one of the attractions. In this review, however, I am concentrating only on the miniature golf course. What I found wasn’t great.

It was obvious from the condition of the greens and green borders that this course had not had much maintenance, despite the recent increase in price to play by a dollar. The landscaping also left something to be desired.

A number of holes were nearly identical to holes at Saybrook Point Miniature Golf, but the “Double Trouble” hole played differently here. Instead of the back (guaranteed) hole landing you right near (or in) the hole, it puts you out in a corner, as it should.

The “Moby Dick” hole I recently complained about has been improved, but a little too much. Instead of getting stuck at the bottom of the pipe, both my playing partner and I had automatic hole-in-ones. All you have to do is hit it toward the hole in the whale’s mouth. Also, the whale has a blowspout that usually sprays a few greens with water, which was really cool. Now there’s only a trickle, probably for water conservation. It looks really pathetic.

Many holes had greens that were in poor quality. Some had patches around the green, and others had many small divots. Some of the retainer walls around the greens were also showing wear.

The 18th hole has an automatic ball return. There is a fence with a gate surrounding the course but not the club selection table or the “clubhouse” (where you pay and get the balls).

To conclude, the course is not great. There are much better choices for miniature golf courses, as well as much more maintained courses. Interesting to note: the hardest hole in terms of par was on 17. Hole 18 was a fairly easy Par 2.

One other note: You must pay a parking fee of around $10 to enter the park itself, so it makes little sense to go to Ocean Beach simply for the mini golf.

Visitor Review

• Reviewed: 7/8/2005
• By: Juan
• Overall Rating (1-5): 1
• Maintenance: 1
• Creativity: 1
• Price: 4
• Fun: 1
• Difficulty: Average

Excerpts from the visitor's description: "The grass was pretty much dead, the windmill ran out of wind (even though it was motorized), and the big giant whale was on its last limbs of life. The holes were pretty generic, and with some of the generic courses the scenery really matters because it can make the whole experience seem better. I must say the price was quite cheap ($1.01 on monday nights)."

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.)