Your Source for Connecticut Miniature Golf Reviews

MiniGolf CT Reviews

Riverfront Miniature Golf & Ice Cream
218 River Road
Farmington, CT (Unionville section)
(860) 675-4653
Map

Our Review | Putting Penguin &trade Review | Visitor Review

Our Review

• Last Reviewed: 2003
• By: Chris (MiniGolf CT Staff)
• Overall Rating (1-5): 5
• Maintenance: 4
• Playability: 5
• Price: 4
• Fun: 5
• Difficulty: Average

This review was entered from the scoring sheet a long time after the visit, so unfortunately I can't be very descriptive about the course. But in short, it is an excellent course located along the equally scenic Farmington River, and the two complement each other to make your miniature golf experience wonderful.

The Putting Penguin &trade Review
Click the link to see the review on their website.

• Last Reviewed: 2001
• By: Putting Penguin staff
• (All ratings out of 10)
• Difficulty: 8
• Creativity: 4
• Atmosphere: 7

As far as atmosphere goes on this course, you can’t get much of a better surrounding. The Farmington River runs right by the outer edge of the course muck like, but much bigger than, the river running past the Olde Sawmill course. The course also has a wonderful new carpet that, when matched with the rest of the landscaping, produces a pleasant sight to the eye. However, this course also lacks a tee spot on the nice carpets, which makes it tough to have a uniform starting spot and is a general dislike of our rating group. Other than these major point, there is nothing hat really adds or subtracts to the atmosphere except for the proper upkeep of the course which is always a plus.

Like about half the courses we play, creativity here relies on the use of different contoured land, small obstacles such as bricks and rocks, and the use of water. In particular, this course relies heavily on integrating its water system with ponds to avoid, streams to jump and waterwheels to roll your ball down. On about half the holes that use water, it is used as a penalty, whereas on the other half your ball will still end up on the carpet, albeit not in the greatest of locations.

On the whole, this course is on the difficult side. There are some easy hole and with a good string of luck or skill, it is quite possible to do well. Most holes have a couple of ways to approach them, giving you the choice between easy but possibly more strokes or hard with possibly less strokes. This is the way a good course should be designed. One particularly nasty hole had a cup on the top of a bump. Missing the cup still gave you a good run at the actual cup, but if you hit the first cup you were practically guaranteed a hole-in-one. The only real deduction is that there are a few areas in which one should hit the ball hard but doing so will likely result in hitting it off the mat because of the way the edge is designed.

All told, we ran across another good mini-golf. It definitely is one of the better courses we’ve played, although not quite as good as some of them. It’s only about 5-10 minutes down the road from Farmington Mini-Golf, and playing both those courses in the same day will surely provide a for some pleasant fun.

Webmaster's note: The Putting Penguin is another website with miniature golf course reviews. They have graciously allowed us to repost some of their Connecticut reviews, as long as credit was given to them.

Visitor Review 1

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

Riverfront is a beautiful putting course laid out in such a way that it actually resembles a 'real' golf course. Very well maintained and with the Farmington river running past on the back nine, it is one of my favorite courses in CT.

Some of the holes, including hole #1, are straigtfoward shots that can reward the player with a hole-in-one fairly easily but most have subtle and some not-so-subtle obstacles to overcome before your ball reaches the cup. No windmills but water hazards, uphill putts and even one or two holes where you cannot see the cup from your tee position all add up to a challenging round of putting.

The novice player may be a bit intimidated on a few holes but shouldn't be discouraged as some holes are fairly straighforward. The veteran or pro putter will be delighted with this well-kept course and sometimes even frustrated on a few holes but attaining par and below is certainly feasible at Riverfront. It just takes a little practice, and isn't that part of the fun?

Riverfront offers a great indoor (air conditioned) snack bar with delicious ice cream in many forms. They even offer free cold water and cups. The restroom is unisex but very sanitary. Parking is ample but a bit tight on a busy day or evening.

This is one of my family's favorite putting courses in CT and we plan to return often.

Visitor Review 2

• Reviewed: 7/12/2006
• By: Jeremy Nightingale
• Overall Rating (1-5): 5
• Maintenance: 5
• Creativity: 5
• Price: 4
• Fun: 5
• Difficulty: 4 (Above Average)

The course is on ROUTE 4 in Farmington,CT on the Farmington River. IT is open 7 days a week 10-10. The course is my favorite course played out of all New England better yet the Eastern seaboard. It is designed and operated by a single family and is fairly new. The architechteral integrity is astonishing on each and every hole making it possible always for a Hole in 1 and very possible for a 8. This is all about strategy and homecourt advantage plays in to the equation. I love the atmosphere created by the landscape design with the River Rock and manicured grass playing a prodominant roll. The front 9 is like a different course than the back 9 and is a truly intelligent and practical ran establishment. Wish everyone the best of Luck and if you get a Hole in 1 on hole 11 let me know because that is the last hole left for myself. Yes I Love RiverFront!

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.)