mini-golf

Jeff and I finally returned to Eaglequest in Coquitlam to play 18 holes of mini golf for the first time in a few years. It was fun!

The weather was nice–sunny, but not overly hot (around 25?). Being a Sunday, it was quite busy, and we did have a family eventually catch up to us, but let them play through, and it was fine otherwise. We never felt rushed. The kids were playing in that style little kids favour for golf: Everyone hit their balls one after the other, then general chaos all over the hole until mom goes, and they clear out and move on. It’s fun to watch–for a time.

As for us, we usually end up being only a stroke or so apart, with Jeff often taking the edge, but I was in rare form today!

Technically, we both got a hole in one, Jeff on Hole 2 and me on Hole 13. I say technically because every hole has a Hard and Easy option and being hardcore mini golfers, Jeff suggested we go for the Hard holes. Jeff’s hole in one came when he accidentally sank his first shot into the Easy hole on Hole 2. Whoops! Mine was the normal way on Hole 13, which proved to be lucky for me.

I usually start strong and fall apart toward the end, but this time I started out with my worst hole – a par 5 on Hole 1, then stayed pretty consistently around par after that. Jeff seemed to have a knack for making the ball veer just slightly left and won the Most Balls to Catch The Rim Then Go Rolling Past it Like a Rocket using Gravity to Slingshot it Out of Orbit Award. He corrected this after a while, so we both finished showing off the awesome form we knew we were capable of. You know, as hardcore mini golfers.

Here’s the official™ scorecard:

A view of (part of) the course:

A short video of me almost getting a hole in one on Hole 17:

Jeff getting ready to tee up at Hole [unknown because I cut the sign off, oops]:

I thought it had been three years since I last went mini-golfing, but a quick check reveals it was in May 2012, over six years ago. Egad. I was so much younger back then. Six years, at least.

Back then Jeff and I played to a near-tie, with him edging me with a score of 61 to my 62. It was all in fun, of course, so the score doesn’t really matter.

Still, I yearned for revenge. Or to at least get a few more holes at par, managing a mere 4 of 18 last time.

And so we set off yesterday, back to Eaglequest Coquitlam. The stream was curiously a little healthier now, and there was even a small working fountain. I say this was curious because we are in the middle of a heatwave when I wouldn’t have been surprised to see everything dry as the hardpan in Death Valley. It was about 33ºC, so we were grateful for the shade trees. Fortunately, mini-golf is not exactly a high-impact workout, so the sweating mainly came from it just being really, really hot.

And good news! I managed to score par on 6 of 18 holes, proving dumb luck can count for something. Two of these were actual holes-in-one. Sure, it’s just mini-golf and I wasn’t going to win millions of dollars and then get caught in some kind of sensational scandal after, but it was still neat to watch those two balls plunk down into the cup after just one swing. Unlike Hole 14, where it took 7 swings (Jeff waited until Hole 16 for his 7-shot).

In the end I did get my revenge, with a score of 56 to Jeff’s 61. Yes, after six years away, Jeff returned to the course and got the exact same score. It’s a little weird. I improved, though I have no rational explanation for this.

But it was fun. We shot video, though Jeff is apparently a videophobe, so I only shot him playing through part of one hole. He captured my entire stellar 7-shot performance on Hole 14, though. I may post the video at some point. For now you may observe me missing on my fourth shot.

And the official™ scorecard:

Back when I was unable to gamble legally I accompanied my parents on summer vacation to, among others places, Reno, Nevada. As Mom and Dad were not heartless monsters, they found fun things for us underage types to do or better yet, activities we could all indulge in that didn’t involve one-armed bandits, roulette tables and such.

One of those activities was mini-golf at a stupendously elaborate mini-golf course outside the city. In retrospect it may have been outside of Las Vegas but I remember it definitely being in Nevada. Each hole was elaborately dressed with windmills and tunnels, hills, chutes, all the zany obstacles you expect at a deluxe mini-golf course. I’d always wanted to play again and finally, over 30 years later, I did just that today with Jeff.

The course we played on is far more modest than that Nevada wonderland — the 18 holes at Eaglequest Coquitlam (by coincidence we did indeed see an eagle up high in the sky overhead) are all rated at par 2 and while they feature a variety of layouts, slopes and obstacles (rocks or pilings) they’re pretty basic as mini-golf goes. But while the presentation wasn’t quite up there (including a mostly non-functional stream that was barely filled with some stagnant water) the holes were still zany good fun.

Neither of us managed a hole-in-one though we both had our moments. Neither of us managed par very often, either. 😛 I scored a solid par 5 on four holes, while Jeff took 6 shots on a pair. In the end we finished a mere point apart, with Jeff edging me for the victory 62-61.

Here’s the scorecard to make it official. I have added the date using advanced computer technology:

The weather was downright balmy, with temperatures in the low 20s, quite unusual for the first half of May. It felt as if we had been transported two months ahead and landed directly in summer. The best part of the game is neither of us landed balls in the stagnant water or on someone’s head.

We shall do this again. And then for a real good laugh, we may try real golf. I can already smell the sand traps.