*As of last update (June 21,
2014) this course is closed*
Connecticut
Golf Land Miniature Golf Return to Connecticut
page
95 Hartford Tpke
Vernon Rockville, CT 06066-5258
(860) 643-2654
Price: $6.75 Other Activities: Arcade, Pitch & Putt, Batting Cages
Par: 41
2001 & 2005 Ratings 2011
Ratings
Difficulty: 4 Difficulty: 6
Creativity: 3 Creativity: 3
Atmosphere: 3 Atmosphere: 3
Golf Land is a complex where you might have had fun at before the age of ten. It consists of a miniature golf course, an arcade, go-carts and an 18 hole pitch-and-putt. The pitch and putt is unique, but we didn’t get a chance to play it. The rest of the stuff though is nothing really more than a place for parents to bring their kids on a Saturday afternoon to get them out of the house. This being the case, the mini-golf course is less than stellar. Although it does rank a bit higher than some of the courses we’ve played, it’s quite obvious that making a really good course and making sure it is kept in good condition isn’t high on the priority list. This course features a list of defects without nearly enough positives to balance. However, it was good enough to keep out of the very bottom group of courses.
There are two good points that are worth mentioning off the top. The first is that the section of wall behind every cup is made of brick instead of the wood that lines the rest of the hole. This is good because it provides a surface which creates better ricochets. Second, their obstacles are for the most part well kept. The funny thing about them is that they label every one as to what it is. On the windmill there is a sign that says “Windmill”, on the covered bridge a sign that says “Covered Bridge” and so on. There about a half-dozen obstacles that are labeled. Any other obstacles are just jumps and the like. Also, one of the obstacles is a tower that is located in the area which gives the course a nice touch of local color.
There are three major defects we saw on the course in relation to the obstacles. The first is that the windmill blades don’t reach ball height, so you can hit it underneath no matter where the blade is. We found this same problem at another course we played. Second, on one of the holes that has a little jump on it, the wood on the end of the jump is rotting away making for some strange ball movements. Third, on one of the final holes that used the two tier system, the ball got consistently stuck at the end of the tunnel leading from the top tier to the bottom. It was almost impossible to get the ball through, which means that you didn’t have a shot at coming near the cup. Hopefully they will fix this problem before long. The other major drawback here is that this course had the bad type of cups for its holes. This is the type of cup where the rim is huge, making rimming out and bouncing out commonplace. On one hole, I was even robbed of a hole-in-one when the ball stopped on a divot in the rim of the cup.
Overall, this course is borderline between being mediocre and being terrible. If the management does decide to put a few dollars into minor repairs, this course will be, at the very least, decent. Thus, we will give it the benefit of the doubt for now, but warn you that this course is touch and go.
2005 Update
Not much has changed except the price on this course since
we first played it. They have added a
coat of paint and fixed up some of the obstacles, but the cups still stink and
some of the walls are definitely too low.
The course rating above still apply for the most part, and it definitely
ranks on the more mediocre end of the scale.
We still appreciate the bit of local color (although we are still
confused as to the existence of the
2011 Update
A few notes of update after playing this course six years later. First, we were thwarted in our attempt to replay the course the first time this year as they closed at 9pm on July 4th weekend. (Instead we visited Perfect Swing, about 10 minutes away). Once we did get to play the course we noticed they redid their carpets, using primarily purple carpets (and then red, yellow and pink when it looked like they ran out of purple). No matter what the color, all of the carpets were severely worn, are bumpy in many places and need replacing again. They continue to use the metal cups with the flat rims making it tough to sink putts. While it seemed like they fixed the issue with the two-tier hole, the rest of the obstacles are falling into disrepair. They also seemed to have added starting “mats” since the last time we played there. These consisted of strips of old green carpeting that extended over the start of the hole (see picture). Because they went over the metal plate at the beginning of the hole, every tee shot would bounce around (assuming you used the mats, which we eventually gave up on). It was just another in a series of poor design decisions at this course. It’s clear that management never will treat this course seriously and only offers it as part of the other activities. As a result we recommend you visit other courses in the area if you’d like to enjoy your round of minigolf.
Reviewed by: Pat, Mandy, Will, Shawn, Katie D., Scott and Putt
Reviewed in 2001, 2005 & 2011
Course Pictures (click to enlarge)
2011 Pictures
Note: Pictures of all 18 holes can also be found at our Flickr set for this course.
Map