*Closed – Last update 7/3/2024*
Son Siam
Mini Golf Return
to Connecticut Page
(formerly
Tin Cup Mini Golf)
Corner of RT
1 and Rt 154
Mill Rock Rd. E
Old Saybrook, CT 06475
(860) 388-5400
Price: $6.00
Par: 45
2008 Ratings 2013
Ratings
Difficulty: 7 Difficulty: 7
Creativity: 8 Creativity: 6
Atmosphere: 5 Atmosphere: 3
2008 Review
Tin Cup is located behind an Italian restaurant at the intersection of Rt. 1 and Rt. 154. It’s a pretty average course. The people were nice and it generally looked good, but it did have some major flaws. The bricks along the edge of the course are arranged poorly, and the ball ricochets off them in a way that is less than helpful. The mats are also a bit worn and not flat in many places. The tee-off area has the rubber pads, which are not the best place to start because it limits the possible first shot a person can take and creates strange bounces as the ball comes off the mat. There are 2 holes on the course where the putter has the option to put the ball into 2 different holes to advance it to a lower part of the hole. The problem with this is that one of the holes dumps the ball directly into an out-of-bounds area. This would cause the putter to add an extra stroke to put the ball in-bounds. One would have to make sure they investigated where each hole leads before teeing-off. The course does have several hole designs that we had not seen before in adventure style courses and with the use of sand traps and water hazards some of the holes are quite difficult and require much planning for good scores. However, Pat did manage to get his name to the top of the posted leader board with a score of 44. This course would be worth playing if you were in the area, but it’s not worth going out of your way to play.
2013 Review
This course is in the same location but now it’s a Thai restaurant that runs the business versus and Italian one. A lot of the criticisms we have from playing here before still stand as they have not done much in the way of updating the course. If anything it is in worse condition than before. Before we get into those details, we should mention there are a few things we like about the course. The course continues to have some interesting designs making it a little more creative and harder than some (Pat didn’t quite shoot a 44 this time around). It has some kitsch and local color (there’s a rickshaw along with touting the “real trains” as a “hi-lite” of the course). There are now also some math problems on the starting mats which lead to the hole number (so 6x2 would be on the mat indicating hole number 12) and the music is cheerful. The scorecard is colorful and names all the holes as well.
Unfortunately there are plenty of drawbacks to this course too. It still has the holes that lead to nowhere which are kind of frustrating (it’s much better when the secondary hole in a two tier gives you a worse lie, not just making you take a stroke). The carpets are in very tough condition as are many of the bricks around the holes (many of which are loose or missing). Several of the posts around the course look like they are rotting and a couple of the fences are starting to fall down. We’ve mentioned the rubber mats previously and the putters were rubber as well and were sticky in your hands when playing (at least the course did provide hand sanitizer for when you were done). There is a HUGE problem with water on this course, especially hole 9 which goes under the cave. It hadn’t rained in a while and the water issues all seemed to be coming from the waterfall on that hole which turned hole 9 into a lake (you can see our video on YouTube). In addition the water on that hole was also running over the electric lights and on other holes the water was splashing directly onto other electrical items (outlets, junctions of extension cords). There was also a water pump laying by a hole with a “Hot!! Do not touch” warning hastily scribbled on it. As a result we had some concerns about the overall safety of the course.
We would continue to recommend playing if you are in the area since there are few other courses around, though be wary of some of the issues the course has. It’s also a course that with a few solid days of maintenance could be very good, especially at only $6. However, if it continues to fall into disrepair the positives on this course won’t be able to keep people coming back.
Reviewed by: Pat, Mandy, Putt and Duffer
Reviewed in 2008 & 2013
Course Pictures (click to enlarge)
2013 Course Pictures
Map
Price: $6.00
Par: 45
Difficulty: 1
Creativity: 1
Atmosphere: 1
I went to the mini golf location today and was very disappointed. Its too bad that the only location around this area for mini golf during the week is horrible. The course is so run down, I had to go into the hut myself to get clubs, one worker cane out right when we started and was leafblowing the course! I had to ask him to stop as I couldn't even hear my kids! He didn't understand English son that was even more challenging. I spent $16 for me and my two boys to walk around on green turf and see nothing of value. We lost balls and had to climb through crap and under holes in fencing to get them back. Weeds were overgrown everywhere and its just plain neglected. No one should have to go there and be as disappointed as we were. The website pictures from 2013 need to be taken down. Free icecream, its a sample size. Absolute waste. I feel bad because they could really make a good business there but even the restaurant outside looks awful.
Reviewed by: Anonymous
Reviewed in 2016
Visitor Review Picture (click to enlarge)
