Club 18 – Stone Harbor, NJ

Played August 15, 2012

Reviewed by Mr. Tee

The Jersey Shore is a massive east coast summer destination that has loads of mini-golf options that allow you to avoid the orange faced morons that have come to define the area recently. Proof in point, Club 18, Tee Time I and Tee Time 2 all reside within one city block of each other. Sure, we’re mini-golf junkies, but getting our fix on the shore took about as much effort as turning your head in a particular direction.

Club 18 was the first of many above par courses we played on the shore. Multi-tiered mini-golf with a main theme of dinosaurs and a few other random holes including Eastern Island, a polar bear and a light house to round out the experience.

Rating

Birdie – This course was a childhood favorite of the Pink Putter in her annual travels with family to the Shore. Greeted by a large dinosaur overlooking the 3rd Avenue entrance, we knew the next 18 would truly set our Shore mini-golf adventure in to high gear. While this rating puts it in the same category as Tee Time 2, this was by far our best experience in Stone Harbor. The previous two rooftop courses we played were in the direct sunlight and it was a relief to not only find shade but fans blowing a mist of water. The difficulty was moderate with a very low course par that I struggled with. I was easily defeated by the lovely Pink Putter but enjoyed every minute of it.

 

T-Rex lords over you as you enter
Dinosaurs
Triceratops
The Pink Putter headed towards Easter Island & the massive T-Rex.
The T-Rex tries to devour Mr. Tee’s blue putter
Play through the bird of prey to reach the lower level
Top level of the course
Up the ramp & into the mouth for a free game

I’m a sucker for dinosaur themes in mini-golf courses and Club 18 delivered.

Pros

Multi-tiered play
Fun themes
Dinosaurs
No blaring top 40 music
Best option in Stone Harbor
Good use of pipes to connect the levels
Misting fan

Cons

Short holes
Play was too easy at times
Garbage smell from the nearby restaurant

Club 18 Facebook Page

This is the first review that we’ll be adding extra “Nerdy Notes” of interest. We’ve seen other blogs that take umbrage with the types of flags and putters. The Pink Putter and I are fans of the minutiae so if you aren’t, don’t scroll all the way down.

Nerdy Notes

  • 18 holes, Par 41
  • Cost: $6 (9am – 5pm) $8 (5pm – close)
  • No flags in the holes
  • Plain scorecard including rules and a handmade drawing on the front
  • Score card set up to allow pairs to compete head-to-head
  • Rubber covered putters
  • Metal (versus plastic) holes
  • The course offered custom painted balls (see their Facebook page for a few photos)
  • Lose ball on 18th hole
  • Hit it up on the ramp on the 18th and win a free game
  • Maintained tally board of the players who scored a hole-in-one on 18

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