Puttstars Mini Golf Master Course – Harrow, UK

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Reviewed by Mr. Tee

Played on June 5, 2023

During the pandemic, I attended a virtual conversation on the state of mini golf in the time of COVID that included our pal Richard Gottfried of the Crazy World of Mini Golf Tour and the head of mini golf operations at Puttstars.  This put the UK chain of family entertainment centers (FECs) on my radar before our first trip to the UK in June 2023. As we plotted out all of the courses we were going to play in and around London, Puttstars remained of interest despite the Harrow location being a decent-length train ride outside of the city center. Since we were already heading in that direction to play the original Puttshack location, we opted to make the trek west out to the St Georges Shopping Centre to try out another version of tech-infused mini golf.

Rating

The biggest reason we opted to play the Puttstars in general was due to the intriguing and colorful photos of their courses on their website. It was hard to assess which holes were at this location but everything looked intriguing from afar. On our glance at the courses, we were pleased with our decision to make the journey.

We started with The Master course and were immediately interested in seeing how their Puttshack-like unconventional scoring with a tech (aka no scorecard) focus worked. Unlike Puttshack, players manually entered their scores on digital screens after they played each hole. The unique twist Puttstars offers is that players can use multipliers (aka jokers) up to two times each round of 9 holes. We only played each course once and didn’t get a sense of how exactly the point system worked in the moment but ultimately, you benefited by choosing to use the jokers on holes where you thought you could get your lowest scores. You can find a full description of the scoring rubric here and the details of the system below in the “Nerdy Notes” section. I’m glad I took photos of the scores because otherwise, I would not have had a document for the results. They typically come via email but we never got ours.

As I mentioned earlier, the holes were all visually appealing. The gameplay design was creative and fun. We were especially intrigued by the hole with the multiple cups that changed from red to green while you played. Red cups affected your score negatively. First time seeing that modifying concept and loved it. Sadly, several of the other holes had fun-looking paths to the cup but in most courses, the hole didn’t reward players for hitting the ball down the path best aligned with the cup. This was especially unsatisfying on the Ferris Wheel-themed hole because it was one of the better-looking holes we’ve played with that theme. A bit more play testing and a few tweaks to the gameplay and this course (and The Rookie course) would be considered for our highest rating tier of hole-in-one.

 

Made it to the upper level of the mall to the Puttstars
First 9-hole course we tackled at Puttstars
Great photo opp and a decent playing hole
You score each hole at the following hole
Racing the ball down the tracks to the cup. None seem to lead to a reliable ace
Basketball and Pop-a-shot fan so this hole was a slam dunk for me

 

This hole had a lot of fun paths to the cup but none of them worked correctly
Green holes = better score, Red holes = worse score. The lights changes so timing is everything.
A fun Ferris Wheel that didn’t function great and didn’t give either of us a hole-in-one
and in some cases it dumps us out far from the hole
This half-pipe hole felt very similar to the hole at many Puttshack locations
Big, colorful and fun
Pink Putter standing next to the hole to give you a sense of scale
Another hole that is a good in concept but doesn’t play consistently and can be frustrating
Unconventional scoring where the high score is the ideal result

Puttstars Harrow Mini Golf Website

St Georges Shopping Centre, Harrow HA1 1AS, United Kingdom

Comments

Fun and playful design
Unique scoring/gameplay
Vibrant color schemes on the holes
Gameplay was inconsistent and rarely rewarded skill shots

Competitive note

Given the large number of shoot-through obstacles and gameplay design coupled with unconventional scoring, it wouldn’t see

Nerdy Notes

  • The facility has 2 9-hole courses. No par listed.
  • Prices range from £6.75 (adult) to £5.75 (under 16) with various discounted rates for seniors, groups, students and families
  • Facilities also feature a full bar, arcade, pool tables, and diner
  • Most of the holes are not accessible to those using a wheelchair or handicapped
  • Unique point scoring system enabled by tech but requires manual entry by competitors. Scoring: Putts are turned into points: Hole in 1 = 1,000, Hole in 2 = 800, Hole in 3 = 600, Hole in 4 = 400, Hole in 5 = 200, Hole in 6+ = 100. Every player will get two jokers per game. Jokers multiply your points by 2. To play your joker, you need to select it on the tablet before you take your shot on that hole. If you don’t use your jokers, you’ll lose them and miss out on extra points!

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