Bowling BRNO Venus Course – Brno, Czech Republic

Reviewed by Mr. Tee

Played June 6 – 15

In 2024, I was fortunate to be part of Team USA at the World Adventure Golf Masters (WAGM) in BRNO, Czech Republic. I knew going into it that there were 3 courses at the facility. I was most excited to see the Adam course. I was most curious about playing the Eve course with minigolf balls and trying to get a low score. The Venus (Venuše) course was the one I was most worried about. For the first time in the history of WAGM, the tournament would be played across two courses, and the Venus course was expected to be either the hardest or second hardest course played in this annual international adventure golf national team competition. I watched the video below of the course and got advice from players who had competed on the course about what types of minigolf balls I might need. I arrived early to BRNO to get in all the practice I could muster and still had/have a healthy fear of the course. The course record of 32)was set by local Jiří Kratochvil during WAGM. You can take a look at the full stats on the course to see how challenging it is to score par or below par on this course. I was thrilled to get a round of 40 during the tournament.

Rating

For some, this may be a controversial rating given how challenging and fussy this course is. This course is not for your casual mini golfer or putting enthusiast. This course features numerous holes where you’re not even trying to make a hole-in-one and you’re hoping to make a hard-breaking deuce or leave the ball in areas near the cup where you have an easy next putt. Throughout all of the time I was practicing at the course, I saw a handful of people from the general public on the course attempting to play a round with house putters and a golf ball. I don’t know if any of those groups ever finished because the course is so diabolically frustrating. The course seems to be modeled after the popular contoured pure-putting Popstroke courses. The big difference with this course is that there are a few granite plates that you can use to play rebound shots. The significant difference is the narrow room for error given the cup placements. On quite a few holes, also called lanes, you’re taking your first shot into a specific part of a white-turfed sandtrap below the cup to give yourself a chance at a 2 or a tap in 3. I watched many of the top competitive mini golfers from around the world get super frustrated with this course and had many challenging moments but I left the tournament feeling like I wanted to return to improve my score. This feeling and experience I had learning to play with specialized minigolf balls left me wanting to return and compete again at this incredible facility.

Double rainbow over one of the best mini golf facilities in the world

Venus is on the left side of the building when facing from the parking lot but you follow the sign from the clubhouse where you get your putters

View of front of half of course with myself and others getting practice early for WAGM

Middle of the course with Team Great Britain and an ominous sky

Rene navigating the lumps and humps to the cup

Following the same line to the cup as the locals

Robert using a bank off the left wall to direct the ball to the right side and into the cup

Slow play by the Swedish players has everyone taking a nap on the lanes

Teammate Danny Tatum with the tee shot on #7 that goes in the right bunker for a tough uphill breaking 2 and very small flat area to get the ball to stop

Simon Brown getting ready to take a look at the contours in advance of his next putt

Downhill putt with a limited flat area around the cup. Almost always putting out of a ditch

Team USA getting advice from Gunnar from Sweden

How Robert got the ball to stop on the hill is beyond me. That next putt would not be fun.

#14 on the right is one of the most treacherous holes I’ve ever played and only hole I’ve stroked out on in a major competition

Swedes working as a team on the shot from the left hand bunker on #14

Finnish team working on what to do when your ball slides down the hill below the cup which is easy to have happen given the small amount of flat space for the ball to sit down near the cup

Perspective of the area around the cup. You want to use a dead ball and hope it sticks close to the plate or it’s downhill and likely an uphill battle to get a 3

Štěpán down in the bunker on #16 about 1 foot below the cup

Two Czech coaches and the owner of the course, Vlastimil , try to assist junior competitor Štěpán on 17

Final hole is a doozy. Laying up in the right hand sandtrap for a difficult 2nd putt that if you over or under hit will lead you to stacking up strokes

Day 2 partners before we start on Venus. Robert from Sweden and Rene from Switzerland. We battled hard together on this course and had a lot of fun

Team USA (L to R): Paula Gay, Jeremy Inabinet, me, Lee Messinger, Danny Tatum, Vanette Block

Team USA with coure owner Vlastic at the indoor bowling alley

Cake version of the course from the opening ceremony

Additional photos in our Flickr album

Bowling BRNO website

Líšeňská 4515 /80, 636 00 Brno-Židenice, Czechia

Comments

Easily the hardest / most challenging mini golf course I’ve played to date
Several holes provide the potential for hitting the stroke limit (7)
Worry about the long-term viability of the course if the turf gets worn down / more fast
Course is best approached by utilizing a variety of minigolf balls
If you’re a casual putter or want a more fun course, I’d recommend the other two on site
Many of the ideal teeing off positions favor left-handed players
The 3 courses on this property make it one of the best mini golf facilities in the world for competitive mini golf

Nerdy Notes