Crazy golf with neon fun at Junkyard Golf Oxford

As I’ve mentioned before we love a bit of mini or crazy golf. If we see a course anywhere we’ve got to give it a go. N was on a mission to beat me though he managed it the other day at Cotswold Country Park and beach so it looks like it’s a downhill battle for me from this point forward. Every time I go to Oxford to the Westgate Centre I always fancy a game of Junkyard Golf but have never had the opportunity. This holidays I suggested it to N and he jumped at the chance.

There are a few Junkyard Golf locations around the UK and the Oxford one has been in place since the Westgate was built. If you’re going with kids the one thing to do is check before you go about the hours that children can enter. In the Oxford one, children can’t go on a Saturday and they can only play from 2 til 5 on other days. So it’s fairly limiting, especially given one whole day is out on the weekend. Only opening at 2 even without the restrictions for children, means there’s a fairly limited time to play anyway.

Luckily we booked tickets the day before and I would definitely advise doing this. With Oxford Junkyard Golf there are 3 courses to choose from and you can do one or all. So when you book you choose which one you want to do and pay for that.

What’s annoying is that there isn’t a child cost option. There is a student option but it requests that they have a student card and this obviously doesn’t include schoolchildren. So you end up paying full price. I think it’s a bit of a cheek given that restricting the time so much for children and it’s not like like there’s any reason in the daytime for children not to be there. So I do think it’s a little strange.

Courses are only 9 holes, and each course costs £7 or £8 depending on whether it’s off peak or peak time. It can turn out quite expensively if you want to do more than one course. I used to think the St Nicholas Park posh Golf is expensive at a similar price each but you get 18 holes for that.

When I booked the night before there were only 3 spaces left in the slot I wanted on one course and only two spaces left on another course. Depending on what time you want, I definitely recommend booking. That said when we turned up, we were 20 minutes earlier than our slot and we were still able to go in at that time. I suppose they only worry about it when it gets really busy.

Junkyard Golf Oxford is a lot of fun. It’s like a disco with lots of neon lights, funky decor or and and obviously a golf course made out of a load of junk.

When you arrive, you go up to the Caddy Shack and they will give you your wristband or book you in if you’ve not already paid. There’s a selfie photo booth if you want, then you can head to the course that you’ve booked. They make sure there’s a bit of time in between each group of people going round, but there’s plenty of places to sit and you can always have a drink if there’s a longer wait. We didn’t have to wait for long as the place had only just opened and there were only 2 groups in front of us.

The golf course is very compact, and surprising given it’s inside and they’ve managed to cram 3 golf courses in to one venue. It does mean you don’t get much room to swing a club. I found much of the time I was having to hit in reverse. This was my main excuse for losing to N by a couple of shots as he’s a bit smaller so can fit his backside in a smaller gap to hit the correct way round.

We did the course called Gary ( the other two are Pablo and and Bozo. One is based on a circus theme the other is based on an environmental junkyard theme). The holes all have fun signage and tell you the par number. One hole on the Gary course you even got to slide down the slide after hitting your ball down.

Some holes were harder than others as expected and the neon aspect added a bit more fun. There is some great decor, especially when you got into the last three holes area. Brilliant if you wanted to do any Instagram selfies.

N loved that his trainers, wristband and golf club all lit up dayglow in the UV lighting. if you’re sensitive to light or are susceptible to seizures, then junkyard golf is possibly not the place for you.

There was background music playing but this wasn’t too loud during the day. I don’t know how loud it would get in the evening which I guess is when the bar comes into play. There is a small bar downstairs as well as a larger one upstairs. It’s handy as you play the holes there are barrel tables you can leave your drinks as you play.

A round of golf took around 30 minutes. They say allow 40 minutes if you’re booking more than one course so that time sounds about right.

We really enjoyed playing at Junkyard Golf Oxford. The decor, dark atmosphere and lighting really made it a lot more fun than just playing on a course outside. We will definitely be back because we want to play on the other two courses as well. I think it would be great to take a few friends as a children’s party treat as well, a bit of golf followed by the cinema and then a meal would be great for N’s next birthday.

There are other Junkyard Golf locations around the UK, so worth checking out. Just check the website in advance for booking and times for family to play.

Have you ever visited any Junkyard Golfs?