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The easiest thing to rate about this course is the atmosphere. From the very start you feel right at home in this family run business. Usually, we have nothing good to say about things in
Naugatuck, but this business is definitely one of the brighter spots. The people who own/run this course are very friendly. After our first round of golf during the evening, we stopped to talk with them
and they seemed very interesting in our little tour and what we had to say about other courses. They too play many of the other courses in the area and it was thanks to this conversation that we learned
about how they change the course a little bit from year to year to add variety. This allows them to keep the course relatively fresh from year to year and sets them apart from most other courses that
remain static or show signs of aging. The only large deficiency in the atmosphere that we noted was out of the hands of the owner completely. Unfortunately for them, across the street there is a very
powerful streetlight that ruins a bit of the "moonlight" atmosphere that the course is trying to obtain. We also noticed that in a couple of areas the mats didn't quite mesh to each other, causing there
to be a small, yet usually unobtrusive ridge.
Then there is the difficulty of the course. This was a very hard score to give because of the way a couple of us played that evening. On the one hand there are some difficult holes on this course, such as
the windmill one and one that required some well placed banking. In addition, in the dark one can't see many of the bumps and ridges that fill many of the holes. On the other hand, two of us both shot at
or under par the two times we made it around during the night. What it really comes down to is that the pars for some holes are set a bit two high and there is a decent balance of hard and easy holes on
the course. I'd say playing at night probably adds 3-5 strokes to the score you'd normally get during the day. One last note is that there are some sections where the wall is a bit low, making it very
easy to putt the ball out, but thankfully these are kept to a minimum.
Finally, we move onto the creativity of the course. As far as the holes go, there are a couple of different holes, such as putting through a boat, but for the most part the holes are standard fare. The
course does get a couple of bonus points though for the "Moonlight Golf" idea, which I have never heard of before and turned out to be very fun. All in all, "Moonlight Golf" is definitely worth play at
least once if not many times during the summer. It's fun, cheap and you can kill a couple of hours doing it. Don't forget to check back here for a review of the course during the day. Until then I would
still suggest you play it no matter what time it is because the foundation of this course is solid fun.
2002 Update
This summer we played "Moonlight" Golf again, and we have nothing but good things to say about the course. This year, they changed the course a bit, adding a jump over a fountain of water, which is kind
of hard because the bubbling water is right in your line of sight of the hole. A few holes were moved around and obstacles were placed in different areas, giving it the fresh look we talked about in our
first review. We also failed to mention in our first review is that there is a hole which had a motorboat as its central feature. You putt into it as the first part of the hole and the ball goes through
one of three tubes on the side of the boat to a landing below where the actual hole resides. It is by far one of the most creative holes we've seen at a course. Again, we also had a very pleasant chat
with the owner and his love of mini-golf really shows in the effort he puts into making the course fun and entertaining. As of yet, we still don't have a day-time review of the course, but hope to by the
end of the summer. After playing this course again, we still fully endorse our rating and suggest that you get out and play it. If you can only get to it once, though, I would definitely suggest the
"Moonlight" Golf because it's definitely a fun couple of hours. (As an end note, the "Moonlight" Golf is currently only being done on the last weekend of the month for the summer.)
Pat Sheridan (2002), The Putting Penguin
Best score reported:
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