Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Ripley’s Old MacDonald’s Farm Golf Part 1: "The Udder Course"

Note: For this entry, the BLACK text is Aaron speaking. The PINK text is Aunt Peg speaking. Also, as usual, you can click on the embedded photos to enlarge them.

Dear Aunt Peg:

Today we went to Ripley's "Old MacDonald's Farm Golf," in Sevierville, Tennessee. This was the surprise favorite of our trip.  Here you can see Old MacDonald and his dog Duke  positioned out in front, welcoming the guests.


  
We played this course over the next two days.  They have three courses, and you could play all three for $15.00.  The “Udder Course” (which was the cow theme) was considered the easy course;  the “Chicken Egg-spress” (which was the chicken theme) was considered the medium course; and the “Porky Putts” (which was the pig theme) was considered the difficult course.

    
You know, I am laughing so hard I’m practically falling off my chair.  This is ideal goofiness for minigolf, if you ask me!!

The first day we played  the “Udder Course” and “Porky Putts”.  It had just rained, so the astro-turf was wet.

To get in they gave you these neat tickets, and you scanned them and went through the turn-stile.  Dad liked the face on the ticket.


    
Geez, almost like riding the el!! 

They had a nice selection of putters.  They were my favorite type of clubs - the perfect weight.  The astro-turf was perfect, too.  The ball selection was mostly pastel.

    
Yeah, Aaron always likes to play with a RED ball.  Looks like he had to play with a pink!!

The “Udder Course.”



This course NEVER breaks its theme.  That’s what I loved about this course.  The first thing you notice, at the first hole, even, is that all of these cows are mooing at you really loudly.  It’s ridiculous.  And back there, in Old MacDonald’s shed, you can hear them hammering away at a project, occasionally yelling, “OW!  My thumb!”  And to top it all off, there’s a constant rendition of “Turkey in the Straw” being played through-out the course.  It was fun.

    
Man, I’m all good with the talking animals, but if I had to listen to Turkey in the Straw for a whole course, I’d be taking a shot-gun to the speakers.  And I’m a non-violent, Buddhist, vegetarian.  But, seriously, after living in the city of Chicago for 30 some years, and hearing those awful ice cream trucks playing “Turkey in the Straw” over and over and over all summer, I JUST don’t think I could stay on this course!!!  Good thing it was Aaron playing this without me!!!

Look at this clearly designated teeing-off spot.  The transition from the tee to the green was not completely smooth, though, which bothered Mom. It occasionally caused her ball to bounce upon hitting that division, leading to less-than-accurate putts.





I love Old MacDonald and Duke in the boat!!  Humans should take their companions on lovely outings like this!!  Yay!!

  
They had some pretty interesting holes, but even when they didn’t, the course’s ambiance was so much fun. These sheep would say “good shot!” every once in awhile.   It seemed like some holes actually had motion sensors to make the animals comment on your shot.  But on other holes, it seemed as if the animals just spoke periodically.

  
The right path on this goat hole became a water hazard!


This pig, as he crossed out the “country ham” sign, muttered “hasn’t anybody heard about turkey bacon?!"

  
Or SOY BACON!!!  I LOVE soy bacon!!!  I made some for my brother, Dave, while he was visiting the week before last!!  He said it tasted like a meat cracker.  Whatever that would be.   Also:  another big BUTT for our big BUTT blog!!!

When pigs fly!


  
These horses also commented on your shot.  This was one with a motion sensor.

 

 

The scarecrow father and son.  The scarecrow father was telling his son how to be a good scarecrow . . . and obviously not succeeding!

    
Don’t those look like the old Warner Brother’s cartoon crows??  Heckle and Jeckle??  Did these guys pay royalties on Heckle and Jeckle??

Snorkeling goose.  Or is it a duck?


   
Well, at least it’s not walking along the side of I-88!!!

Pigs on a see-saw!


  
Rabbits!

    
This looks like Evanston!!  Where we are over-run with suicidal bunnies!!  Seriously, if you bike at night, they’ll run right out in front of your bike!!  Watch out!!!

On hole 18, you got an automatic score of 1 no matter what.  But the question was whether or not you won a free game.  



We won three free games.  That was from three of us taking three shots each (one in each of our three games).  Dad won two games and I won one, allowing us to play a free fourth round.
 

Par:  39
Aaron:  45
Barb:  42
Paul:  45

Difficulty (1-6 putts, 6 putts being the most difficult):  2 putts
Rating (1-10 balls, 10 being the most wondrous):  8.5 balls.   I really loved this course.  I had a blast, plain and simple.

Coming soon:  Ripley’s Old MacDonald’s Farm Golf - “Porky Putts”

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