on the town
The Sunday Age
Sunday November 29, 2009
Back in about 1991, I remember a family friend excitedly informing me that they had been given a blacklight light-globe for Christmas. Would I like to come over and "try" it? This essentially consisted of running around in a darkened room, screaming about how our teeth were glowing in the dark, and looking for brightly coloured things to "make glow". Then we all had a Zooper Dooper after the hysteria subsided.Blacklight's position as a pop-cultural phenomenon has more or less vanished (unless you count the occasional Zeitgeisty rave or DIY gig). After all, we've got the internet and IMAX movies now, so just how thrilling is it to see stuff glow in the dark at the flick of a switch? Well, as someone who still visits the "crystals and minerals" department at Melbourne Museum specifically to see the blacklit minerals glow, I can say: very.Fortunately, Mik and Julie of Family Fun Centres have brought Glow Golf - mini-golf that, well, glows in the dark - and it's a hoot.Up and running at Docklands' Harbour Town for a good part of the year, the "course" is indoors and is, compared with many mini-golf centres, not the most challenging course you'll ever play. It takes a good few holes to reach obstacles of any real difficulty, and most of the "greens" are flat. However, the experience at Glow Golf is unlike anything else.Inspired by mini-golf courses in the US, the proprietors have worked hard on their glowing wonderland, which is at turns baffling, hilarious and, ultimately, strangely intoxicating. Victoria is home to a number of similar labours of love - the Fairy Park, anyone? - so Glow Golf's sublime madness fits right in.As you move from hole to hole, the designs take in various Australian tourist destinations: the harbour lights, for example, and (what's left of) the Twelve Apostles. In the Great Barrier Reef room, a toothy shark, fangs glowing, hangs above your head as you whack a glowing golf ball around the room to the tune of whale songs.The piece de resistance, however, is the Daintree Rainforest room; as we entered (through old-fashioned "milk bar" plastic strip curtains), my golfing partner exclaimed, "Oh my god, we're in Avatar!" It's clear that the rainforest has benefited from the most time and effort, and the room is, well, magical. We spent more time staring at the trompe l'oeil wall paintings of mystical glowing forests than we did attempting to get a hole in one.The final few holes take in an Outback theme, where the course becomes a little more challenging (hitting a ball through the thunderbox, for example, or up the back of a ute). The 18th hole - which is still a work in progress and features tinsel, what looks like a glowing clothesline, and a flashing, er, hole - is truly one of the more existentially mystifying situations I have found myself in.Glow Golf combines plenty of things - mini-golf, blacklights, having fun with friends that doesn't involve alcohol - that have arguably fallen out of favour as time has passed, but that ends up being its biggest trump card. There's something lovely about returning to your daggier days, when all it took to thrill you was a few rounds of easy mini-golf and a glow-in-the-dark T-shirt, and we laughed the whole way through our game.It may not be a cerebral or even particularly stylish night out, but for sheer commitment to its wonderfully offbeat concept, Glow Golf is a hole-in-one in a million.THE FACTSWhere Level 1, shop 5, Star Crescent, Harbour Town, Docklands; Thursday 10am -9pm, Fri-Sat 10am-11pm (also open weekdays until 6pm)How much Adults $13, children $10, family $40Hint Wear something fluoro for the full '90s experience. Website glowgolf.com.au
© 2009 The Sunday Age
