Crystal Caves Mini Golf Return to Massachusetts page

790 Southbridge St
Auburn, MA 01501
(508) 832-0797

Price: $7.50

Par: 51 Other Activities: Ice Cream, batting cages

Difficulty: 5

Creativity: 7

Atmosphere: 8

Unfortunately for this course, they hold themselves out as “New England’s Most Fun & Beautiful Course.” We here at The Putting Penguin will disagree with that statement (having seen more than 50 New England courses), but we will agree that this is a fun and well maintained course, even if it isn’t the best in New England. The positives for this course is that it is very open, with a lot of room between the holes. With the two tone carpet on every hole, it is eye please and the first nine-holes are handicapped accessible. The overall play of this course is fairly average and they’ve worked in a few different hole designs into their adventure-style course, including a “dual-tee” layout that they advertise on the scorecard (although how its supposed to work isn’t al that clear. The best we could figure is that you could choose which way to go from based on which one looks easier/harder).

The negatives for this course was that there was a couple of sections where the “rough” ramped up out of bounds, and it was tough to tell if this was because of the aforementioned handicapped accessibility. Normally on course with this sort of access, they clearly define the rules for when the ball goes out of bounds in those areas. This was not the case on this course. Also, this course uses the dreaded metal rimmed cups, which drives us crazy because of the ease at which the ball slides by the rim of the holes. They also don’t give a very satisfying sound when the ball drops in the hole.

Also, we visited this course in late April, so it was tough to tell how good the water would look as it hasn’t been turned on yet. Overall though, it’s a nice course in an area that is lacking in courses in general and worth stopping by if you are in the Worcester area.

Reviewed by: Pat, Mandy and Putt

Reviewed in 2007

Visitor Review #1

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Visitor Review #1 (2008)

Price: $7.50

Par: 51 Other Activities: Ice Cream, batting cages

Difficulty: 7

Creativity: 3

Atmosphere: 7

When I was waiting to play the first hole I used the practice putting green. I should have known I was in for a surprise. Many of the greens were slanted so badly that speed wasn't a factor at this course. I usually try to putt my ball so that if I miss it will roll about a foot by the hole. Well, at this course it's pretty much impossible on half the holes. I also had a few putts that were going a perfect speed only they simply would not roll in because of the metal cups. I hated the
metal cups because when you play for break many times the ball will roll in the side but with the metal it just slid over. They also had the dreaded mound hole (probably my least favorite design) where if you miss the 1st putt it rolls 10 feet away.

Positive aspects of the course were the greens, the landscaping, and they had a nice ice cream parlor right next to it. The greens looked fairly new and they were only scuffed in a few places. The best feature of the course was definitely the landscaping though, they had big oak trees that provided nice shade, a very impressive waterfall that was cool to see, and they had a couple cave holes.

A good course for those just out to have a good time, but I wouldn't recommend to anyone who wants to work on their putting skills.

Reviewed by: Kyle

Reviewed in 2008