Safari Golf Back to Connecticut Page

2340 Wilbur Cross Hwy
Berlin, CT 06037-4021

(860) 828-9800

Cost: $5.75

Par: 41

2001 Ratings 2005 Update

Difficulty: 3 Difficulty: 2

Creativity: 2 Creativity: 6

Atmosphere: 7 Atmosphere: 8

Although not nearly as bad as its Berlin Turnpike neighbor (Putter’s Paradise), this course has much to be desired. However, it also has some good points which makes playing it bearable. We’ll start with the good first. The atmosphere gets a decent rating because the course is aptly named. There are many animals and waterfalls placed nicely around the course and it looked like there was some thought put into them. Although a few of the animals need another paint job, they look nice overall. There is also good use of rocks throughout the course, whether it be part of the course design or as part of a well made rock wall bordering the small pond. The cups also make a nice sound when you sink a putt, but as will be pointed out below, there is a major problem with most of the cups on the course.

Onto the bad. We start here with the creativity and difficulty of the holes. There is none of either. The holes rely mostly on rock obstacles or positioning of the hole, and they are very simple. Scores would be very low on this course if not for the next point, which is that many of the cups are placed so that a ball hit slightly too hard hits the back of the cup and goes flying in the other direction. As a group, we probably had a dozen hole-in-ones robed from us over the 18 holes. Although speed of a putt should be a determining factor in deciding who a good putter is and who isn’t, the design of the cups at this course takes this to the extreme and causes the round to not be fun. Included in the creativity/difficulty, is the use of “rough” on this course. We have seen other courses use a shaggier mat as a rough, which is interesting and does make the holes a bit tougher. However, this course insists on using indoor/outdoor carpeting, which doesn’t look good at all, especially when it is worn thin in some areas. Thankfully, they keep the use of this to a minimum, but it is still annoying on the holes where it does show up. Following along these lines, there is the fact that the course overall needs some upkeep done to it. There are several areas besides the animals that need painting and some of the cups are in bad disrepair.

Now, although we rated this course better than other Berlin Turnpike ones, we still don’t suggest that you run out to play it. Like, Norwich, this is a course to play when you really have nothing else to do and aren’t expecting too much from a mini-golf course.

2005 Update

So we gave this course another chance since it’s been four years since our original rating and we’re happy to say that it has improved a bit. When we played the course, it looked like many, if not all, of the animals had been given a fresh and vibrant paint job. Also, the course didn’t play nearly as badly as the previous time and we scored right at par. However, we still noted that some of the carpets were worn in areas and the weird plastic rough was still present, although we didn’t find it to be a factor on most of the holes. In the end it turned out to be a decent course.

Reviewed by: Pat, Mandy, Michelle, Ryan and Putt

Reviewed in 2001 & 2005

User Review #1

User Review #2

User Review #3

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Safari Golf Pictures (click to enlarge)