Sydney’s first mini golf bar opened up on the site of the former Newtown Social Club in July 2017. It’s operated by Fun-Lab, who are the same people who own Strike Bowling and Sky Zone, and the concept has already proven popular for hens and bucks parties in Brisbane and Melbourne.
Locals were understandably upset with the loss of yet another live music venue and boozer, but as the owners (who still own the real estate in Sydney) explained the former model wasn’t sustainable. Time Out went along to Holey Moley to check out the new venue and roadtest its 18 holes, spread over two floors. They’re punny and playful, like ‘Baby’s Got Pac’ and ‘Smells Like Tee Spirit’.
What’s different about Sydney’s Holey Moley is the dining area – the food offering is a first for the funtimes chain and they’re serving up snacks like pork belly bao, sweet potato fries, and panko prawn on lettuce cup. They’ve got super sweet cocktails too, like the lolly-filled ‘Sugar Caddy’ and chocolatey ‘Happy Gilmoreo’.
Michael Schreiber, CEO of FunLab Group, told Time Out they were looking for locations in every Australian capital city after opening their first branch in Brisbane last year. “We were looking for locations, ideally in the CBD – we’re still looking in the CBD – but this fit the bill because you can come in the evening, play, have drinks, then kick-on to a late night venue.”
Upstairs the course ‘Kicking Bird’ has a few music-themed holes, like ‘the Stage Dive’ and ‘Hound Bog’ (see below), which Schreiber says is partly an homage to the venue’s history, but the cheekiest Astroturfed green is one called ‘Ass Hole’ featuring Donald Trump’s face. “I’m sure I’ll get a tweet from POTUS!” he says, laughing. But for our money, downstairs is where the fun’s at. Most of the holes are nostalgic – drawing on pop culture references like Game of Thrones, Pacman, Willy Wonka and our very own Luna Park face.
If you can’t wait to get inside and take a look for yourself, we took a swing at all 18 holes and ranked our favourites from best to worst.