点评:Four women of mixed ages, four golf clubs, and absolutely no evidence whatsoever that any of us had the golfing ability to justify the confidence with which we approached this experience.
Underground Golf at Zip World Blaenau Ffestiniog is essentially crazy golf for people who have somehow convinced themselves they’re Tiger Woods — except this particular course is constructed from mining machinery and spread across four levels of subterranean platforms inside a slate cavern several hundred feet (and quite a lot of steps) underground.
And it was brilliant.
We came for the golf, but what made the experience particularly memorable was everything around it. Our guides very generously turned the journey down into the mine — and the return journey back to the surface — into an impromptu mini guided tour, sharing their knowledge of the slate workings, the history of the mine and the fascinating environment we were actually playing in. It added a whole extra dimension to the experience.
The staff were genuinely fantastic throughout. Haf on check-in very gamely matched our particular brand of energy and was equally accommodating when we descended upon the gift shop afterwards.
While waiting for our guide to return us to the surface, another member of staff very generously spent time taking an increasingly demented series of photographs of the four of us apparently attempting to murder each other with golf putters. This was, obviously, an essential part of the experience.
And then there was Steve, who shared his knowledge of the mine and its workings with enormous generosity and patience — including what may have been the slowest ascent from a mine in Welsh mining history, as he very kindly accommodated the two members of our party whose enthusiasm for stairs is directly proportional to the proximity of food at the top.
It was a brilliant experience: great fun, genuinely interesting, and made all the better by staff who clearly enjoy sharing the history of the place as much as they do facilitating the activity.
Highly recommended — particularly if you fancy yourself as Tiger Woods but would prefer your golf course to be several hundred feet underground and surrounded by 19th-century mining history.
翻译:四位年龄各异的女性,四根高尔夫球杆,除此之外没有任何证据能证明我们当中任何人具备足以配得上这次体验的自信与球技。在Zip World Blaenau Ffestiniog进行的“地下高尔夫”,说白了就是为那些自认为是泰格·伍兹的人准备的疯狂高尔夫——只不过这条球场是由各种采矿设备搭建而成,分布在地下数百英尺深处的一个板岩洞穴中,横跨四个层面的地下平台,而且其间还有大量台阶。
体验起来真是妙不可言。
我们本是冲着高尔夫来的,但真正让这次经历令人难忘的,却是周围的一切。我们的导游十分慷慨,他们把下到矿井以及返回地面的整个过程变成了一次即兴的微型导览,向我们介绍了有关板岩开采的知识、矿井的历史,以及我们当时所处的这个奇妙环境。这为整个体验增添了更多趣味与深度。
整个过程中,工作人员都表现得极其出色。在办理入住手续时,Haf表现得极为热情,很好地呼应了我们特有的活力风格;后来我们逛礼品店时,他也同样热情周到。
在等待导游带我们返回地面期间,另一位工作人员慷慨地花时间为我们四个人拍摄了一连串越来越搞怪的照片——画面中我们显然正试图用高尔夫球杆互相“攻击”。显然,这也是这次体验中不可或缺的一环。
还有Steve……他极为慷慨且耐心地向我们传授了有关矿井及其运作方式的知识——其中包括堪称威尔士采矿史上最慢的爬升过程:他好心地照顾到了我们团队中的两人,他们对楼梯的热情程度简直和顶部食物的吸引力成正比。
这是一次极其美妙的体验:既充满乐趣,又真是有趣至极。更棒的是,这里的工作人员显然既乐于引导游客参与各项活动,也乐于讲述这里的历史。
强烈推荐——尤其适合那些自诩为“泰格·伍兹”、但又希望自己的高尔夫球场能位于地下数百英尺深且被19世纪的采矿历史所环绕的人。