with Matt “ Duck Man ” Austin

Hand up if you have never watched Happy Gilmore ? I can ’ t see any ! It is one of the greatest golfing and sporting movies ever made . He clubbed the ball a massive 400 yards off the golf tee . Many a time I have watched Hapy Gilmore and then seen the success of Cameron Smith in the PGA Tour .

Well now the Hills have their own slice of heaven . The newly constructed Swing City Mini Golf course is open and catering to the golfing public , plus people who are new to golf . They have created an amazing driving range , an 18-hole mini golf course

Swing City Mini Golf course in action .

that can easily be converted to 30 holes , and it has children ’ s entertainment in the form of a games arcade setup too .

At the opening day it was full of glitz and glamour with the CEO of Golf Australia James Sutherland attending and many people from Golf NSW , the Hills Shire Mayor Dr Peter Gangemi and a cast of thousands to try out and inspect the diamond in the crown .

General Manager Jason Foxman told me that Swing City catered for everyone . It is in the Norwest Business Park , Bella Vista with substantial parking and access that would be very attractive for any business people wanting to go a hit a few balls during their lunchbreak , or even be very well designed and set up for kids ’ parties , work Christmas parties and even a day out with friends .

There was a range of fabulous snacks on display on the day and the champagne and orange

juice was flowing prior to the event officially kicking off . It opened with a long drive competition which I thought surely , I would be close to acing .

I did not anticipate seeing the pro golfers come out with their own clubs and some red-hot form such as David Barker the Senior State Manager of PGA Australia . He tried downplaying his obvious talent by saying I have a bit of a hit and play sometimes to crunch the ball an impressive 220M .

I was drawn into a false sense of security and recalled my inner Happy Gilmore to walk up and club the ball a mighty 16M off the tee . It was so embarrassing . A couple of elderly women outdrove me by a substantial distance . Thankfully I clubbed a couple of 120M drives a bit later to save face and pretend it was a warmup .

I watched as some of the golfing dignitaries played a round of mini golf that has soft sides and edges and some manufactured sand traps . This proved to be an interesting challenge with the contoured landscape and runaways on the slopes where you had to use some level of strategy to play . That ’ s why I left it to the pros .

I was looking around everywhere , and it was not long until I discovered the games room , which is a modern version of what Time Zone somewhat resembled back in the day . There was an air hockey game , basketball shooting games , arcade games like Jurassic Park and Halo , a pinball machine , a game where you have

David Barker , Senior State Manager of PGA Australia getting in some practice swings .

to hit the punching bag the hardest and even an interactive dark room ride game where you try shooting zombies in an apocalypse .

It really does have something for everyone , and the café has a good range of desserts and snacks and does a brilliant coffee . You can literally sit back and relax and let the kids enjoy themselves , or you can try working on your long game like Happy Gilmore , which I definitely need to do , or even try out the contoured mini golf course which would be great for families .

It is an absolute must for all families , and the kids will love you for it !