Putting on the Bozo course at Junkyard Golf Club

IT’S one of the first sunny spring days of the year in Camden Market, what would your office choose to do for its work drinks on a Thursday evening?

Fighting the allure of a beer garden pint, the intrepid New Journal team plunged underneath the busy Stables yard for a unique team-bonding activity. We tried our hand at the market’s latest subterranean, neon-lit experience: Junkyard Golf Club, which took over from the sprawling South African restaurant Shaka Zulu last year.

We stowed our bags in the cloakroom (£3), donned golfing visors (£4) and hit the creepy clown-themed, nine hole “Bozo” golf course (£14 per person). You could capture the happy memories in a photo booth (£5), but our crew opted to save our pennies for the cocktails, which you can conveniently take with you onto the green.

The Bozo course was an entertaining expedition through a clown-induced apocalypse at a funfair. For those suffering from coulrophobia (fear of clowns), you can choose from a range of other courses, including a tropical island, a scrapyard, and a “horror rave”.

Our golf balls shot out of cannons, looped around a skull carousel, and whizzed through a mirror maze. The course was set against an eerie backdrop created by smoke machines, and a less menacing disco soundtrack.

With unpredictable twists and turns, the obstacles made luck more important than golfing ability, which is surely the aim of all crazy golf courses. The more experienced golfers among us yelped in delight when a perfect putt through a tunnel ended up shifting the ball far away from the hole. And our least practiced golfer came out on top.

We enjoyed the course and felt nine holes was enough. Besides the smiling clowns, we were the only visitors in the building, which added to the dystopian atmosphere but might also detract from the “vibes” especially if you’re in a smaller (and less fun) crew.

The cocktails – fizz pop, toxic waste, neon raz blast and triple rum punch – were inventive and super sweet. A sugar rush was welcome after the nail-biting showdown on the last hole. We refuelled on pizza twists and nachos.

The drinks, and the whole experience, would perhaps be best enjoyed by teenagers. So we were surprised to learn the venue is only open to under 18s before 7pm. Although those who grew up playing arcade games will be pleased to know they also stock some vintage games you can play for free, including the original Street Fighter II.