WHAT: CaddO’Ween at Caddies
WHEN: Halloween theming in October but open all year round
WHERE: Caddies Southend (12 London Rd, Southend-on-Sea SS1 1NT)
PRICE: £5 – £10
OUR RATING: Do It!
As an accepted part of the holiday calendar Halloween still isn’t a universal phenomenon in the UK. Compared to the US, where many streets would be decked out in all their ghoulish finery, you’re unlikely to see intense theming of non-haunt attractions, places, and events. That’s why CaddO’Ween at Caddies Southend is such a spine-chillingly welcome surprise! Featuring two 9 hole courses of spooky fun, which you can both see and hear the spirit(s) of the season thanks to wackily crazy theming on literally every hole and a killer soundtrack, you’ll be well on your way to a gravely good time.
As soon as we walked into Caddies we were immediately transported to Halloweenland – with decor draped from every nook and cranny. Staff behind the bar poured drinks with painted faces, cobwebs hung from the ceiling, haunted paintings on the wall came to life, and terrifying dolls poked out from behind the register. While family friendly, the theming was spooky for all involved. We even took our cameras out to take a snap of the creepy serial killer mannequins, only to have them suddenly come to life and run at us – we had no idea they had roaming actors, and the Michael and Jason here proved to be perhaps the best roaming scare actors we’ve come across this Halloween season.
Taking our clubs and balls we then embarked on both courses at Caddies. Running side by side, each course has a slightly different difficulty and also has their own crazy and ridiculous shenanigans going on, from a celestial fortune-telling sausage (yup – you heard that right), to singing ghostly garbage bins, and perhaps the most laugh-attack inducing course in a chicken coop where all the chickens clucked in tune to popular Halloween songs. Trust us, there is nothing more ridiculous and memorable than trying to play putt-putt with chickens bawking away at an attempt at Thriller and Ghostbusters!
And this golf is truly crazy! Balls must be carefully meandered into place so that they activate the mysterious automatons within, including a Ferret Wheel, Imprisoned Zombies, and a pumping station that requires some quick thinking muscle power. What we truly appreciate here is that the theming is not an afterthought, it’s the main event and shows that Caddies goes above and beyond similar crazy golf venues.
Caddies has even more to offer to complement your adventurous golfing skills, including a treasure hunt and an eerie photo booth straight out of a horror film. One of our reviewers stepped inside the booth to snap a photo only to turn around and have the entrance completely blocked by Jason himself – who continued to harass us in the best way possible throughout the night, even miming for money after he gave us some golfing tips! Instead of forking over our wallets, we decided to treat ourselves to some creepy cocktails and themed food at the end of our adventure, including blood bag cocktails and some yummy pumpkin and cheese bites.
Final Thoughts: CaddO’Ween at Caddies is the perfect Halloween event for the whole spectrum of horror fans, whether fun or fright is your potion of choice. It’s also most welcomingly affordable, and when you throw in the fantastic spookiness of the entire course then you have yourself one of the funnest nights in town and unlike anything we’ve seen in the UK before.
