Fossil Falls Return to Connecticut
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95 Hartford Tpke
Vernon Rockville, CT 06066-5258
(860) 643-2654
Price: $13 (w/taxes) Other Activities: Ice Cream
Par: No par listed
Difficulty: 5
Creativity: 6
Atmosphere: 7
Fossil Falls is built just to the side of where Connecticut Golf Land once stood and marks a significant upgrade to the minigolf that is on-site. We played there not long after it opened its first year so there were some excusable hiccups (problems with the bathroom) but there were also a couple of things that confused us by such a new course.
Before looking at some of the flaws, we have to say that most of the course is good putting and would make a decent tournament course if anyone was interested in that. There are plenty of holes where you are just working out breaks or some simple rebounds to the cup. The theme of the course is well done with a variety of dinosaurs both on the side and incorporated into play. There’s also little tidbits like a Barbasol can in the “mud” by the Jeep, which is a nice nod to you if you know your dinosaur movies.
The bits of the course that didn’t thrill us started on hole 3 which is one where you can put up a hill into the water and have it come out toward the cup. There is an alternate path, but it will leave you further away from the cup and has less of a chance of a hole-in-one (not to mention it is a harder putt than just dumping the ball into the water). However, our first experience on this hole left us underwhelmed as the ball didn’t make it through the pipe that the water comes out. There was such a backup that the attendant needed to come and fish out a bunch of balls that had blocked the pipe. In addition, the drainage by the cup was terrible with the carpet being soaked from the water. This will lead to quicker wear and mold and seemed like a design defect on a course that new. On top of all that, going into the water didn’t even guarantee a hole-in-one though it would go sometimes. We had similar concerns with a second pipe hole where the pipe doesn’t do anything to put you closer to the cup and in fact a straight, albeit narrow, shot down the multiple tiers put you in a much better position.
The final confounding hole on the course was one with a set of three vertical pipes that were hanging by the cup. They appeared to be on a rotating system but it wasn’t clear how the who contraption was supposed to move. The first time we played it was moving in a very random manner. The second time we got there it wasn’t moving at all, though you could sort of spin it by hand if you wanted to give a challenge to your playing mates.
Reviewed by: Pat, Mandy & Skipper
Reviewed in 2025
Course Pictures (click to enlarge)
Note: Pictures of all 18 holes can also be found at our Flickr album for this course.
Map
Price: ~$13
Par:
No par listed
Difficulty: 4
Creativity: 5
Atmosphere: 6
This recently reopened this year, after being closed for quite sometime. The difficultly and creativity of this course go hand in hand, there were a few holes that felt simple, and some that were creative yet could probably be seen at another course. The course overall, especially being newly opened, was well decorated and creative in that sense however. Being dinosaur themed, there was one annoying dinosaur sound that seemed to be on a motion sensor that was slightly incessant, and it felt a little cookie cutter.
Reviewed by Sofia
Reviewed in 2025
Visitor Pictures (click to enlarge)
