Rocketships and Windmills (Hardcover)

‘Rocketships & Windmills’, a new book by Liverpool photographer Mark McNulty, is a visual documentary of a simple passion stirred after a hungover trip to Southport one fateful Sunday â€" a fervour which would see him test his putting mettle in Rhyl, Poole, Dawlish, Whitby, Scarborough, Blackpool, Paignton, Runcorn and over forty other miniature golf courses around the country.

Across ninety-six A6 pages, using full bleed images, with the occasional panoramic, he covers the many courses of miniature golfing, from the traditional crazy golf of Arnold Palmer putting courses with their classic red and white windmills, to simple green felt courses, and to hand-crafted courses built by private park owners such as the one at Henblas Park and Anglesey, with its very own Menai Bridge obstacle. He also tries his hand at the newer, bigger, brasher American Adventure Golf courses, before returning to quaint local parish-run ones such as in Aintree, Liverpool. For Mark, ‘Rocketships & Windmills’ is partly about nostalgia, partly the attraction of colourful seaside resorts and all about the photographer as a collector, documenting an incredible other world of golf which can be urban, coastal, private, public, brand new or sadly overlooked and run down.

To celebrate the release of ‘Rocketships & Windmills’ a 9-hole crazy golf course has been set up in the new Polished T gallery space on Parr Street, Liverpool, L1.

The course will be open until Christmas for the public to come and test their putting skills, either as individuals or in private parties. The exhibition space will also include wall-mounted prints which feature in the book, some at a very large size and some framed and for sale. Golfing action starts from the night of the 10th November â€" the book and exhibition launch party!

A professional photographer for over two decades, Mark’s work has seen him cover people and events from all over the world. He has been commissioned by some of the biggest organisations, newspapers and magazines, including MixMag (for whom the House of Pain was his first magazine cover), the British Journal of Photography (which featured his cover shot of Bjork), DJ, Muzik, The Times, The Observer, The Guardian, NME, Raygun and Rolling Stone. As well as photographing fashion for national brands such as Schuh, Tula and JD Sports, Mark has also been asked to shoot record covers for the likes of Travis, Space and Ian McCulloch. Mark is also the editor of Plastic Rhino magazine, an international fashion, art and music publication based in Liverpool.