Between new music rollouts, photoshoots, and award ceremonies, we could easily find ourselves assuming a pop star’s heavy schedule doesn’t allow time to even scroll through their mentions, let alone participate in everyday folk activities such as hobbies! And yet, if we were to open our socials right now, we’d see all of our faves indulging in their “me time.” Whether it’s Taylor in a polka-dot kitchen apron baking for fans, Beyoncé tending to her literal Bey-hive, or of course, our Niall Horan waving a nine-iron while screaming “Four!” across a golf green. Many of our faves share their passions with us, and of course, we return that energy!
If you were to travel over to the Horandogs’, a fandom name claimed by their cheeky leader Niall Horan during his hosting gig on Jimmy Kimmel Live, side of Twitter, within seconds you’d see a certain Mr. Horan and many of his fans, with a golf club in hand! One such fan even caught Niall’s attention by creating a montage video of their swing at various golf courses! That’s one surefire way of getting a notif!
Discovering The Pitch
As for Niall himself, one of his first sporting memories is sneaking through a barbed wire fence onto a pitch and putt course beside his grandmother’s house at the age of five or six, leading him to join Mullingar Golf Club when he was a teen. While we’re ever so grateful that he didn’t go down the professional route – deciding instead to have a guitar mostly occupying his hands – he has taken his industry experience and passion for the game to new heights. Yes, Modest! Golf Management, we’re talking about you! Modest! Golf management is an agency that provides so much help to its players outside of the game, so they can perform their best on the field.
It does raise the question, though, that as Niall continually takes over the golf space and builds an army of fans willing to pick up a club (or read golf tweets) – when will there be a Niall Horan golf course, and why is there not one already? Just seems logical. In fact, we’re so behind the idea… we’ve designed it! You’re welcome Niall, cheques can be sent to The Honey POP.
Yes, we’re talking about a Niall Horan-inspired mini golf course with each hole inspired by a Nialler highlight. Which time period in Niall’s life would you buggy to first? Are you already pinning your friend as the winner despite knowing every fact about Niall, including who his favorite golf player is? Although this isn’t an official elevator pitch, we’re just saying if you know someone willing to invest, *cough* Niall *cough*… read along!
Niall Highlight: Flicker
Hole 1: ‘This Town’
This Niall Horan mini golf hole draws inspiration from Urban Putt in San Francisco, as the course is shaped like a pinball machine. But we need the Niallification here too. On hole 1, you’ll tee off by releasing the golf ball into the pinball-inspired course; and as your golf ball bounces around, it navigates a mini maze of Mullingar! Once your ball finds its home with, we’re sure, a hole-in-one, the course begins to illuminate, glow, and ‘Flicker’… No, we’re not emotional, you’re emotional.
Niall Highlight: Fashionista/Gym+Coffee
Hole 2: “Niall’s Stylist”
Niall’s a bit of a model. We’re not just saying that for a laugh. Maybe it’s the baby blue eyes that gives him a level-up in comparison to everyone else! On top of signing with Wilhelmina Models, Niall’s fronted many magazines, including Bazar, GQ, and Billboard. As he should.
Plus, backspace on one letter of Gym + Coffee’s owner, Niall Horgan, and you’d spell out our singer. “The Nialls” are in business together as Niall Horan invested in the athleisure brand early last year, using his voice for a meditative narration for World Mental Health Day – there’s no need for us to daydream what it would be like to have him serenade us to sleep, as it’s been part of our nightly routine ever since.
Judging by various posts on Twitter, we’ve all had a time when we’ve spotted a clothing item on a Fashion Week runway and felt the urge for Niall to wear it stat! Only to then realize instead of trying on the stylish jacket we’ve forwarded to him, for the fifth time this week, he’s going to settle on being comfortable in an Eagles sweatshirt.
Well, in this Niall Horan mini golf hole, we’re going to change some essential wardrobe pieces of his by designing the ultimate Niall Horan outfit!
Based on high tech seen at Puttshack Atlanta, a photo from one of Niall’s photoshoots will come up on the screen, and on the pitch will be a question about that fit, and multiple choice answers. Make sure you hit the ball at the correct answer to increase your score!
Once you’ve selected your answer, the main hole will be waiting on the other side for you to putt through. We hope you kept an eye on how many strokes it took for you to complete this hole as your clothing budget for your dream Niall fit, depends on your swing amount (Is that what par means? We don’t know, Niall help us). And of course, the elusive hole-in-one affords you the most money to spend!
Niall Highlight: One Direction
Hole 3: ‘For One Night Only”
A boy band that needs no brush up on its ‘History,’ our Niall alongside Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, and Liam Payne, rose to stardom through The X Factor, breaking just as many world records as The Beatles before their “hiatus” (sorry) in 2016.
For this mini golf hole, it’s time to play out the most likely: Niall, reviving One Direction for a one-night-only performance! Similar to a tower found at Urban Putt, San Francisco, your first stroke will send the ball toward a tower (1D headquarters!) It’ll be sucked up to travel through winding pipes throughout the various levels, both finding and hearing spliced audio of the boys and of course, our fave “Niall-isms” like “👹Potato👹” and his own very special rendition of Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl, as the ball makes its way down the building’s levels.
As your golf ball leaves 1D tower, it’ll roll out onto the second field, where your job is to putt it into the hole decorated as the London O2 Arena stage! As soon as you sink the ball, One Direction will gloriously rise up, ready to perform, just as they would in those electrified minutes before any live show. Oh, and there’s a countdown! Since we’ve had to wait this long for a reunion, we’ll savor every minute we have of them up on stage together again.
Niall Highlight: Quarantine-iall
Hole 4: “Cosy Day In With Nialler”
Niall spent three-plus straight hours with us on Instagram live during the pandemic lockdown, and no, we’re not joking! Special credits are owed here for having a near-perfect dog bark imitation, bringing a new perspective to the POV TikTok trend by letting us inside his fridge, or chilling as Liam Payne poked a comment in the constantly scrolling notifications, before joining the chat. It was a time.
Of course, he did plenty of good during those pandemic months as well, including putting on an at-home concert supportive of Global Citizen and the World Health Organization (WHO).
For this Niall Horan mini golf hole, we’re conjuring up memories of carnival games, as what looks like one of his guitars will be mounted to the wall with various circles inside its body. Once you drive your golf ball from the ground into the center hole, a video will pop up from one of Niall’s live streams. It’ll then travel down onto the second pitch which is a replica of one of Niall’s livestream setups.
We know by now that these holes aren’t as straightforward and unfortunately, this one isn’t the exception, as scattered across the field will be miniature Niall gnomes, pointing not at an elevator mirror, but at you. And if our little spinning Niall’s are pointing in your direction when your club strikes the ball, then you get a penalty!
Niall Highlight: Heartbreak Weather
Hole 5: “Heartbreak Weather Watch”
If only we could’ve forecasted the type of earthquake we were in for as the weather outlook for Heartbreak Weather began on February 7, 2020, by the singer slipping into the rainboots of anchor-man Niall Storm. Each track from the album was given a short segment, announcing its title through an analogy. For example, his floofy hair stayed perfectly gelled even in a chaotic breeze for ‘Everywhere.’
While it’s tuckered onto the end of a list of tours we attended in an alternate universe, to support his crew who were out of work due to the pandemic, Niall did put on a standalone performance at The Royal Albert Hall as fans watched from their homes, and it was magical.
Capitalizing on the loveless rain, this mini golf hole will start by dropping your ball into a mug that’s placed on Niall Storm’s desk, similar to the music video. He’ll be sitting behind it, stretched out onto a chair, with his name scrawled out on an office plaque. As the golf ball travels down a tunnel, it’s brought out just in front of the desk, where a giant lightning bolt sways back and forth, marking itself as your first hazard.
If you’re lucky enough to momentarily escape the weather, the ball will travel to its next pitch, where a wind-blowing machine will be waiting, ready to shake up your game a little, tumbling the ball wherever it may. Can you make it to this fifth and final hole at the Niall Horan Miniature Golf Extravaganza?
Now that we’ve completed the Niall Horan mini golf course, is there a particular hole you liked the most? Will you try to put your own spin on a normal course after reading this article? If so, we’d love to hear all about it by tweeting us @TheHoneyPop.
Niall’s third solo album still has no date, but that doesn’t mean we can’t think up predictions. Follow along on our Instagram, Facebook, and dive into our Discord server, The Hive, to discuss yours!
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