Holey Moley
Holey Moley is an American sports reality competition television series created for ABC by Chris Culvenor. The series is produced by Eureka Productions and Unanimous Media, with Culvenor, Paul Franklin, Wesley Dening, Stephen Curry, Jeron Smith, Erick Peyton, Charles Wachter, and Michael O'Sullivan serving as executive producers.
The series features contestants competing against each other in a series of head-to-head, sudden-death matchups on a supersized miniature golf obstacle course. Curry stars as the resident golf pro, with play-by-play commentator Joe Tessitore, color commentator Rob Riggle, and sideline correspondent Jeannie Mai. In October 2018, ABC announced they were developing a miniature golf game show. The series was officially announced in April 2019, along with Curry's involvement. Filming of the series takes place at Sable Ranch in Canyon Country, Santa Clarita, California.
Holey Moley premiered on June 20, 2019, and its first season consisted of 10 episodes. In October 2019, ABC renewed the series for a second season, titled Holey Moley II: The Sequel, and premiered on May 21, 2020. In February 2021, it was announced that the series was renewed for a third and fourth season. The third season, titled Holey Moley 3D in 2D, premiered on June 17, 2021. The fourth season, titled Holey Moley Fore-Ever, and featuring the Muppets, premiered on May 3, 2022.
In response to a viewer inquiry in June 2023, Andy Dehnart of the answer column "Ask Andy" reached out to ABC and other contacts, but received no response regarding the status of the show. He noted that the producers had issued a casting call for the fifth season, which stated that applicants must be available to travel internationally in February and March 2023. On May 10, 2024, TVLine reported that Holey Moley was among several shows on ABC that had "yet to be formally renewed for additional seasons." As of September 2024, the program has neither been formally canceled, nor renewed for a fifth season.
Production
Development
In October 2018, ABC released a casting call for a new game show called Mega Miniature Golf looking for miniature golfers to compete against each other for a grand prize. ABC officially announced the series in April 2019, with the title Holey Moley. Professional basketball player Stephen Curry serves as executive producer and resident golf pro on the series, with ESPN/ABC's Joe Tessitore calling all the play-by-play commentary, comedian and actor Rob Riggle providing color commentary, and television personality Jeannie Mai as a sideline reporter. The series is produced by Eureka Productions and Unanimous Media, and created by Chris Culvenor, who is executive producing alongside Curry, Paul Franklin, Wesley Dening, Charles Wachter, Michael O'Sullivan, Jeron Smith, and Erick Peyton. Culvenor explained that producers saw that other television competition series were dominated by fitness enthusiasts and wanted to create a show that most people could partake in. He called the series "a serious competition put in a really silly world."Filming
Filming for the series takes place at Sable Ranch in Canyon Country, Santa Clarita, California, which was previously used for the obstacle course game show Wipeout. Filming lasts several weeks and occurs late at night. The production films as many competitions as possible at each course on a given night, rather than simply filming the contents of a single episode each night. The golf course and obstacles were built on the ranch by The ATS Team, which creates obstacle courses and large-scale fanciful environments for shows such as American Ninja Warrior, The Titan Games, and Big Brother, in association with Eureka Productions. Tessitore indicated that some holes, such as Double Dutch Courage, remain standing because it is "a signature hole", but others are "shut down after three or four days". Filming for the first season took place on April 3–5 and 8–11, 2019.The second season was filmed in February and March 2020. The third and fourth seasons filmed back-to-back in March 2021, with a small number of recurring spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic; additional footage of unmasked spectators filmed during previous seasons has been edited into these seasons.
Gameplay
In the first season, each episode consisted of 12 mini-golfers that compete in a series of head-to-head, sudden-death matchups on a supersized miniature golf obstacle course. Winners move on to round two and from there, only three will make it to the third and final round, where they compete on the "Mt. Holey Moley" hole in a three-way contest. The winner earns "The Golden Putter" trophy, a "Holey Moley" plaid jacket and a $25,000 grand prize.In the second season onwards, it was changed to 8 mini-golfers each episode with a new miniature golf obstacle course. Round one and two remains the same head-to-head, sudden-death matchups with winners of each matchups moving on. Round three was changed to a head-to-head matchup. The winner still earns "The Golden Putter" trophy and a "Holey Moley" plaid jacket, but instead of the $25,000 cash prize, the winner earns a spot in the finale where they may have a chance to putt to win the $250,000 prize.
Holes
Season 1
The larger-than-life mini-golf course for the first season features 10 supersized themed holes:- Dutch Courage: Contestants must hit through a small mini-golf-style windmill situated in between two large windmills. The large windmills have four large, quickly rotating blades that can knock the player off the putting surface and cause stroke penalties. The hole lies past the second large windmill, on a slope.
- Caddysmack: The contestants try to hit their first putt closest to the big golf ball. The one closest gets to decide how their next shot will be hit, either by resident golf pro Stephen Curry or a robot voiced by Rob Riggle, with the losing contestant getting the other option. The robot and Curry hit 55-yard pitch shots to a turf-covered empty swimming pool where the hole is located. Caddysmack is the longest hole on the course.
- Arc de Trigolf: Players hit their ball along a large arc to the green, and then must get over a line of small raised platforms in a swimming pool to ring a bell and release a guillotine that will stop their ball from falling into the water.
- Tee'd Off: The loser on the 4-foot putt-off falls into the pool.
- Sweet Spot: The player tees off from a rapidly rotating platform toward another, less rapidly rotating platform where the hole is located. Several prop candies, like giant gumdrops, decorate the hole and act as obstacles.
- Surf or Turf: Contestants hit a ball up a large concave wave ramp 30 feet into the air, launching it backwards over their heads to an island green. If the ball does not land and stay on the green, the contestant must hit the ball across a skinny walkway instead after a one-stroke penalty.
- Slip N' Putt: The contestants must make their way atop an icy hill. The first one to the top gets the better placed ball. Then, they must hit their ball through the legs of the polar bear and slide their way down the hill to the green to complete the hole.
- The Distractor: Contestants must try to sink a 12-foot putt with a distraction.
- Log Roll: Contestants must putt up a hill and then climb it while avoiding rolling logs on rails.
- Mt. Holey Moley: Contestants must hit their ball up the side of a volcano into one of the crevasse holes. If they miss, their ball is placed far away and behind some rocks. If they place it in the holes, they get a better position—the smaller the hole, the better. They must then climb the volcano and zipline over the pool to land on a floating dock to reach the green; falling off the zipline and landing in the water will result in a one-stroke penalty.
Season 2
- Double Dutch Courage: Contestants must hit through two large windmills. Similar to Dutch Courage, the large windmills have five large, quickly rotating blades that can knock the player off the putting surface and cause stroke penalties. The hole lies past the second large windmill, on a slope.
- Putter Ducky: Contestants must putt past two oversized rubber ducks that swing from side to side. Afterwards, the players themselves must avoid the ducks. If a player gets knocked into the water, they receive a one-stroke penalty.
- Slip N' Putt: The contestants must make their way atop an icy hill. The first one to the top gets the better placed ball. Then, they must hit their ball through the legs of the polar bear and slide their way down the hill to the green to complete the hole.
- Frankenputt: Players must putt through a series of electrical nodes and Dr. Frankenputt 's lair to the hole. Every stroke a player takes and misses the hole, they receive an electrical shock.
- Buns & Wieners: Players putt across a crevasse in a rotating hot dog bun before attempting to cross a creek filled with "burning coals" by clinging to one of three rotating hot dogs. Falling into the coals results in a one stroke penalty.
- Hole Number Two: Players must putt along a narrow ridge with water on one side and a row of porta-potties on the other, before attempting a 2.5-second sprint across the ridge before the porta-potty doors open and knock them into the water. If they fall into the water, they receive a one stroke penalty.
- Uranus: Similar to Arc de Trigolf, as contestants must putt the ball around the outer ring of Uranus. There is a channel where if the contestants land, could provide a shot at a hole in one. After the contestants putt, they must traverse 4 planets to get to the green. If they fall in, they receive a stroke penalty.
- Polcano: Similar to Mount Holey Moley, but players zipline onto a narrow totem pole rather than across the entire water hazard. Falling into the water results in a one stroke penalty.
- Putt the Plank: Contestants must first putt across a pirate ship's bow towards a red X. The closer to the red X gets a courtesy chip across the lagoon from pirate captain Long Jon Lovitz, while the other player gets a blindfolded courtesy chip. Then, they must cross the lagoon on the back of a shark to complete the hole, being careful not to fall in and get a penalty stroke.
- Gopher It: Two contestants must first ride on a mechanical gopher for as long as they can. Whoever can ride the gopher the longest will get the better ball placement on the course. The contestants must then put across a course with mechanical gopher heads popping up randomly. The contestant with the better ball placement only has to navigate around 2 gopher heads while the other must deal with a third.
- Dragon's Breath: Contestants wearing fireproof armor must putt the ball through one of three holes underneath a drawbridge in order to lower it and putt the ball in the hole. While the contestants are trying to putt, dragons breathe fire at the contestant.
- Beaver Creek: Players putt across a narrow strip before crossing a ditch via a rapidly rotating log. Falling into the ditch results in a one stroke penalty. Riggle often ridicules the hole for having a drab and empty ditch and for being a relative copy of Buns & Weiners.
- Diving Range: Three contestants first complete a dive of their choice judged by Olympic diver Greg Louganis, actor Steve Guttenberg, and Sir Goph. The contestant with the lowest score is eliminated; that contestant was always a ringer, former collegiate diver Joey Cifelli. Of the remaining two contestants, the better score gets the better ball placement. They compete on a hole in which they must shoot past laneline obstacles to reach the hole in the center.
- The Distractor: Contestants must try to sink a 12-foot putt with a distraction.
- Water Hazard: Similar to Surf or Turf, in which players hit a ball over a water hazard via a 30-foot wave before attempting to cross a narrow bridge while being blasted with fire hoses. Falling into the water results in a one stroke penalty.
- Clowning Around: Appeared in the season finale. Each of the players is strapped into a circular apparatus in a standing position. The apparatus is then turned several times to disorient the players, and the players eventually have to putt the magnetized ball upside down to a rectangular green. Any miss gets a whipped-cream pie in the face from one of the clowns accompanying the hole.
- The Tomb of Nefer–Tee–Tee: Stephen Curry's much lauded finale hole, which appeared in the season finale. The hole is "all-or-nothing" hole, and eventually had nothing to do with the schematic shown all during the season. Each player will get one shot to ace the hole per round, and only the person first holing the putt wins the jackpot grand prize of $250,000 and the Jeweled Putter of Nefer-Tee-Tee. The hole is almost 100 feet in length, and contains three parts. After an unassuming tee area, the ball then enters a repurposed spinning disc from Sweet Spot, this time containing three Egyptian-style pyramids and is colored as a desert. Past that is the green, including walls on two sides and a crypt on the third. It also contains several small square obstacles, which could also aid the golfer in holing the putt. If no golfer aces the hole after each has had a shot, the process continues until someone does.