Happy Fourth Birthday to the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!

The Crazy World of Minigolf Tour is four years old today!!!

Back on the 30th September 2006 we played our first course on the Tour, when we headed to Portsmouth/Southsea, Hampshire to play the Treasure Island Victory Trail 9-hole course.

We liked playing Adventure Golf so much we returned the next day to play the Warrior Trail course too!

It's kind of snowballed since then...

Latest Gluten Free finds while on Tour

Some of the latest places we've found to eat out at that serve Gluten Free food for Coeliacs have been:

Brasserie Caprice in Whitley Bay - When I visited I had Confit Duck and Eton Mess for pudding. All very tasty and good service too. Well worth a visit.

Soupcon Restaurant in Hastings (Old Town) - Soupcon does excellent food including gluten free options. When we visited I had a great dish of Scallops in an Asparagus Broth with Avruga Caviar (very posh indeed ;-)) to start and for the main I had a Sirloin Steak with a Peppercorn sauce. It was very nice to be able to have a sauce for a change!

Antonia's Restaurant in Tonbridge, Kent - An Italian restaurant that can cater for Coeliacs. Quite a few different Gluten Free options available. Very big portion sizes!

Carluccio's (Various locations) - I've been able to dine out at Carluccio's as they have a great Gluten Free menu and knowledgeable staff. The two I've visited so far have been in St Albans and Hampstead, London.

Minigolf Report - Gottfried Ties for Sixth Spot at the GMGC Club Tournament

24/09/10
Minigolf Report
GMGC Club Tournament (23/09/10) at The Green Indoor Mini Golf in Hither Green - Gottfried Ties for Sixth Spot at the GMGC Club Tournament

Richard Gottfried competed in the Green Mini Golf Club’s fifth Club Tournament at Hither Green, Lewisham, London on Thursday 23rd September 2010. In the field of nine players Richard finished in tied 6th place in the 36-hole event with scores of 47(+11) and 35(-1) for a total of 82(+10) – with Richard's GMGC Handicap at 'zero' his unhandicapped round was also marked at 82. In the un-handicapped scores Richard’s two rounds saw him ranked 7th. The GMGC Club Tournament was won by Cambridgeshire's Tony Kelly.

Richard said “I started off my first round with a shocking score of five on the seventh hole, and managed to drop a fair few shots on three other holes. I was happy to come back with a 35 in round two, but after scoring a 47 it was a damage limitation round. Congratulations to Tony Kelly for his win, he was rattling in the Aces in the two rounds. Well played also to Adam Kelly and Giuseppe Ruggiero for their great rounds, some fantastic consistency in their scoring and thoroughly deserved podium finishes. GMGC Rookie player William Donelly is also improving his game and putting in the practice."

Richard added "I've been playing a lot of tournaments recently and it does take it out of you sometimes, I'll be having a few weeks off to relax ahead of the October, November and December run of events."

Heading into the competition Richard was in 6th place of 26 players in the GMGC Rankings. Following this week's tournament he has dropped down one place to 7th of 28 ranked players.

Full results list from the GMGC Club Tournament - 23/09/10
1. Tony Kelly 34 35 = 69 ( +8 ) 61
2. Adam Kelly 31 31 = 62 ( +0 ) 62
3. Giuseppe Ruggiero 44 44 = 88 (+20) 68
4. Michael Smith 34 30 = 64 ( -8 ) 72
5. Andy Exall 40 37 = 77 ( +4 ) 73
6/7. Richard Gottfried 47 35 = 82 ( -0 ) 82
6/7. Nick Sandqvist 32 38 = 70 (-12) 82
8. William Donelly 58 52 = 110 (+26) 84
9. Sean Homer 43 38 = 81 ( -4 ) 85

Ranking list for GMGC members as at 23/09/2010
Top 10
1. Nick Sandqvist -5
2. Michael Smith -4
3. Marc Chapman -3
4. Adam Kelly -3
5. Tony Kelly 0
6. Sean Homer 0
7. Richard Gottfried +2
8. Oliver Florence +2
9. Andy Exall +2
10. Julio Kent +3
(28 players are currently ranked in the GMGC list).

Richard won the first GMGC Club Tournament on the 6th August 2010. On his last visit to Hither Green for the third GMGC Club Tournament on the 9th September he finished in 9th spot of 13 players.

The GMGC are based at the Green Indoor Mini Golf course in Hither Green, Lewisham, London. You can check out the course and club website at The Green Indoor Mini Golf.

Ends

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The Alfred Brimble Memorial Minigolf Tournament

Following the 2010 BMGA Players Championships, but before the BMGA British Open teed-off, I joined four members of the London Minigolf Club for a mini-minigolf competition to crown the Champion of the first-ever Alfred Brimble Memorial Minigolf Tournament.

Played over one-round on the White Rock Gardens Adventure Golf Course in Hastings, East Sussex, I finished as the runner-up - and escaped the tournament forfeit of 'buying a round in the pub later'.

Full results of the Alfred Brimble Memorial Minigolf Tournament:
1st Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd - 36 (Par)
2nd 'Squire' Richard Gottfried - 42 (+6)
3rd Chris 'Stretch' Jones - 43 (+7)
3rd Gareth 'Colleen' Holmes - 43 (+7)
5th Alan 'Stormin'' Norman - 49 (+13)


Players (from l-r) Richard Gottfried, Brad Shepherd, Chris Jones, Alan Norman, Gareth Holmes.

A few years ago the Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club used to hold an Albert Steptoe Memorial Trophy competition in Hastings.

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The Minigolf Welly Boot Swamp Ball Incident in Hastings

Report from an infamous event in the world of miniature golf.


Following the BMGA British Open at Planet Hastings Adventure Golf course on Sunday 19th September a strange thing happened!? A report from both Ollie 'The Machine' Florence and Tim 'Ace Man' Davies is likely to follow, but here's my take on "The Minigolf Welly Boot Swamp Ball Incident in Hastings"!

During the last round of the BMGA British Open, Swedish minigolfer Mattias Ståhl was annoyed (to say the least) that he'd scored a 5 on the 17th hole. In his frustration he launched his Maier Classic Minigolf Ball into one of the many ponds/swamps at the White Rock Gardens course (in fact it was the very same patch of water that a player had slipped into on Friday)!




With the aide of some small flimsy fishing nets, followed by applying garden rakes to the quagmire the intrepid minigolfers just could not find the ball.



Keen to find the missing ball to add to his collection eager BMGA Tour rookie Ollie 'The Machine' Florence decided to take the plunge to retrieve the ball!!!




He didn't find it, and also struggled to get out of his wellies! But was eventually relieved of them by Marion 'Double Trouble' Homer, while top German minigolfer Karsten Hein and KMGC Captain Sean 'Freebird' Homer and others looked on.


It was left to 'Big Top Ted' John McIver to recover what was the second lost ball of the weekend, following the loss of Marc 'The Force' Chapman's ball in the hedges by the 12th/13th hole on Friday morning!


After using a very unique technique the ball was retrieved (along with all manner of other detritus - including what looked like a grenade)!!!




Upon finding the prized ball, Ted lobbed it towards Ollie who posed for a few snaps with it.



Related blog posts:
- Hastings
- Course Played #43 Hastings (White Rock Gardens)

The Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Championships

The Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Championships took place at 'The Buttons' on Saturday 18th September 2010, with six contenders hoping to be crowned the Global Champion of the 'almost sport' of Crazy Air Squash and take with them the prized silver salver!


The Contenders were:
Scott Lancley (GBR)
Steve Gow (GBR)
Richard Gottfried (GBR)
Emily Gottfried (GBR)
Oliver Florence (GBR)
Gerhard Zimmermann (GER)

Match 1
Oliver Florence beat Emily Gottfried 9-7

Match 2
Gerhard Zimmermann beat Richard Gottfried 9-0

Match 3
Scott Lancley beat Steve Gow 8-5

Final*
Scott Lancley beat Gerhard Zimmermann 5-4

Final*
Scott Lancley beat Oliver Florence (just before kicking-out time) - score unknown!?

* The players with the largest winning margins from the preliminary round matches qualified for the finals

Final Rankings:
1st Scott Lancley
2nd Gerhard Zimmermann
2nd Oliver Florence
4th Steve Gow
5th Emily Gottfried
6th Richard Gottfried


Photos from the event:

Crazy Air Squash Hall of Fame:
2010 - Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Champion - Scott Lancley
2009 - UK Air Hockey & Variants Champion - Scott Lancley
2008 - Crazy Air Squash Champion - Steve Gow

Crazy Air Squash Hall of Shame:
2010 - Richard Gottfried - a 9-nil drubbing (with 9 'own goals') in the Undisputed International Worlds Crazy Air Squash Championships

Results from the previous Crazy Air Squash contest in Hastings:
The Joy of the Amusement Arcade - Crazy Air Squash in Hastings

The Global Crazy Air Squash Tour will be back in Hastings again for another classic contest - full results, photos and a report will follow!

If you know of any other Crazy Air Squash tables outside of Hastings do let us know?

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Gottfried's Minigolf Reports – BMGA Players Championship & BMGA British Open

20th September 2010
Press Information
For Immediate Release

Minigolf Reports – BMGA Players Championship & BMGA British Open

Luton Minigolfer Richard Gottfried was in action in two minigolf tournaments in Hastings, East Sussex over the weekend, as the 18-hole Adventure Golf course at White Rock Gardens played host to the BMGA Players Championship and the BMGA British Open.


On Friday 17th September Richard tied for 11th place in the 29 strong field at the BMGA Players Championship with a round one score of 37(+1), one shot off making the cut to the second round. Brighton’s Peter Emmerson was the eventual winner of the competition.

In the two-day BMGA British Open, Richard made the cut for the second day for the fourth consecutive year with rounds of 38, 43, 40, and 35 for a first-day total of 156. His round of 35 (-1) was a new personal best on the Hastings course.

In the fifth round Richard scored a 33(-3) to record a second personal best, and ended the tournament with a 40 to card a 6 round total of 229 (+13) and finish in 28th place in the 56 strong field. Richard was also ranked 16th of 41 British Players in the tournament.

At the top of the rankings Sweden’s Eirik Seljelid lifted the trophy with a 7 round total of 229(-23), in second place was Finland’s Jouni Valkjärvi, with London’s Nick Chitty in third place.

Richard said “It was a great tournament weekend and I’m pleased with achieving the new personal best scores. I was a bit disappointed with my play though, it was very good at times, but was certainly lacking at others. After a poor start I was definitely more of an enhancement talent at the event rather than a contender, but my round of 33 in the British Open was a highlight, and I was only just outside qualifying in the Players Championships on Friday. I’ve got more practice to do and improvements to be made in my game before the next big event.”


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Landmark minigolf courses visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

The 200th minigolf course visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour was the latest milestone achieved on our Adventurous Minigolf Odyssey.

Since the 30th September 2006 we have:
- Played 202 minigolf courses
- Played minigolf in seven countries
- Played the two highest minigolf courses in the UK - both up The Great Orme Mountain in Llandudno - 1 & 2
- Played minigolf in each home nation in the UK
- Visited a total of 279 minigolf course locations
- And to date Richard Gottfried has played a total of 99 minigolf tournaments (BMGA Tour events & Independent competitions)

Other landmark courses visited and played in the last four years were:
#1 - Portsmouth/Southsea (Treasure Island) - Adventure Golf (Victory Trail)
#25 - Great Yarmouth (Jungle Golf at the Gardens) - Crazy Golf
#50 - Tampere, Finland - Beton
#75 - Guildford (Stoke Park) - Swedish Felt
#100 - South Shields, Tyneside (Smugglers Cove) - Adventure Golf
#125 - Swansea/Abertawe (Singleton Boating Lake) - Crazy Golf
#150 - Southport (The Masters Putting Course) - Arnold Palmer Putting Course
#175 - King Putt (North West Las Vegas, USA) - Indoor Mini Golf

The 100th course location visited overall was at Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk at the 9-hole Arnold Palmer course at Pops Meadow Putting Green.

The 200th overall course location visited was at the Kingsway Golf Centre in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire. The 9-hole Crazy Golf course has now been replaced with The Himalayas Putting Course (which became the 196th minigolf course we played).

The 250th course location visited overall was the Garden Minigolf in East Finchley.

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A more fruitful minigolfing roadtrip - the north east vs. the south east...

Our minigolfing roadtrip to the north east of England proved to be far more fruitful for actually playing minigolf and crazy golf courses than the south east minigolf tour we did the week before!

It was great to hit the 200th Crazy World of Minigolf Tour course played (at Castleford's Xscape Centre), and also to get the ball rolling on the next step of the tour, and the next goals of getting to 300 courses visited, and then hopefully played! 21 locations to go for the former, 98 more to go for the latter!

Conyngham Hall, Knaresborough, Yorkshire - Minigolf courses played #201 and 202

Following the playing of our 200th Minigolf course on the Crazy World of Minigolf, and prior to reaching Newcastle to practice for the Newcastle Open tournament, we stopped off at Knaresborough in Yorkshire as the course list on MiniatureGolfer.com showed there were courses there and it wasn't too far off the beaten track to visit.


We did find the courses, and very good they were too.

Course played #201 was the 18-hole Minigolf Putting Course at Knaresborough's Conyngham Hall Gardens. #202 was the 9-hole Crazy Golf course next to it. In all of our travels the Crazy Golf was definitely the best example of its type (that being a fibreglass base with metal obstacles). We've played versions of the course that have been truly horrible, but this - along with the very well maintained Putting Course - were a pleasure to play. There was also a Mini Golf/Pitch & Putt course that looked fantastic and was quite busy too, unfortunately we didn't have time to play it as well.














As the winner of the Knaresborough-leg of the Irregular Mini Golf Tour competition I received a wood-turned Mushroom 'Trophy', made by a local artisan. A very fine addition to my trophy shelf!

Knaresborough itself was a lovely town to spend some time in, with some very nice views to be had (the town's train bridge/viaduct over the river looks great) and many houses throughout the town have painted doorways, and some have artwork like the Civil War piece below.









Links:
- Conyngham Hall Grounds website
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Not a course played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

At the Xscape centre in Castleford they also had a big two lane TopPutt Putting Machine. We didn't play it.



Links:
- Castleford
- Mini Golf in Castleford
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Castleford Xscape Cosmic Golf

A visit to Xscape and the 199th AND 200th minigolf courses played!!!


On Saturday 11th September 2010 we played the 199th and 200th courses on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour when we visited the Xscape Centre in Castleford.

Both course were Blacklight Indoor Minigolf courses - here they were called 'Cosmic Golf'!



The 199th course played was the 6-hole 'Search for Atlantis Mini Golf'.

Course played #199 - photos







The 200th minigolf course played on our tour was the 9-hole 'Curse of the Mummy in 3D' course.
Course played #200!!!







Both courses were good fun and reminded us a lot of our time in Las Vegas earlier this year when we played the two King Putt courses (1 and 2).







In the '200th Course Played Minigolf Classic Competition' Emily won by one shot with a 15-hole score of 45(+15) over the two rounds.

Since the 30th September 2006 we have now played 200 courses in 206 weeks (and re-visited many of them for tournaments and further fun rounds). We've also visited a further 78 minigolf course locations in that time - unfortunately many were closed, flooded, derelict or demolished!

Links:
- Cosmic Golf at Xscape website
- Xscape Yorkshire website

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Castleford
- Indoor Mini, Crazy and Adventure Golf courses
- Mini Golf in Castleford