Crazy about Mini Golf Balls

A blog about golf balls.

Practicing for the Blackpool Pleasure Beach Open - one of them went in. Eventually

As an avid collector of ephemera and souvenirs from the world of miniature golf I was interested to recently receive a follow on Twitter from Martyn Vallance @Logo_Golf_Balls.

Martyn is crazy about golf balls and has a collection of over 70,000!

Before I mentioned it, Martyn didn't realise there were quite so many specialist balls used in the sport of minigolf (not many people do unless they dip their toe into the sporty side of crazy golf).

Over 10,000 minigolf sport balls have been produced in the last 70 years!

With a Metro Golf Centre Mini Golf branded golf ball on a visit to play the 9-hole course in Barnet in 2010

Each minigolf sport ball has special qualities that allow for a variety of shots to be played on the range of different courses and obstacles - the balls range from 'dead' where there is no bounce, through to super bouncy balls for multiple rebounds.

A selection of minigolf sport balls I took to a recent tournament weekend in Hastings

Together with my fellow curator of the Virtual Crazy Golf Museum, Tim 'Ace Man' Davies, we've built up quite a collection of stuff from all types of minigolf, from scorecards, pencils, leaflets and postcard, to pin badges, tokens, jigsaw puzzles and games. Tim has even found a sugar cube from a minigolf course!

We've also got a lot of balls between us. Check out the 'Other Miniature Golf Ephemera' page on the Crazy Golf Museum website for more info and pics.

A set of four golf balls from the KISS Glow-in-the-Dark Indoor Minigolf course in Las Vegas

I've also had a look through my collection and dug out the following 'normal' golf balls that are branded with minigolf-specific info and/or are tournament approved balls. I've also picked out a selection of my favourite minigolf sport balls.

The other side of a KISS by Monster Mini Golf ball

A World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) approved competition ball

The other side of a special WMF branded ball given to delegates at the WMF Media Workshop in Vienna, Austria in 2010

A British Minigolf Association golf ball used at the 2013 World Crazy Golf Championships in Hastings

The other side of the World Crazy Golf Championship ball

A ball from the Japanese Putter King minigolf franchise and app

The other side of the Putter King minigolf ball

The official ball of the World Crazy Golf Championship 2014

A ball from the mini-golf course that was in Devonshire Square, London in 2009

A ball given to people who played the Lyle & Scott 'Wooly Golf' course in Covent Garden, London in 2012

The official ball of the 2008 Nations Cup minigolf tournament in Tampere, Finland - the event was me and Emily's debut for the Great Britain team 

The official ball of the 2011 World Adventure Golf Masters competition held in Hastings. The ball was made by 3D-Minigolf

The Finnish Heavy Gentlemen 100 Year Anniversary ball by 3D-Minigolf

The Minigolfnews.com ball #5 by Ravensburg

A Tim 'Ace Man' Davies Legends ball by M&G

A NIFO 2 minigolf sport ball - a great ball to use on many minigolf lanes (holes). Made by NIFO

A Fun-Sports 2 ball - there are a number of Fun-Sports balls and they're a good entry level type of ball to use

In 2009 I won the Blackpool Pleasure Beach Open minigolf competition held on the 12-hole Adventure Golf course in the seaside resort. The trophy I was presented for winning the tournament was a magnificent and BIG golf ball mounted on a wooden plinth

Check out the @Logo_Golf_Balls to keep up-to-date with Martyn's collection as it continues to grow, as well as The Crazy Golf Museum for all things mini and crazy golf-related.

Links:
- @Logo_Golf_Balls
- The Crazy Golf Museum
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Related blog posts:
- New (Minigolf) Balls Please
- What's in a Minigolf Kitbag?
- Some new minigolf kit from Fun-Sports
- Ephemera
- Merchandise