The (Crazy) Golf Apocalypse

A minigolf course based on The End Times!

We played the Golf Apocalypse miniature golf course back in August 2012.

The layout had been created as part of the London Pleasure Gardens, an area set-up to tap into the passing trade between the DLR and the London 2012 Olympic Games at the ExCel centre.

Golf Apocalypse was the first really really really mad-cap pop-up course we played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The layout contained all manner of strange minigolf obstacles and we found ourselves playing through the fuselage of a crashed aeroplane, around a pinball machine, a snooker table and into a volcano.

The pop-up miniature golf course was the first we saw to use reclaimed materials in its construction. Something that has become commonplace these days and we've seen and played a number of funky, junky, scrap, ghetto, trash, garbage, graffiti, wreckage, and art-based courses since.

The 9-hole Golf Apocalypse course was the 304th course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Janken-pon: The 2012 International Rock Paper Scissors Championships

Looking back at the 2012 International Rock Paper Scissors Championships in London.

We competed in the International Rock Paper Scissors Championships in London 14 years ago this week. How time flies!

Competitive Rock Paper Scissors draws a crowd!

We teamed up with Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author Dave Barry and his daughter Sophie from the USA to take part in the huge event.

The San Marino Rock Paper Scissors team

More than 150 athletes from 16 teams competed in the Wacky Nation organised tournament held at the Knight’s Templar Pub on Chancery Lane in London on Thursday 9th August 2012.

As we couldn’t play as a combined 'UK-USA' team we decided to represent the plucky nation of San Marino instead.

Prior to the start of the competition I challenged football hard man Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock to a 'friendly' Rock Paper Scissors contest to warm-up.

Clash of the titans

Needless to say I won the shootout! It was an ill-tempered clash with plenty of foul language and gamesmanship. The heated battle almost resulted in a knock-out punch too!

International Rock Paper Scissors

Matches in the Round Robin stage of the main-event were played in a ‘first to four points’ format with each player in the team taking it in turns to win a point by competing in a ‘best of three’ Rock Paper Scissors game. Our team managed to rack up a win-loss record of won four, lost one.

Before any teams could advance from our pool a play-off was required as Austria and the Lapland 'A' team had also finished with four wins and one loss!

Thankfully our team was able to win both matches to advance alongside Lapland 'A', with the Austrians sent home.

The first semi-final saw San Marino take on the Vatican City team in a ‘first to six points’ match.

Unfortunately we lost and were therefore unable to go for gold.

Sadly we just missed out on the podium, suffering defeat to Great Britain in the repechage to ultimately finish in fourth place.

The final was a battle between the might of Lapland 'A' and the Vatican City, with the Laplanders finishing on top and grabbing the gold medal.

Competitive Rock Paper Scissors

Getting to the semi-finals of the International Rock Paper Scissors Championships was the furthest I have ever reached in an RPS tournament (so far), having been knocked out in the preliminary rounds of national competitions held in 2010 and 2011.

Rock Paper Scissors tournaments around the world...

Do you know of any other Rock Paper Scissors tournaments or championships that take place in the UK or around the world?

The Brewmaster's Open minigolf tournament at the Camden Town Brewery in London

Playing crazy golf in a brewery!

The Brewmaster's Open minigolf tournament took place at the Camden Town Brewery in London on this day in 2012.

We competed in The Brewmaster's Open at the Camden Town Brewery 14 years ago today. It was part of the brilliant summer of sport in the capital.

Richard Gottfried, Christopher Gottfried, Alan Norman, Emily Gottfried, Seth Thomas and Simon Hall at The Brewmaster's Open

More than 200 players competed in the tournament on the pop-up 5-hole crazy golf course.

Richard Gottfried, Alan Norman and Seth Thomas on the podium at The Brewmaster's Open

Alan 'Stormin' Norman won The Brewmaster's Open with his round of 8. I finished in tied 2nd place alongside Seth Thomas.

The scorecards for the event

Related blog posts:

• Camden Town Brewery
• Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Link:

• Camden Town Brewery

Crazy Golf at Wonderland in Telford, Shropshire

A look at the Jolly Rodger crazy golf course at Wonderland in Telford, Shropshire.

We visited the milestone 500th course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour 14 years ago today.

We played the 9-hole Treasure Island Crazy Golf course at Wonderland in Telford, Shropshire on Friday 13th July 2012.

We've now been to 1,127 miniature golf courses since 2006.

Link:

• Wonderland Telford

Related blog posts:

• Telford
• Wonderland

Crazy Golf at Wonderland in Telford, Shropshire, England

Last week I asked the question - Where in the world was this crazy golf course visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour?

The Jolly Rodger Crazy Golf course at Wonderland Telford in July 2012

The answer - Wonderland in Telford, Shropshire, England.

The crazy golf course was the 300th played and 500th visited overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Check out the Wonderland website for more information.

Guess the Crazy Golf course location...

Where in the world was this crazy golf course visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour?

Golf Apocalypse crazy golf

Looking back at the Golf Apocalypse crazy golf course in London.

We played the Golf Apocalypse miniature golf course back in August 2012. The layout had been created as part of the London Pleasure Gardens, an area set-up to tap into the passing trade between the DLR and the London 2012 Olympic Games at the ExCel centre.

Golf Apocalypse was the first really really really mad-cap pop-up course we played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The layout contained all manner of strange minigolf obstacles and we found ourselves playing through the fuselage of a crashed aeroplane, around a pinball machine, a snooker table and into a volcano.

The pop-up miniature golf course was the first to use reclaimed materials in its construction. Something that has become commonplace these days and we've seen and played a number of funky, junky, scrap, ghetto, trash, garbage, graffiti, wreckage, and art-based courses since.

The 9-hole Golf Apocalypse course was the 304th course played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Related blog posts:

• A Mini Golf Apocalypse
• Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

The Chrizy Golf Masters minigolf competition in Manchester

I won the Chrizy Golf Masters minigolf tournament in Manchester 13 years ago today!

The first - and to date only - Chrizy Golf Masters minigolf tournament was held on a festive-themed pop-up crazy golf course at Piccadilly Place in Manchester on the 30th November 2012.

The Chrizy Golf course was gone once the 2012 festive season was over and the building remained empty, or used for other pop-ups, until the team at Junkyard Golf made it their home for another minigolf course. That layout was there for a couple of years. They have since moved on and can be found at a permanent venue at First Street in the city.

Our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The Chrizy Golf course was the 313th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We've now been to 1,111 courses since September 2006.

Liminal spaces - Chrizy Golf Crazy Golf in Manchester

A look at a pop-up Christmas crazy golf course.

The Chrizy Golf Christmas-themed crazy golf course was a pop-up minigolf course in Manchester during the 2012 festive season.

I played the course in the Chrizy Golf Masters minigolf tournament back in November 2012.

Related blog posts:

• Liminal Space
• Crazy Golf
• Chrizy Golf
• Junemas
• Christmas
• Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

National Miniature Golf Day Eve

Tomorrow is National Miniature Golf Day!

Emily playing The Himalayas course at the St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club back in 2012 - the course is the world's first miniature golf course

Will you be playing miniature golf tomorrow?

Playing The Himalayas course at the St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club

There are two 'miniature golf days' each year.

• National Miniature Golf Day is always on the second Saturday in May.
• The other minigolf day, Miniature Golf Day, is always on the 21st September. In 2025 it falls on a Sunday.

There are so many places to play minigolf now, with new courses opening up all the time. Including public courses, as well as those at pay to enter attractions, holiday parks, hotels and other 'non-standard' locations you can find over 1,300 miniature golf layouts around the UK and British Isles (including Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, and other islands)!

The Chrizy Golf Masters minigolf competition in Manchester

I won the Chrizy Golf Masters miniature golf tournament 12 years ago today!

The first - and to date only - Chrizy Golf Masters minigolf tournament was held on a festive-themed pop-up crazy golf course at Piccadilly Place in Manchester on the 30th November 2012.

The Chrizy Golf course was the 313th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We've now been to more than 1,000 courses since September 2006.

The Chrizy Golf course was gone once the 2012 festive season was over and the building remained empty, or used for other pop-ups, until the team at Junkyard Golf made it their home for another minigolf course. That layout was there for a couple of years. They have since moved on and can be found at a permanent venue at First Street in the city.

Memories of the 2012 Oslympic Games

Looking back at the 2012 Oswestry Games multi-sport event in Shropshire.

Back in the summer of 2012 we were proud to be a part of the Oswestry Games. The festival of sport in Shropshire saw the sport of minigolf included in a multi-sport games event in the UK for the first time.

The coaches and competitors in the Pro-Am minigolf tournament at Cae Glas Park

The Oswestry Games, or 'Oslympics' as they became known, were a mammoth undertaking for the organisers at the Oswestry Sports Council and it was a real pleasure and honour for Emily and I to organise the minigolf events along with other coaches and players from the national tour.

The Oswestry Games consisted of more than 50 sports and cultural events held over ten-days in July 2012.

Minigolfing at the Oswestry Games

Things got off to a great start on our first night in the town - not only were we recognised while on our way to the sporting quiz night at the town's cricket club, but we also won the bronze medal in the quiz itself.

The bronze medal winning quizzing minigolfers

The Saturday morning of the Games saw us organise coaching sessions for locals youth and adult players on the 18-hole 'Eternit' miniature golf course in Cae Glas Park in the town centre. This was followed by the BMGA Oswestry Games Pro-Am Minigolf Classic team tournament in the afternoon - won by Marc 'The Force' Chapman, Steve Sturdy and Chris Powell.

On the tricky Cae Glas Park miniature golf course

Sunday was the closing day of the Games and a large number of clubs, regional organisations and national governing bodies gathered at the Leisure Centre for a jam-packed day of sporting fun, games and competition.

Playing the Putterfingers Crazy Golf course at the Oswestry Games

With a Putterfingers modular Crazy Golf course we took centre stage and had a large number of the public, athletes and competitors from other events joining us for a round on the 9-hole course.

We scooped Gold, Silver and Bronze medals at the Games - and what very fine medals they are too

We ended our trip to the Oslympics by contesting the BMGA & Putterfingers Oswestry Games Minigolf Championship - which I won!

The podium for the pro-tournament - Marc Chapman, me and John Moore

Did you know - Miniature Golf was once played during the actual Olympic Games! While it was not officially part of the Games programme, the participants in the Golf tournament at the 1904 Olympic Games held in St Louis, USA also competed in a Putting Championship on a specially built miniature golf course at the Glen Echo Country Club.

It'd be great to see miniature golf become an Olympic sport one day. And we'd also like to see the Oswestry Games return once more. Perhaps when the UK next hosts the Olympics, minigolf will be an event, and Oswestry will host their Games again.

The future for the sport of miniature golf looks bright, with the international governing body - the World Minigolf Sport Federation - gaining further recognition on the global stage all the time.

Back in 1989 the sport (Bahn Golf) was a demonstration event in the IWGA World Games in Karlsruhe, Germany. The WMF is also hoping to have minigolf included in other multi-sport events in the future.

We're hoping to one day visit the Olimpiapark Munchen too as the venue has an eternit miniature golf course that was set-up in the Athletes Village for the 1972 Olympic Games. That'd be a great course to play on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.