What a year of blogging

Blimey, that was quite a year of blogging here on the Ham & Egger Files!

Thank you for reading.

Many thanks to everyone who has contributed photos, info and guest posts too.

It's all much appreciated.

All the very best for 2021.

Blogiversary of the Ham and Egger Files

I've been blogging for 14 years today.

I'm often asked me how a blog that is mostly about miniature golf has the name the 'Ham and Egger Files'? The answer is that it didn't initially start out life as a minigolf blog.

I published my first post about how I planned to participate in as many obscure and minority sports as I could and see what would happen with the limited sporting ability I have!

The term 'ham and egger' has connotations ranging from that of 'ordinary person' to that of 'loser'. The origin of the term comes from prize fighters whose modest skills wouldn’t let them win large purses. Therefore, the fighter or their manager - who received a percentage of purses won - were never able to afford to eat better than ham and eggs.

Since that first post I published more than 4,000 posts! Admittedly a large number of them have been about minigolf.

Our interest in minigolf and what would soon become our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour had actually begun on the 30th September 2006, but I didn't publish a post about the sport until the 29th January 2007 when I announced that I had joined the British Minigolf Association - a competition circuit I made my actual debut on in Southend-on-Sea on the 28th April 2007.

Since then we've visited 956 miniature golf courses. 917 of those have been in the British Isles, while 39 have been in eleven overseas countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Poland, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and the USA.

If you're wondering what happened to the quest to play lots of different sports, that has continued and I've certainly participated in some interesting events over the years!

A huge thank you goes to everyone who has ever read one of my posts, commented, shared, or guest blogged on the site, it is very much appreciated.

A gluten free Christmas

Check out Coeliac UK's Christmas campaign online and using the hashtag #GFChristmas.

Thank you to @marketing_gott who shares his experiences of eating out and eating in at #GFChristmas: https://t.co/MRLO2TvFK1 pic.twitter.com/ofFvnE0o44

— Coeliac_UK (@Coeliac_UK) December 14, 2020

Thank you to Richard Gottfried - Marketing Consultant who shares his experiences of eating out and eating in at...

Posted by Coeliac UK on Monday, 14 December 2020

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Coeliac UK (@coeliacuk)

It's always good to be able to raise awareness of Coeliac Disease and you can read more of my Tales from a Gluten Free Christmas in this Christmas blog post.

Last Christmas at The Oxford Place in Leeds

Picture Postcard Magic - REALLY CRAZY GOLF!

The latest post on the Reflections of a Bygone Age blog is about Golf. John Claydon’s Confessions of a Collector post includes some mentions of Crazy Golf.

Picture Postcard Magic - Back in Brighton

Here's my latest post for the Reflections of a Bygone Age blog.

Picture Postcard Magic - Abingdon-on-Thames

Check out my latest guest post on the Picture Postcard Magic blog from Reflections of a Bygone Age. It's about my home town of Abingdon.

International minigolf on the Dull Men's Club blog

Check out the latest blog post on the Dull Men's Club website, it's about us and how we're coping in lockdown.

Minigolfers competing internationally from living room during lockdown — Richard and Emily Gottfried

At the North Bay Crazy Golf course in Scarborough last June. It was our 900th course visit. What a difference a year makes

Picture Postcard Magic - Barry Island

Check out my new guest post about Barry Island postcards on the Picture Postcard Magic blog from Reflections of a Bygone Age.

Picture Postcard Magic - Bournemouth

Check out my guest post about minigolf postcards from Bournemouth on the Picture Postcard Magic blog from Reflections of a Bygone Age.

Guest blogger Richard Gottfried, King of mini-golf with a postcard collection to match, makes his debut in Picture Postcard Magic. What do you think of this theme for collecting? ⛳️https://t.co/H8hYRTKGei#MiniGolf pic.twitter.com/d2AldN0zOO

— Brian Lund (@Postcard_World) April 28, 2020

Minigolf postcards from Bournemouth

Check out my guest post for the Picture Postcard Magic blog from Reflections of a Bygone Age.

World of Bun Throwing: A visit to Abingdon's County Hall Museum

World of Bun Throwing: A visit to Abingdon's County Hall Museum: On Saturday we were back in my home town and visited the County Hall Museum.

Check out the full post from our visit on my World of Bun Throwing blog.

Blogiversary of the Ham and Egger Files

Today marks thirteen years since the Ham and Egger Files began.

Thirteen years ago today I began blogging - where has the time gone!

People often ask me how a blog that is mostly about minigolf has the name the 'Ham and Egger Files'? The answer is that it didn't initially start out life as a minigolf blog.

On the 21st December 2006 I published my first post about how I planned to participate in as many obscure and minority sports as I could and see what would happen with the limited sporting ability I have!

The term 'ham and egger' has connotations ranging from that of 'ordinary person' to that of 'loser'. The origin of the term comes from prize fighters whose modest skills wouldn’t let them win large purses. Therefore, the fighter or their manager - who received a percentage of purses won - were never able to afford to eat better than ham and eggs.

Since that first post I have gone on to publish more than 3,500 posts! Admittedly most of them have been about minigolf.

At our 900th minigolf course - the North Bay Crazy Golf course in Scarborough

Our interest in minigolf and what would soon become our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour had actually begun on the 30th September 2006, but I didn't publish a post about the sport until the 29th January 2007 when I announced that I had joined the British Minigolf Association - a tournament circuit I made my actual debut on in Southend-on-Sea on the 28th April 2007.

Since my first year of blogging Emily and I have now visited 940 miniature golf courses, played in hundreds of tournaments and competed in lots of different sports and games. I've won quite a few titles along the way too, not too bad for a Ham n' Egger.

Back in 2006 we were still playing dodgeball and we ran leagues into 2007. I've dipped (dodged and dived) back into the sport intermittently over the years and just recently have got back into playing the ultimate underdog sport.

Dodgeballing at the Cheadle & Gatley Griffins Dodgeball Club

A massive thank you goes out to everyone who has ever read one of my posts, commented, shared, or guest blogged on the site, it's very much appreciated.

Emily and I are always happy to hear about new minigolf courses, new sports and games, new places to visit and interesting things to write about. Please do get in touch if you have any ideas or suggestions for future blog posts.

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems. Please do sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter too.

600th blog post of the year

What a year of blogging and minigolf it's been.

This year has been my biggest year of blogging.

This is my 600th blog post of 2019.

October was also my bloggiest month of all-time as I published 101 posts on the site.

Earlier this month the Ham and Egger Files hit 1.6 million page views too!

Thank you to everyone for reading the blog and contributing with photos of courses, tips about where to play and news on new courses opening.

600 is a significant number for us.

When our minigolfing adventures began in 2006 there were 600 miniature golf courses in the UK. There are now around 1,200 places to play the game.

We visited our 600th course overall at the Santa Fe Fun Park in Swanage, Dorset in the summer of 2015.

Jurassic Adventure Golf in Swanage

We visited our 600th course in the UK on that same two-week road-trip when we played Mini Golf at Goodrington Sands in Paignton, Devon.

Mini Golf in Goodrington Sands

We've now been to 899 courses in the British Isles and 938 courses overall.

It's very very very likely that we'll visit our 900th miniature golf course in the British Isles this week!

666 views on my Halloween minigolf guest blog post at Minigolfnews

Spooky!

My Halloween-themed minigolf guest blog post has had 666 views so far!

My bloggiest year to date

2019 is my bloggiest year since I first posted on the 21st December 2006. I've published 451 posts, including this one, so far this year.

My previous best was 448 posts in 2011.

It's not really surprising I've written so much this year when you consider all of the new minigolf courses opening, new gluten free places to eat at, miniature railways we've found and courses we've visited.

The Ham & Egger Files now contains 3,387 posts and has received more than 1.5 million page views.

At the Victoria Park Crazy Golf course in Scarborough. We hit our milestone 900th minigolf course visit while in the seaside town this summer

Thank you to everyone who reads the blog, shares links on social media, comments on posts, contributes and guest blogs here. It's all very much appreciated.

I wonder if 2019 will be the first year I reach 500 blog posts?

Please do give our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel, follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems, and subscribe to our minigolf newsletter.

Minigolfnews blog: Bringing an old minigolf course back to life

My latest blog post at Minigolfnews is about the work of Blackpool Fulfilling Lives and Blackpool & the Fylde Street Angels and the project bringing an old Crazy Golf course back to life.

The course wasn't in great condition before the project got underway

The teams at the two organisations in the seaside resort have joined forces to refresh and reopen the Princess Parade Crazy Golf course on Blackpool's North Shore.

You can view my guest blog posts at Minigolfnews.

The crazy world of UK minigolf - a guest blog post

Check out my new guest post on the Putterfingers Crazy Golf blog where I look at the increasing popularity of minigolf in the UK.

My guest blog post for Putterfingers is about the increasing popularity of Crazy Golf in the UK

New guest blog post on Minigolfnews

Check out my latest guest blog post on Minigolfnews.

At our 900th minigolf course visit, at the North Bay Crazy Golf course in Scarborough

Blogiversary of the Ham and Egger Files

Today marks twelve years since the Ham and Egger Files began.

Twelve years ago today I began blogging - time has certainly flown by!

I've loved blogging for the last decade and a bit. Writing about the interesting places and weird and wonderful things we've done has been marvellous

I'm often asked how a blog that is mostly about minigolf has the name the 'Ham and Egger Files'? Well, it didn't initially start out life as a minigolf blog.

Back on the 21st December 2006 I published my first post about how I planned to participate in as many obscure and minority sports as I could and see what would happen with the limited sporting ability I have!

The term 'ham and egger' has connotations ranging from that of 'ordinary person' to that of 'loser'. The origin of the term comes from prize fighters whose modest skills wouldn’t let them win large purses. Therefore, the fighter or their manager - who received a percentage of purses won - were never able to afford to eat better than ham and eggs.

Since that first post I have gone on to publish 2,933 posts! Most of them have been about minigolf.

Our interest in minigolf and what would soon become our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour had actually begun on the 30th September 2006, but I didn't publish a post about the sport until the 29th January 2007 when I announced that I had joined the British Minigolf Association - a competition circuit I made my actual debut on in Southend-on-Sea on the 28th April 2007.

Since my first year of blogging Emily and I have now visited 859 miniature golf courses, played in hundreds of tournaments and competed in lots of different sports and games. I've won quite a few titles along the way too, not too bad for a Ham n' Egger.

This year I won the Paradise Island Adventure Golf Open - a title I'd wanted to win for years

A BIG thank you goes out to everyone who has ever read one of my posts, commented, shared, or guest blogged on the site, it's very much appreciated.

Emily and I are happy to hear about new minigolf courses, new sports and games, new places to visit and interesting things to write about. Get in touch if you have any ideas or suggestions for future posts.

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems. Please do sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter too.

Blogging on Minigolfnews

At the end of last year I began guest blogging at Minigolfnews and the team at the site are keen for more minigolfers to get involved.

There's plenty of great stuff to shout about in the world of minigolf

Check out the blog section of Minigolfnews to see more posts and find out more.