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

The Minigolfer's Guide to Marketing ebook

My ebook to help minigolf players better market themselves, their clubs, tournaments and courses is available to purchase from Amazon and Kobo.

A BIG thank you to everyone who has bought a copy of the book since I published it in May 2017. It's very much appreciated.

I've been really pleased to see the ebook bought and used by a number of minigolf associations and federations, course owners and managers, bloggers, course reviewers and competition players around the world.

As a minigolfer with over a decade of experience as a tournament competitor and years of experience in marketing and communications I designed the guide so that anyone interested or involved in minigolf could help promote the game. It's a niche title, but an audience and subject I know a lot about.

Playing in the World Crazy Golf Championships

Writing the book was brilliant and enabled me to bring two areas of my life together. I've worked in marketing since 2003 and have played minigolf since I was a child. Stepping up to compete on the national minigolf tour circuit and in international tournaments opened my eyes to the potential of the game. I’ve also had the honour of serving on the committees of the British Minigolf Association (BMGA) and the World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF).

Minigolf is a sport for all. People of all ages, sexes, backgrounds and abilities can pick up a putter and play the game.

When Emily and I began travelling around the country on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour there were around 600 courses in the UK. We've now visited 948 courses, including 39 overseas.

There are a huge amount of interesting and fun stories to tell and positive aspects to highlight to potential players, the media, sponsors and the wider sporting community. The Minigolfer's Guide to Marketing should give federations, associations, clubs and our fellow players ideas, inspiration and support in their marketing efforts.

Much of the guidance could also be applied to a number of other sports clubs and organisations to help raise their profile and boost memberships.

Buy The Minigolfer's Guide to Marketing ebook on Amazon.

Buy The Minigolfer's Guide to Marketing ebook on Kobo.

While a lot of the minigolf world is out of action, plans are still being drawn up for new courses, work is ongoing to finish courses where permissible, and ideas formulated for when it's safe to get back out on the course. If you'd like to have a chat about competitive socialising, minigolf, marketing, or minigolf marketing do get in touch.

Happy World Book Day

Today is World Book Day.

Please do check out my minigolf marketing ebook.

My ebook to help minigolf players better market themselves, their clubs, tournaments and courses is now available to purchase from Amazon and Kobo.

Minigolf is a sport for all. People of all ages, sexes, backgrounds and abilities can pick up a putter and play the game

As a minigolfer with over a decade of experience as a tournament competitor and years of experience in marketing and communications I designed the guide so that anyone interested or involved in minigolf could help promote the game. It's a niche title, but an audience and subject I know a lot about.

I've been so pleased to see the book bought and used by a number of competition players, course owners and managers, bloggers, course reviewers, minigolf associations and federations around the world.

Writing the book was brilliant and enabled me to bring two areas of my life together. I've worked in marketing since 2003 and have played minigolf since I was a child. Stepping up to compete on the national minigolf tour circuit and in international tournaments opened my eyes to the potential of the game. I’ve also had the honour of serving on the committees of the British Minigolf Association (BMGA) and the World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF).

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.

Minigolf consultancy

As marketing and sales professionals Emily and I use our extensive knowledge and skills in supporting and promoting the game we enjoy as a hobby.

Since 2006 we have visited more than 900 minigolf courses in the UK and overseas. This has given us an insight into many aspects of minigolf, from course operators, pop-ups, competitions, clubs, national associations, international federations, suppliers, designers, builders and technology providers.

At our 900th course visit - the North Bay Mini Golf course in Scarborough

Our involvement in the world of minigolf includes blogging, media relations, sponsorship, course design, advice and consultancy, event organisation and promotion, and participation in tournaments around the world.

The Ham & Egger Files blog contains over 3,000 posts that have attracted 1.5 million page views.

Emily playing at Joe Joe Jim's Crazy Crazy Golf at Fletcher's Arcade in Cofton Hackett, Birmingham

As a volunteer I served three terms on the Executive Committee of the British Minigolf Association and was a member of the World Minigolf Sport Federation’s Marketing and Media Committee for six years.

Putting at Lane7 in Newcastle

Please do get in touch to find out how we can help with your minigolf, crazy golf and adventure golf activities.

You can also buy my ebook 'The Minigolfer’s Guide to Marketing' on Amazon and Kobo.

Link:
- Marketing consultancy

Related blog posts:
- Minigolf
- Marketing

Player profiles:
- Richard Gottfried
- Emily Gottfried

The Minigolfer's Guide to Marketing ebook

My ebook to help minigolf players better market themselves, their clubs, tournaments and courses is now available to purchase from Kobo.

You can also buy The Minigolfer's Guide to Marketing ebook on Amazon.

I've been so pleased to see the book bought and used by a number of competition players, course owners and managers, bloggers, course reviewers, minigolf associations and federations around the world.

As a minigolfer with over a decade of experience as a tournament competitor and years of experience in marketing and communications I designed the guide so that anyone interested or involved in minigolf could help promote the game. It's a niche title, but an audience and subject I know a lot about.

Playing in the World Crazy Golf Championships in Hastings

Writing the book was brilliant and enabled me to bring two areas of my life together. I've worked in marketing since 2003 and have played minigolf since I was a child. Stepping up to compete on the national minigolf tour circuit and in international tournaments opened my eyes to the potential of the game. I’ve also had the honour of serving on the committees of the British Minigolf Association (BMGA) and the World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF).

Minigolf is a sport for all. People of all ages, sexes, backgrounds and abilities can pick up a putter and play the game.

When Emily and I began travelling around the country on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour there were around 600 courses in the UK. We've now visited 918 courses, including 39 overseas, and there are still many more for us to play. The game is really booming and not a week goes by without the announcement of a new course opening.

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

There are a huge amount of interesting and fun stories to tell and positive aspects to highlight to potential players, the media, sponsors and the wider sporting community. The Minigolfer's Guide to Marketing should give federations, associations, clubs and our fellow players ideas, inspiration and support in their marketing efforts.

Much of the guidance could also be applied to a number of other sports clubs and organisations to help raise their profile and boost memberships.

The Minigolfer's Guide to Marketing is available on Amazon and Kobo

A very BIG thank you to everyone who has bought a copy of the book to date. It's very much appreciated.

Links:
- The Minigolfer's Guide to Marketing ebook on Amazon
- The Minigolfer's Guide to Marketing ebook on Kobo

Related blog posts:
- The Minigolfer's Guide to Marketing
- Marketing
- Minigolf

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.

Minigolf bloggers

To celebrate my eleventh year of blogging at the Ham and Egger Files I wanted to highlight the hard work and dedication of others involved in the promotion and support of minigolf through their blogging.

Back in March 2015 we met up with fellow pro minigolf, blogger and course reviewer Pat Sheridan of The Putting Penguin. We had a fun round at Putt in the Park in Wandsworth, London

Some of the bloggers post regularly, others for specific events and others on a mixture of channels and platforms. Here's a list of the active blogs I know about:

• Adventures in Minigolfing by Marion Homer
• Mini Golf App
• Mini Golf Guide
• Minigolfnews.com
• Putterfingers
• Putting Edge
• The Ham and Egger Files by Richard and Emily Gottfried
• Two Crazy Golfers
• UrbanCrazy
• Waddling to the Top - The Putting Penguin blog by Pat Sheridan

These are four great minigolf review websites that aren't technically blogs, but are brilliant resources:

• A Couple of Putts
• Mini Golf Review Site
• Mini Golf Reviews
• The Putting Penguin

There are also two Vlogs I know of:

• Allan Cox - The Putter King
• Rainforest Adventure Golf's Vlog

And there's one minigolf podcast:

• Mini Putthead podcast

There are also a number of minigolf players and courses out there who use their own websites, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to post about their activities. Check out the Minigolf List I curate on Twitter, there are more than 1,100 accounts in it.

Matt Bellner, aka Mattie 5, is another Pro Putter worth a follow on social media.

There are also a number of blogs that have become dormant over the years and they are listed below:

• Forever Pushing Buttons by Seth Thomas
• Have Putter Will Travel by Jon Drexler
• Mini Ballin'
• Mini-Golf Adventures
• Putt Putt Long Island
• The Force Report by Marc Chapman
• The Minigolfer by Oliver Florence
• The Putter King
• The Putting Predictor
• Tiger World by Tiger Pragnell
• Minigolf Blog by Will Donnelly

If you know of any other minigolf blogs I may have missed, do get in touch!

Do check out the guest blogs posted here on the Ham and Egger Files too.

Blogiversary of the Ham and Egger Files

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

Playing hole 5 of the 11-hole Crazy Golf course at York Golf Range in Towthorpe near Strensall earlier this year. The course was #764 on our travels

I'm often asked how a blog that is (predominantly) 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 modicum of 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 stems 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.

My second ever blog post was also on the 21st December and about the fine sport of Finger Jousting.

This post is the 2,750th!

Last year I celebrated my blogiversary by playing the Lost Valley Adventure Golf course at Amazonia in Bolton. The course was #720

Our interest in minigolf and what would 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 my joining of the British Minigolf Association - a competition circuit I made my actual debut on in Southend-on-Sea on the 28th April.

Emily putting at the 11-hole Pirate-themed Adventure Golf course at the Funland Themepark in 2008. The course was the 69th played on our tour. The blog post about our visit doesn't include a single photo of me, that's a rarity!

Since my first year of blogging Emily and I have visited nearly 800 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 Butler Cup Holiday on the Buses Crazy Golf tournament in Prestatyn, one of two tournaments I won in Wales

Thank you to everyone who has ever read a post, commented, shared, or guest blogged on the site, it's very much appreciated.

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.

Ten years of The Ham & Egger Files

Today marks the tenth anniversary of The Ham & Egger Files blog.

On the 21st December 2006 I wrote the first post introducing the blog and outlining my participation in many obscure and minority sports with the aim of having as much fun as possible with the modicum of sporting ability I have! The second post was about Finger Jousting.

I've had a lot of FUN blogging over the last ten years

Since then the 2,381 posts I've written have received 1.1 million page views from people in 110 countries.

Our travels have taken Emily and I to twelve countries, 500+ places in the UK, 220+ seasides and 719 miniature golf courses.

While many of my blog posts have been about Crazy Golf and Minigolf, I've also blogged about Coeliac Disease and living on a lifelong gluten free diet, travel, social history and a lot of other sports and games.

Related blog posts:
- My most viewed blog post - Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in and around London
- Sports and Games played

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.

New look from Green's Gluten Free Beer

A gluten free beer update from Green's.

I haven't blogged about gluten free stuff for a little while - it's not been intentional, but life as a busy coeliac hasn't left me with much time of late. And it's not like my Coeliac Disease is going away any time soon so there'll be plenty of time for me to post on one of my favourite subjects.

The prompt for this blog post was the receipt of a box of gluten free beer from Green's! It was a very pleasant surprise. I'm looking forward to drinking them over the Christmas period.

The Green's range - visit the Green's website for more info on the eight gluten free beers

I've tried the beers before and at the first Herts & Beds Coeliac Food Fayre I attended I enjoyed sampling the wide-range Green's produce. It's always nice to have a choice.

Green's tell me they'll be closed over the Christmas break, but if you're in need of a fix of some more booze over the festive season you can still get hold of bottles at Ocado, Sainsbury's and Pizza Express.

Check out the Green's website for more info. You can buy the full range of Green's gluten free beers in their online shop.

I've blogged about gluten free beer, ale and lager a fair bit before (I am a fan of a tipple) - and a few years ago I got some of Green's beer flavoured mustard! Check out the links below for more gluten free related blog posts.

Links:
- Green's website
- Green's online shop
- Green's on Twitter
- Green's on Facebook

Related blog posts:
- Gluten free
- Coeliac
- Gluten free beer

The Game That Got Away sports blog

My friend and minigolf rival Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley has started up a new sports blog.

The Game That Got Away is dedicated to Rugby League and will include opinion, analysis and features on the sport.

Marc (left) and me outside the now demolished Greyfriars Bus Station in Northampton during the epic year of sport that was 2012

Find out more about Marc's blog here.

Links:
- The Game That Got Away blog
- The Game That Got Away on Twitter

Related blog posts:
- Marc Bazeley
- Blog
- Blogging

Crazy World of Minigolf Tour is now on Facebook too

Check out the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook.

We've started a Facebook page to share our blogging and adventures around the UK's mini, crazy and adventure golf courses.

Check out the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour page.

Playing the Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course in Skegness, Lincolnshire. Course #234 on our tour

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- List of courses visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour