Minigolf report from the BMGA British Club Championships in Hastings

Double success at the BMGA British Club Championships in Hastings.

The 2015 BMGA British Club Champions, the Midlands Minigolf Club team of Seth Thomas, John Moore, Michael Smith (C) and Richard Gottfried

Leagrave minigolfers Richard and Emily Gottfried had a successful weekend in Hastings as Richard and his Midlands Minigolf Club team-mates won the BMGA British Club Championships, while Emily and the Cambridgeshire & Essex Mini Golf Club finished in third place.

Eight teams from five of the UK’s miniature golf clubs competed in the national championship played on the 18-hole Pirate Adventure Golf course on Hastings seafront. The Midlands Minigolf Club won the title after achieving an undefeated run in the day’s five matches.

Minigolfer Richard Gottfried playing the 15th hole in the final of the BMGA British Club Championships in Hastings

In the group stage the Midlands team, consisting of Richard, Seth Thomas, John Moore and captained by Michael Smith, defeated the Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club, the Kent Minigolf Club Hurricanes and the Cambridgeshire & Essex Mini Golf Club. In the semi-final the team beat defending and four-time champions the Kent Minigolf Club.

They then faced the Sussex Wasps Mini Golf Club in the final, and emerged champions with a 5&3 win.

Richard said “It’s brilliant to win the BMGA British Club Championships. We played well all-day and were focussed, so to get the result is great. The British Club title was the first I won on the BMGA Tour back in 2008, so to become a two-time national champion with the MMGC is extra special. Well done to Emily and the CEMGC in winning the bronze medal too.”

The Cambridgeshire & Essex Mini Golf Club was captained by Mark Wood, with Emily lining-up alongside Chris Wood and Adrian Amey for the event. In the group stage the team beat the Kent Hurricanes, drew with Planet Hastings and lost to the Midlands. In the semi-finals it took a sudden-death play-off to separate the CEMGC and the Sussex Wasps, but at the seventh extra-hole the CEMGC were defeated.

Emily Gottfried playing the 6th hole of the Pirate Golf course in Hastings during the sudden-death play-off against the Sussex Wasps

In the third/fourth place play-off match the CEMGC upset the Kent Minigolf Club Spitfires with a 3&2 victory to claim the bronze.

The bronze medal winning Cambridgeshire & Essex Mini Golf Club team of Chris Wood, Adrian Amey, Emily Gottfried and Mark Wood (C)

Emily said “I’m really pleased to achieve the bronze medal with my team-mates from the CEMGC. We were determined to do well and played strongly all day, even going to a seventh-extra hole in the play-off with the Wasps, which we unfortunately lost. However we re-grouped for the third-fourth place play-off to sprint to the podium over the defending champions. ”

Later this month Richard and Emily will be competing in the Midlands Open competition at the Four Ashes Golf Centre in Dorridge, Solihull.

Links:
- Midlands Minigolf Club on Facebook
- Cambridgeshire and Essex Mini Golf Club on Facebook
- British Minigolf Association
- Hastings Adventure Golf
- Tournament report from the British Minigolf Association - Midlands Minigolf Club take the honours as they win the 2015 Club Championship in Hastings
- Round by round results from the tournament on the BMGA website

Midlands Minigolf Club win British Club Championships

Midlands Minigolf Club win the 2015 BMGA British Club Championships in Hastings.

The new BMGA British Club Champions - the Midlands Minigolf Club. From l-r Seth Thomas, John Moore, Michael Smith (C), Richard Gottfried

The national minigolf team championships was contested on the Pirate Golf course in Hastings, East Sussex on Sunday 1 March with the Midlands Minigolf Club winning the final against the Sussex Wasps Mini Golf Club. The Cambridgeshire & Essex Mini Golf Club was third after defeating the Kent Minigolf Club. Eight teams were in action in the tournament.

The Cambridgeshire & Essex Mini Golf Club team of Chris Wood, Adrian Amey, Emily Gottfried and Mark Wood (C)

Full results and report.

Links:
- Midlands Minigolf Club on Facebook
- Cambridgeshire and Essex Mini Golf Club on Facebook
- British Minigolf Association
- Tournament report from the British Minigolf Association - Midlands Minigolf Club take the honours as they win the 2015 Club Championship in Hastings
- Round by round results from the tournament on the BMGA website

Minigolf Report from Hastings

22nd September 2014
Press Information
For Immediate Release

Minigolf Report from Hastings

Luton Minigolfer Richard Gottfried competed in three Minigolf competitions on the 18-hole Pirate Golf course at the Hastings Adventure Golf Complex from the 19th to the 21st of September.

Richard Gottfried putting at hole 11 in the BMGA British Open in Hastings

In the BMGA Players Championship Richard finished in tied 14th place alongside Derek Bentall in the 22-player field having scored a round of 33(-3).

In the two-day BMGA British Open tournament Richard was 23rd in a 50-strong field that included players from Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Spain, Kosovo and the Czech Republic.

Richard scored rounds of 33, 34, 31, 27, 38, 32, 30 and 36 for a total of 261(-27).

Richard Gottfried playing hole 12 at Pirate Golf in Hastings

In the eight-round BMGA British Open Team Championship the Midlands Minigolf Club’s 1st team of Michael Smith, Chris Harding, Chris Smith and Richard were runners-up to the Kent Minigolf Club’s 1st team. The event saw eleven club and national teams competing. The Germany 1 team were third in the event.

The BMGA British Open Team Championship runners-up - Midlands MGC 1 from l-r Chris Smith, Michael Smith, Richard Gottfried, Chris Harding

Richard said “I’m really glad that the Midlands 1 team finished on the podium and won the silver medal defeating some very strong teams. It’s a shame I had two relatively bad rounds over the two days of the British Open, but my round of 27 was my all-time personal best score on a UK Minigolf course which is great.”

Michael Smith of Oxford won the BMGA British Open and BMGA Players Championship.

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Minigolf Report from Dorridge

8th September 2014
Press Information
For Immediate Release

Minigolf Report from Dorridge

Results from the Midlands Open competition and BMGA British Doubles Championships held at the Four Ashes Golf Centre.

Luton Minigolfers Richard and Emily Gottfried competed in two Minigolf tournaments at the 12-hole course at the Four Ashes Golf Centre in Dorridge, Solihull on the 6th and 7th September.

In the Midlands Open competition held on Saturday Emily finished in 17th place overall in the 29 player field. Richard was 19th.

Emily playing the fourth hole at the Four Ashes Golf Centre in Dorridge

Emily scored a four-round total of 98(+2) with rounds of 26, 24, 24 and 24.

Richard scored a total of 100(+4) after rounds of 25, 24, 25 and 26.

Richard Gottfried playing hole five at the Four Ashes Golf Centre in Dorridge

On Sunday the pair teamed-up for the first time since 2008 to take on thirteen other duos in the BMGA British Doubles Championship. After six rounds of play the team finished in 6th place.

A score of 22(-2) in the first qualifying round saw them top the rankings. This was followed up with a 24(par) to finish 5th in the preliminary classification round.

In the seeded matchplay knockout stages they were drawn against the London pair of Max Plaice and Becky Statham and would go on to win 3&2.

In the quarter-finals the duo were defeated 3&2 by Margate’s Scott Lancley and Hastings’ John ‘Ted’ McIver.

The team bounced back in the classification match against Cambridge’s James Rutherford and Canterbury’s Marc Chapman with Emily scoring holes-in-one on four of the six holes she played and Richard acing the final hole for a 1up victory.

The pair were defeated by Brechin’s Freddie Blackburn-Shaw and London’s Will Donnelly in the match for 5th place, with Donnelly scoring a hole-in-one at the first hole of a sudden-death play-off.

Commenting after the weekend’s events Emily said “I was really pleased with my 17th place finish in the Midlands Open. I felt that I played well, scoring quite a few aces, however I was let down by my performance on one particularly tricky hole. I carried that level of performance over into the Doubles on the second day of competition, achieving consistent aces through the day. Richard and I were a great team, helping and motivating each other and I was pleased with sixth place.”

Richard said “Emily played well all weekend and was a great partner in the British Doubles, scoring a huge amount of aces and we picked up some good wins and a great first round score.”

Michael Smith of Oxford won the Midlands Open, with Birmingham’s Chris Harding teaming with Smith to win the BMGA British Doubles Championship.

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Vote for the Midlands Minigolf Club in the Mars Milk Play Fund

The Midlands Minigolf Club has entered the Mars Milk sport fund in order to help the club with its aims.

Check out the sports funding entry and vote for the MMGC on the Mars Milk Play Fund website at - Midlands Minigolf Club.

You can vote every month throughout the summer. Please feel free to share the link with friends, family, colleagues, and anyone else!

The bronze medal winning Midlands Minigolf Club A-team members at the 2013 BMGA British Minigolf Championships in Basingstoke, from l-r Mark 'The Horse Whisperer' Swain, Jon 'The Black Knight' Drexler, 'Squire' Richard Gottfried, John 'Uncle Al' Moore

Every month Mars Milk will be donating cash awards to sports individuals and clubs that are in need of extra funding.

The MMGC's main uses for any prize funding would be:
- To help existing members travel to tournaments and play more regularly. This will go towards travel costs, training time and competition entry fees.
- To pay for a tournament for new players to try and get more people to experience the joys of minigolf.
- To help pay for brand new team shirts.
- To purchase specialist minigolf balls for use by all players in the club.

The Midlands Minigolf Club consists of a small but dedicated group of individuals from around the UK and Northern Ireland (and one in the USA!) who love playing minigolf. Players travel all over the UK to compete in events on the British Minigolf Association Tour.

The MMGC was formed in 2005. Players have won a number of Minigolf titles and in 2008 the club was crowned BMGA British Club Champions when the Midlands I team triumphed at Stratford-upon-Avon. The club has competed in the national club championships on a number of occasions, results to date are below.

2013

- Midlands I 3rd of 9 teams.

- Midlands II 7th. 

Played at Basingstoke.

2012

- Midlands A 3rd of 12 teams.

- Midlands B 9th.

Played at Basingstoke.

2011

- Midlands 3rd of 7 teams.

Played at Dorridge

2010

- DNP

2009

- Midlands B 5th (tied) of 8 teams.

- Midlands A 7th.

Played at Sandbanks.

2008

- Midlands I 1st of 7 teams.

- Midlands II 5th.

- Midlands III 7th.

Played at Stratford-upon-Avon.

2007

- DNP

2006

- Midlands/North A 2nd of 7 teams.

- Midlands/North B 7th.

Played at Dorridge.

2005

- Midlands 2nd of 5 teams.

Played at Dorridge.

Links:
- Mars Milk
- Mars Milk on Twitter
- Mars Milk on Facebook
- Mars Milk Play Fund entry for the Midlands Minigolf Club

Minigolf Report – Gottfried’s Final Results of the 2013 BMGA Season

25th November 2013

Press Information

For Immediate Release

Minigolf Report – Gottfried’s Final Results of the 2013 Season

Report from the BMGA British Club Championship in Basingstoke.

Luton Minigolfers Richard & Emily Gottfried closed out the 2013 British Minigolf Association Tour season at the 9-hole Mini Golf course at Basingstoke Golf Centre in Hampshire.

Richard Gottfried playing hole 2 at the Basingstoke Golf Centre's Mini Golf course. Photo by Mark Swain

In the BMGA British Club Championship on Sunday 24th November Richard played for the Midlands Minigolf Club and he and this three team mates finished the event in third-place for the third year in a row. Emily and her Cambridgeshire Mini Golf Club team were ninth in the event, which featured teams from five of the BMGA’s Minigolf Clubs.

Richard captained the Midlands A-team which consisted of Newcastle’s John Moore, Bangor, Northern Ireland’s Mark Swain and Jon Drexler from Memphis, USA.

The Midlands Minigolf Club A-team, from l-r Mark 'The Horse Whisperer' Swain, Jon 'The Black Knight' Drexler, 'Squire' Richard Gottfried, John 'Uncle Al' Moore

Following the British Club Championship Strokeplay Qualifier the Midlands A-team were in tied four place in the seedings. The team then fought through to the semi-finals but were on the losing end in their match against eventual champions the Kent Minigolf Club.

In the bronze-medal match the team faced the London Minigolf Club and won the game at the second extra-hole of a sudden-death play-off.

The Cambridgeshire Mini Golf Club, from l-r Chris Smith, Emily Gottfried, Brenda Smith, Seth Thomas

In the 2013 BMGA Official Strokeplay Order of Merit Rankings Richard finished the season in 11th place of 163 players, with Emily in 48th position.

In the 2013 BMGA Season Only Rankings Richard finished in 18th spot of 115 players with Emily ranked 27th.

The British Minigolf Association’s 2014 Tour tees-off in January at the BMGA Star City Open at the 36-hole indoor Adventure Island Mini Golf course in Birmingham.

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Minigolf Report from the 2012 Midlands Open & BMGA British Doubles Championships

10th September 2012

Press Information

For Immediate Release

Minigolf Report – Midlands Open & BMGA British Doubles Championships

Luton Minigolfer Richard Gottfried was in action over the weekend as he competed in two tournaments at the 12-hole Minigolf Course at the Four Ashes Golf Centre in Dorridge, Solihull.

Midlands Open

First up was the Midlands Open competition held on Saturday 8th September.

The competitors at the 2012 Midlands Open in Dorridge

Richard finished in tied tenth place in the 34-player field with a score of 94(-2) following rounds of 22, 23, 26 and 23. The four-round competition was won by the reigning World Crazy Golf Champion, Oxford’s Michael Smith with a score of 78(-18).



Richard Gottfried playing at the 2012 Midlands Open minigolf tournament as Oliver 'The Machine' Florence and Alastair Shaw look on

BMGA British Doubles Championships

The 2012 BMGA British Doubles Championships were held on Sunday 9th September. Richard teamed with Margate’s Scott Lancley for the second year in a row. The team finished in seventh place overall in the 16-team competition.

Commenting on the weekend’s events Richard said “The Minigolf course at the Four Ashes Golf Centre in Dorridge is one of my favourite courses and always presents a great challenge. I’m pleased with achieving another pair of top ten finishes on the BMGA Tour in two very competitive fields. It was a pleasure to once again team with Scott Lancley in our attempt to win the British Doubles, unfortunately we lost our quarter final match against the eventual champions, but we’ll have another crack at the titles next year.”

In the BMGA British Doubles Championships each of the competing 16 teams played in a round robin group qualifying stage, before moving on to a knockout stage to determine the final rankings.

Team Sqonky at the 2012 BMGA British Doubles Championships in Dorridge - l-r 'Squire' Richard Gottfried and Scott 'Donkey Gringo' Lancley

Richard and Scott were second in their group with two wins and a draw, after defeating Marina Breeden and Adam Breeden, Alex Pragnell and Alastair Shaw and tying with Michael Smith and James Rutherford. This meant they qualified for the play-off matches for positions 1-8.

In the quarter final match against Ted McIver and Nick Chitty they were handed their first loss and entered the pool for positions 5-8. McIver and Chitty were the eventual champions, defeating the duo of Seth Thomas and Chris Smith in the final. Gottfried and Lancley lost their next classification match against Marion Homer and Sean Homer, but were victorious in their match against Oliver Florence and Richard Skeggs in the play-off for 7th/8th place.

The immaculately turned out players of Team Sqonkey at the 2012 BMGA British Doubles Championships

The Gottfried & Lancley team finished the BMGA British Doubles Championships with a win/loss record of three wins, one draw and two defeats. The team’s career record stands at seven wins, one draw and five losses in thirteen matches on the British Minigolf Association Tour.

Ends

Minigolf Report – End of BMGA Tour Season Competitions at Dorridge

30th November 2011
Press Information
For Immediate Release

Minigolf Report – End of BMGA Tour Season Competitions at Dorridge

Luton Minigolfers Richard & Emily Gottfried’s 2011 BMGA Tour Minigolf Season came to an end over the weekend of the 26th and 27th November as the Four Ashes Golf Centre in Dorridge, Solihull hosted the final tournaments on the 2011 BMGA Tour

Richard competed in 14 BMGA Tour events, with Emily playing in 11 tournaments. 2011 was the pair’s fifth year as BMGA Tour players.

The Cambridgeshire MGC Invitational Tournament

On Saturday 26th November Emily competed in the first-ever Cambridgeshire Minigolf Club Invitational Tournament and finished in fourth place with a score of 79(+7).

Photo: The Cambridgeshire Minigolf Club team from l-r Brenda Smith, James Rutherford (Captain), Oliver Florence, Emily Gottfried

The three-round tournament was won by Cambridge’s James Rutherford. Oliver Florence was runner-up. Brenda Smith was third.

The Green MGC Invitational Tournament

On Saturday 26th November Richard competed in the first-ever Green Minigolf Club Invitational Tournament and finished in fourth place with a score of 75(+3).

The competition was won by Oxford’s Michael Smith, with Chris Smith runner-up and Seth Thomas of Wandsworth third.

The BMGA British Club Championships

In the BMGA British Club Championships on Sunday 27th November Richard played for the Midlands Minigolf Club and he and this three team mates finished the event in third place.

Photo: The Midlands Minigolf Club A-Team from l-r Richard Gottfried, Jam Trubridge (front), Chris Harding (Captain), Paul 'Johnson Paul Johnson' Johnson

Emily and her Cambridgeshire Minigolf Club team were fifth in the seven team event, which featured teams from five of the BMGA’s Minigolf Clubs.

In the first group match Richard and Emily’s teams faced-off, with the Midlands winning 4&3 in the 12-hole Matchplay Match. The Midlands Minigolf Club went on to defeat the Allstars team by two-holes, before losing to the Kent Hurricanes team 2&1. In the semi-finals the team lost to eventual champions, the Kent Spitfires, 2&1, before winning the 3rd/4th place play-off match against the Kent Hurricanes 3&2.

Following the defeat to the Midlands in their first match Cambridgeshire went on to lose against the Kent Hurricanes by one-hole. Following the opening two defeats the Cambridge Team went on to score wins against the Allstars 5&4, and 2&1 and beating the London Minigolf Club by one-hole in the 5th/6th place play-off match.

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Minigolf News - "Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried signs for the Cambridgeshire Mini Golf Club!"

In the latest Minigolf Transfer News Emily 'Coach' Gottfried has signed for the newest Minigolf Club in the UK - the Cambridgeshire Mini Golf Club.

Emily, a former member of the Midlands Minigolf Club and the reigning WMF Women's World Adventure Golf Masters Champion, sealed the deal through a series of texts with CMGC Captain James 'Ruthers' Rutherford while seated at the 'Sheen Sisters Table' during a meal out at PJ's Restaurant in Covent Garden, London.

The CMGC was formed in August 2011 by former Green Mini Golf Club member James 'TheRocket' Rutherford. Surrey-based players Oliver 'The Machine' Florence and Richard 'Gentle Touch' Skeggs are the other two current club members.

Details of how to join the Cambridgeshire Mini Golf Club can be found on the CMGC website.

Minigolf Putting Green at Powderhall Bowling Green, St Mark's Park, Edinburgh

During the break in the over 60s and over 50s British Cycle Speedway events taking place at the Edinburgh Falcons Club at Redbraes Park on Saturday 20th August 2011 we popped to the Powderhall Bowling Club, which uses one of its three Bowling Greens as a 9-hole Putting Course!

Time was getting on and as the course closed at 5pm the man at the course let us have a round on the proviso that we played quickly!

The Putting course was on a Bowling Green and while pretty flat was still fairly tricky in gauging speed and weight of the shots.

With time of the essence Emily decided she didn’t want to play so it was left to be a battle between me and my Midlands Minigolf Club team mate (and fellow 2008 BMGA British Club Champion) John ‘Thighs’ Moore.

After eight speedy holes, with the man watching us as he collected the flags in after we’d completed each hole, the scores were level with me and John scoring 3, 2, 3, 3, 3 2, 2, 2 and 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 2, 2, 2 respectively.

I was first up to play the ninth hole and scored a dreadful four. John, the 2006 BMGA British Champion, stepped up and scored a two to take the victory 22 to 24.

The course at St Mark’s Park was the 266th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Like the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on Facebook, check out our YouTube channel and follow me and Emily on Twitter.

Minigolf Report - Midlands Open 2011 - Emily Gottfried 7th, Richard Gottfried Ties for 8th Place

3rd August 2011
Press Information
For Immediate Release


Minigolf Report - Midlands Open 2011 - Emily Gottfried 7th, Richard Gottfried Ties for 8th Place

Luton Minigolfers Richard and Emily Gottfried were in action over the weekend as they competed in two competitions at the 12-hole Minigolf Course at the Four Ashes Golf Centre in Dorridge, Solihull.

First up was the Midlands Open competition on Saturday 30th July, with Emily finishing in seventh place in the 25 strong field with a score of 95(-1). Emily had been in tied second place with British Number One Michael Smith heading into the last round, and with her strong performance in the event placed higher than Richard Gottfried for the first time in a BMGA Tour event. Richard carded a four-round total of 96(par) to finish one-shot behind in tied eighth place with London's Nick Sandqvist.

Photo: Emily plays the 12th hole in the final round

Emily scored rounds of 25, 22, 21 and 27 for her 95(-1) total.

Richard scored rounds of 25, 22, 23 and 26 for his 96(par) total.

Emily said “The Midlands Open was a fantastic tournament for me. I played particularly well in the first three rounds, so I was very pleased to be playing in the leading group going out into the fourth and final round. Unfortunately it was an average round for me, which came just when other player seemed to be reaching their peak, so I dropped down the leader board. I still enjoyed the tournament greatly and it was nice to play the final round with such good players as Chris Harding and Michael Smith.”

The four-round competition was won by the reigning World Crazy Golf Champion, Birmingham’s Chris Harding with a score of 88(-8). Greenhithe’s Sean Homer defeated Canterbury’s Marc Chapman and Lewisham’s James Rutherford in a play-off to take second place after the trio had scored 90(-6).

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Midlands Minigolf Club (MMGC) - Minigolf Rankings 2010

Following the conclusion of the 2010 British Minigolf Association Tour I have had a look at how the members of the Midlands Minigolf Club fared in the two Ranking Lists published by the BMGA.

Midlands Minigolf Club - Rankings by BMGA Order of Merit 2009-2010 and BMGA Season Only Rankings 2010



By the BMGA Order of Merit 2009-2010 I was ranked 2nd within the Midlands Minigolf Club (11th overall out of 98 ranked players). Emily was ranked 11th within the MMGC (41st overall)

In the BMGA Season Only Rankings 2010 I was ranked 2nd within the Midlands Minigolf Club (7th overall out of 160 ranked players). Emily was ranked 17th within the MMGC (100th/101st overall).

Blog Post - Midlands Minigolf Club (MMGC) - Minigolf Rankings 2009

Adventure Golf at St Nicholas Park in Warwick

Our first minigolfing visit to Warwick was over the 13th, 14th and 15th July 2007 for the BMGA English Open tournament (we have since played there at the Midlands Invitational 2007, Midlands Open 2007 and the BMGA British Doubles Tournament in 2008).

The 18-hole UrbanCrazy designed Adventure Golf course is a very testing one, and is good fun to play. Fellow Minigolf Tourists Paul & Owen Johnson also told me recently that the course has had its borders/edging repaired, which makes it even better to play.





















Photos from the Midlands Open competition weekend in October 2007.





There was also some World Class Conker Action after the Midlands Open event, as (then) World Conker Champion Chris 'Stretch' Jones (left) was challenged by Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd!


More course visits on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.