Wasp attack closes minigolf course in Portugal

I love hearing about news and events from around the world of minigolf and as such receive the excellent enewsletter from the team at minigolfe.pt in Portugal.

One news item in the latest update stood out in particular as an attack of wasps ("Ataque de vespas") has temporarily closed a minigolf course at the Jamor Sports Complex!

Unsurprisingly I own a minigolf ball with a wasp on it (unless it's a hornet)

It used to be a bit of a running joke that the only way a British minigolfer WOULDN'T finish last in an international minigolf tournament was if an opponent got 'stang' off of a bee, wasp or hornet. It's not actually a made up story, as a poor Finnish player did have to retire from an event after getting stung, which meant a Brit was bumped up one place above the DNF on the leader-board.

Check out minigolfe.pt for more info, updates and to sign-up to the newsletter.

Please do also check out our newsletter archive and sign-up to future editions too.

Not Winning at The Buttons in Bournemouth

While down in Bournemouth earlier this summer Emily and I headed to the amusement arcades on the seafront with our friend and Minigolf rival Seth ‘Wandsworth’ Thomas.

In the pier amusements we spotted a great looking bumble bee prize in one of the Prize Every Time grabbers and it would of made a great gift for another friend and Minigolf rival (and sometime blogger) Oliver ‘Oflo12’ Florence.

The players look at the buttons bee

However, while playing the £2 machine I jiffed it and grabbed an orange thing that made a squeaky noise.

Jiffed, robbed, diddled, fiddled and daddled

I was not best pleased.

The incorrect toy was sold for 20 pence on a car boot stall last week.

Related blog posts:

- Seth Thomas

- Oliver Florence

- The Buttons

- Amusement Arcades

- Bournemouth

Not getting stang off of a fake wasp on a bollard

Someone had stuck a fake wasp onto the top of a bollard in hightown, Luton last week!?

Recently I spotted some interesting (if you're a fan of Bollards) links to the Bollards of London website in The Sun newspaper. You can also follow Bollards of London and Bollards of Britain on Twitter.

Links:
- Bollards of London
- Bollards of Britain

Miniature Golf Books for World Book Day

Celebrate World Book Day today by picking up one of these books about Minigolf (and some other interesting sports and games).

With the 1st of March being World Book Day I thought I'd post some links and information on a selection of books about Minigolf/Crazy Golf and other Strange & Wacky Games that I highly recommend.

Nutters With Putters - Book, eBook & DVD - Crazy golf instructional DVD and Book from BMGA Tour Legends Tim 'Ace Man' Davies & John 'Big Top Ted' McIver. Covers a lot more besides Crazy Golf training too!?

10 Courses for 10 Years - Book - The Putting Penguin Minigolf Team have put together a great minigolf book "10 Courses for 10 Years" with reviews of ten Miniature Golf courses from their first ten years. It's available from Lulu.com.

Beginner's Guide to Miniature Golf - Book - written by Lionel Bender, Peter Parr and Jon Angel this 16-page booklet was produced as an introduction to minigolf and to give hints and tips on improving your game.

Montegue Blister's Strange Games - Book and eBook - covers Mini and Crazy Golf, and a whole lot more in the world of Strange Games (includes another Ham & Egger Files favourite - Finger Jousting).

Wacky Nation - Book - Covers the World Crazy Golf Championships and 49 other Crazy Contests in the UK. The Wacky Nation team of Sally and James are also the organisers of the UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships.

The Underdog -  Book - Written by the Arm-Wrestling, Backwards Running, Sumo Wrestler Joshua Davis. The website also has links to loads of other 'Underdog' Sports and Games where you can find out more before you 'Enter The Fray'! Miniature Golf gets a listing there too.

The Crazy Golf Museum has a listing of books that cover Miniature Golf, you can view them over at "Miniature golf in books". Of the books listed Andy Miller's 2002 book Tilting at Windmills: How I Tried to Stop Worrying and Love Sport is well worth a read. I picked up a copy before I joined the British Minigolf Association back in 2006 and have re-read it a few times since then.

The 2004 book In Search Of The Tiger: A Golfing Odyssey by Ian Stafford is another great read and has an excellent chapter on the time the author represented Great Britain at the European Minigolf Championships in Prague, Czech Republic. You can read Tim 'Ace Man' Davies' report from the tournament here. The event has gone down in history as the British Team managed to defeat a Finnish Player, one Tervaskangas Anssi, due to the fact that he got stang off of a wasp and was forced to retire after only three of the eight rounds of play had been completed.

If you'd like to recommend any other sports books that you think are worth a read, or have spotted Miniature Golf mentioned in a book, let me know in the comments below...

About World Book Day

World Book Day is the biggest celebration of its kind, anywhere. Millions and millions of book vouchers given out, great free books for kids, excitement everywhere (on blogs, in newspapers, on TV and in schools, libraries and, of course, bookshops), people coming together (including lots and lots of young readers) in a big, loud, happy celebration of reading. For more information about World Book Day check out the website, twitter profile and facebook page.