A 2016 Carl Carmoni Mini-putt Trading Card

A look at a Carl Carmoni Mini-putt Trading Card from 2016.

Being stuck at home during lockdown I've had a bit more time to look back through my minigolf collection and the Crazy Golf Museum's vaults.

One of the nice items to share is this Carl Carmoni Mini-putt Trading Card from 2016.

Signed by the legend himself

Mini-putt courses are similar in appearance to Putt-Putt courses however they have distinct standardised hole designs and are particular to Canada.

"Mini-putt" is the Québécois term for the game of minigolf, thanks largely to the popularity of the Quebec cable sports show 'Défi Mini-putt' (Mini-putt Challenge) in the 1970s and 80s.

Check out a compilation of hole-in-ones Carl Carmoni scored on the Défi Mini-putt show.

We haven't played the Mini-putt format of the game yet. We're looking forward to a trip to Quebec in the future. It'd be ace to meet Carl and play in a tournament there.

With the great Mini-putt merch in 2016

Emily wearing a Mini-putt t-shirt

Carl Carmoni is a player after my own heart as he reacts with a triumphant shout of "BIRDIE!" every time he hits an ace. I'm known to shout "YEE-HA!" when I score a hole-in-one in competition play.

Check out Carl Carmoni's website and Mini-putt for more information.

My friend, minigolf team-mate and rival Jon Drexler also has a trading card. You can see that card in my blog post from 2013.

Links:
- Carl Carmoni
- Mini-putt
- Richard & Emily Gottfrid at Mini-putt

Halloween in the USA - Part III

A look at some awesome Halloween decorations from the USA.

Emily was recently in the US and while there spotted some great inflatable Halloween decorations at Home Depot.

Halloween inflatables at Home Depot

There are now only 13 days to Halloween!

Unfortunately there wasn't enough room in her luggage to bring any back to decorate our house with.

Halloween inflatables at Home Depot

I did however get some packs of the new Garbage Pail Kids Halloween-themed Revenge of Oh the Horror-ible trading cards!

Garbage Pail Kids Revenge of Oh the Horror-ible trading cards

Check out my blog post about Halloween-themed minigolf courses and events to see what's happening.

Our friends Tom and Robin at A Couple of Putts have also created the hashtag #Puttober to share all things Halloweeney at miniature golf courses.

Halloween in the USA - Part I

A look at some brilliant Halloween decorations from the USA.

Emily was recently in the US and while there spotted some superb Halloween decorations.

How cool are these inflatable decorations!

Unfortunately there wasn't enough room in her luggage to bring any back to decorate our house with.

I did however get some packs of the new Garbage Pail Kids Halloween-themed Revenge of Oh the Horror-ible trading cards!

These are super trading cards - with 24 cards in the big packs!

There are now only 16 days to Halloween!

Check out my blog post about Halloween-themed minigolf courses and events to see what's happening.

Minigolfer Jon Drexler Appears on a New Trading Card!

Geek A Week Superfan and Minigolf Pro Jon Drexler Features on a Brand New Trading Card.

International Minigolfer Jon 'The Black Knight' Drexler has been immortalised in a Trading Card as part of the 'Geek A Week' set by artist Len Peralta!

Jon, the BMGA National Open champion in 2002 and my Midlands Minigolf Club team-mate, is a well travelled player having competed internationally since 1999 when he made his debut at the for the United States National Team at the WMF World Minigolf Championships in Papendal, Netherlands.

As something of a geek myself and an avid collector of a number of things, including trading cards, I was really impressed by the Geek A Week cards and was obviously particular happy to see a Minigolf competitor on one.

Recently I've actually been sorting through a lot of my old wrestling, sports, sci-fi and comic book trading cards and the Geek a Week set is my new favourite.

Jon Drexler's Geek A Week Trading Card!

In addition to his 2002 visit to England 'The Black Knight' contested two World titles in the UK last year. In the 2012 WMF World Adventure Golf Masters tournament he finished in 11th place and was 12th in the 2012 Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championship. Domestically Drexler plays in both United States Pro Minigolf Association (USPMGA) and Pro Putters Association (PPA) tournaments.

He has achieved one Pro victory on the PPA tour, winning the 2008 Virginia PPA Tour Martinsville Pro Tournament. In 2000 Jon won the Amateur Southwest Tour Player of the Year Awards, having won the Texas State Amateur Championship that year, and most recently received the 2012 Southern Tour Sportsmanship Award.

The Geek A Week project started as a one-year art challenge by US artist Len Peralta that saw him interview 52 of the world’s biggest and most influential geeks and then create a trading card for each of them.

Amongst the geeks in Geek A Week version 4.0 are Ernie Cline  (Author - Ready, Player One), Jenny Lawson AKA The Bloggess (Author, Let's Pretend This Never Happened.), Alison Haislip (Actress/Host), Joseph Scrimshaw (Writer/Comedian), Parry Gripp (Viral Musician, formerly of Nerf Herder), Jen Yates AKA Cakewrecks (Author/Blogger), Richard Garfield (Creator, Magic The Gathering), Roy Thomas (Legendary Comic Book Writer) and Peter Sagal (Host, NPR's Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me!).

They join such luminaries as Kevin Smith (Film Director), Steve Jackson (RPG Designer), Edgar Wright (Film Director), Steve "Woz" Wozniak (Apple Co-Founder), “Weird Al” Yankovic (Comedy Singer-Songwriter), Mark Mothersbaugh (Musician), Felicia Day (New Media Actress), Guillermo Del Toro (Film Director), Stan Lee (Legendary Comic Book Creator), Seth Green (Actor), Jeri Ryan (Actress) and Wil Wheaton (Actor) amongst others that featured in Geek A Week version 2.0.

You can buy the Geek A Week: Version 4.0 Trading Cards (and others) at Len Peralta's Merch site.

The Jon Drexler Trading Card is a definite future exhibit at The Crazy Golf Museum!

Jon 'The Black Knight' Drexler (in red) enjoys a practice round with me and former World Crazy Golf Champion Keith 'Doc' Kellard in Hastings

Links:

- The Geeky Art of Len Peralta

- Geek A Week
- Geek A Week Blog

- Jon Drexler's Minigolf Blog "Have Putter Will Travel"
- Jon Drexler's Career Statistics at the PPA
- Paul and Storm

- Jon Drexler on Twitter

- Geek A Week on Twitter

- Len Peralta on Twitter

- Len Peralta on Facebook
- Geek A Week trading card set on Flickr
- Think Geek

Related blog posts:

- Ephemera

- Merchandise