The North Suffolk & South Norfolk Invitational Challenge Minigolf Tournament 2011

Last weekend intrepid Crazy Minigolfers Richard & Emily Gottfried competed in the Quadrennial Irregular Mini Golf Tour Competition known as the Irregular Mini Golf Tour North Suffolk & South Norfolk Invitational Challenge.

Photo: Emily tees-off at the most easterly Adventure Golf course in the country

Last held on the 9th and 10th of June 2007 the 2011 Irregular Mini Golf Tour NS&SN IC event saw five rounds and a total of 63-holes of Minigolf, Crazy Golf, Putting and Adventure Golf played.

The winner of the marathon event was Emily 'Nine Lives' Gottfried who led from start to finish and ended with a an eight shot winning margin over the 2007 Irregular Mini Golf Tour NS&SN IC Champion 'Squire' Richard Gottfried.

Day 1 - 6th August 2011
In the 12-hole first round at the most easterly Adventure Golf course in the British Isles - East Point Family Golf in Lowestoft, Suffolk - Emily won 32-34.

On the 18-hole Links Putting Course at Kirkley Cliffs in Lowestoft, Emily was the round winner once again with a score of 43 to Richard's 45, acing the final hole, while Richard carded a poor four.

Day 2 - 7th August 2011
At the 9-hole Crazy Golf course at the Merrivale Model Village both players tied on scores of 22.

Emily was the winner once again on the (now) 12-hole Windmill Theatre Adventure Golf course, carding a score of 25, to Richard's 29.

The final round was played out on the Pleasure Beach Adventure Golf course and saw both Richard and Emily score rounds of 30 on the 12-hole course.

The final scores were:
Emily - 152
Richard - 160

Emily retained her Aces Champion title at the event, scoring five holes-in-one compared to Richard's two Aces.

Commenting on her big Minigolf win Emily 'Nine Lives' Gottfried said "As the ‘local’ in the tournament I knew I had the edge. The Lowestoft mini-golf course was fun and the putting green was excellent- a win with an Ace following a poor 4 by Squire was the highlight. The Great Yarmouth courses are always well kept, and great to play. Squire put up a good fight, but I always knew I would win this weekend.”

From the Archives:

Results of the 2007 North Suffolk & South Norfolk Invitational Challenge Minigolf Tournament

The mammoth two-day, 11 round, 134-hole Irregular Mini Golf Tour North Suffolk & South Norfolk Invitational Challenge tournament was played out over seven courses in Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth. It had been planned to include the Crazy Golf, Adventure Golf and Golf FX courses in Felixstowe, Suffolk, however these were closed on our visit.

The seven courses played were:

1. East Point Family Golf - Lowestoft
2. Pirates Cove Adventure Golf - Great Yarmouth
3. Arnold Palmer Putting Course 18-hole - Great Yarmouth
4. Arnold Palmer Putting Course 9-hole - Great Yarmouth
5. Pleasure Beach Adventure Golf - Great Yarmouth
6. Jungle Golf at the Gardens - Great Yarmouth
7. Hollywood Adventure Golf - Great Yarmouth

The final scores were as follows
Richard - 338
Emily - 361

Photo: Richard & the 2007 Irregular Mini Golf Tour North Suffolk & South Norfolk Invitational Challenge Trophy

Despite coming second in the main tournament Emily did win the 'Aces Championship' by scoring 10 holes-in-one over the weekend.


The Future of Minigolf...

The next Irregular Mini Golf Tour North Suffolk & South Norfolk Invitational Challenge tournament is scheduled to take place in June or August 2015.

Blog link:
- 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.

2011 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships in London on Saturday 22nd October

The team at Wacky Nation have announced the date for the 2011 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships. The 5th Edition of the Tournament will take place in London on Saturday 22nd October at the Knights Templar pub on Chancery Lane.

You can find all the details of the 2011 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships at the dedicated website here.

Report from the 2010 UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships (including photos and videos from a selection of matches). Last year Emily reached the third round and finished with a record of Played 3, Won 2, Lost 1. I crashed out in round two and ended with a record of Played 2, Won 1, Lost 1.

The 2011 tournament will also feature a Team Event, one that the Guild of Rock Paper Scissors (GoRPS) will surely be entering!

Links:
Wacky Nation Website
UK RPS Official Website
The Rules of Rock Paper Scissors
GoRPS Rock Paper Scissors Championships in Birmingham
Rock Paper Scissors Tournament at The Crown in Bristol
RPS-101

Ipswich Building Society Crazy Golf Course - In Sudbury, Suffolk - Course Played 263 and a Third!

On our way to Lowestoft for the 2011 UK Thumb Wrestling Championships we made a stop off in Sudbury, Suffolk as I had heard via twitter that the local branch of the Ipswich Building Society had one of their Crazy Golf holes there for the week!

The 'Tax Man' Hole is one-third of a set that are touring the Ipswich Building Society Branches over the summer. The Tax Man is Hole 1 (Par 3), Hole 2 is a Par 5 called 'Uphill Struggle, with a Par 4 third hole called 'Steering clear of the rocks of risk' which features a lighthouse and a hole on an island.

The Crazy Golf Challenge sees visitors to their branches and other events the Ipswich Building Society has a stand at, Putting their way around the holes and "making use of rainy day savings, avoiding the tax man and steering clear of the rocks of risk along the way."

From a promotional point of view it's an interesting way to engage with customers and potential customers, as players are also asked to complete a short survey and/or answer questions about a particular financial topic/concern.

I managed to score a hole-in-one with my one 'go'!

The UrbanCrazy built 'course' was the 263rd (& a third) visited and played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Richard & Emily Gottfried Compete in the 2011 UK Thumb Wrestling Championships

Last Friday Luton Thumb Wrestlers Richard & Emily Gottfried travelled to Lowestoft, Suffolk to compete in the 2011 UK Thumb Wrestling Championships.

The 3rd Annual UK Thumb Wrestling Championships took place at The Triangle Tavern in Lowestoft on Saturday 6th of August with a Bell-Time of 3pm.

16 Men and four Ladies stepped up to be crowned as UK Thumb Wrestling Champion and Thumb Wrestlers had travelled from East Anglia, London, Exeter, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Northern Ireland to compete in the contest!

Richard competed as 'Snack Ryder', a tribute to WWE Superstar Zack Ryder, while Emily Thumb Wrestled under her gimmick of 'Nine Lives'.

Richard's pre-match Promo video 1 - an entry to become Zack Ryder's next 'Broski of the Week'

Richard's pre-match Promo video 2

In the first-round of matches Snack Ryder was drawn to face Birmingham's 'Just Colin'. In a long bout the two grapplers gave it their all, but it was Just Colin who picked up the win, with one pin and a draw in the three-fall match-up.

Video: Snack Ryder versus Just Colin


In the Ladies UK Thumb Wrestling Championships Emily lost two falls to one against the eventual UK Ladies Thumb Wrestling Champion, Suffolk's 'Fancy-a-Thumble'.

Video: Nine-Lives versus Fancy-a-Thumble


In the Men's Final The Cobra defeated The Flash two falls to one to win the prestigious title. Video of the Match.

In the Ladies Final Fancy-a-Thumble bested the 2010 Champion Thumberlina by two falls to one to become the new Womens Champion. Video of the Match.

Photos from the 2011 UK Thumb Wrestling Championships

The venue - The Triangle Tavern in Lowestoft

An advert for the event above the bar

The Official Rules of the UK Thumb Wrestling Championships

The UK Thumb Wrestling Championships Arena

The Prizes - supplied by tournament sponsors The Random Shop

The Bracket for the Mens Championship

The Bracket for the Ladies Championship

Richard's thumb ahead of its debut in the World of Thumb Wrestling - WWWYKI

Richard nurses his injured thumb alongside the victorious Just Colin

The 2012 UK Thumb Wrestling Championships will once again be staged at The Triangle Tavern in Lowestoft and will take place on Saturday 5th of August. Entry details can be found on the UK Thumb Wrestling Federation website.

Official Results of the 2011 UK Thumb Wrestling Championships.

Official Round-Up Report from the 2011 UK Thumb Wrestling Championships.

The Rules of Thumb Wrestling - interestingly, if a win cannot be gained within two separate 60 second rounds then the tie will be settled with a game of sudden death “scissors, paper, stone”!

Previous (semi-related) Blog Posts:
Richard Gottfried - Next 'Broski of the Week' Woo Woo Woo, You Know It!

Finger Jousting for Four Years

Report from the UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships 2010

Earlswood (Earlswood Lakes) - Farmer Steve's Golf Mini Course - Under (re)construction

On Friday 29th July 2011 we headed to Earlswood Lakes to check out the Crazy Golf course that we had seen advertised last year.

Our fellow Minigolf course explorers - Paul and Owen Johnson - played the course last year and reported back that it was of a concrete construction. However, looking around we found a number of obstacles and painted hole markers on a grass surfaced 'course'.

The course also looked to be under (re)construction, and the layout looked very different to the photos I had seen from last year.

Photos from our visit (July 2011)

Photo: The Rules of Play

Photo: Richard attempts to contact fellow Minigolf tourist Paul Johnson to inform him of the course changes

A leaflet we picked up at Earlswood Lakes also described the Miniature Golf course as "Farmer Steve's Golf Mini Course".

While we were at Earlswood Lakes Emily put me in the Stocks for the second time in two weeks, having spent a spell in the Stocks at the Adventure Golf course at Andover!

This year there is no Maize Maze at Earlswood Lakes. However, there are still a number of shops and a tearoom and on our short visit it seemed a nice place to wile away some time.

Earlswood Maize Maze Website

Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Mini Golf Putting Course in Shirley Park, Solihull - Visited But Not Played

Staying in Shirley, Solihull over the tournament double-header weekend in Dorridge I went for a wander around and in Shirley Park I found a Mini Golf Putting Course!

It wasn't 'open', although the gate was.

Looking for more information about it online I found out, via the Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council website, that "The Shirley Park Putting is open as usual however we are no longer providing services for renting putters and balls, so please remember to bring you own."

Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Dorridge Putting Courses - Visited But Not Played

While at the Four Ashes Golf Centre in Dorridge, Solihull for the Midlands Open and BMGA British Doubles Championships tournaments at the weekend I noticed that since my last visit to the course last July, for the Midlands Invitational Tournament, they have added two new Putting areas. One is a small synthetic Putting surface, while the other is a Grass surface.

The 12-hole Minigolf Course at the Four Ashes Golf Centre was the 72nd course visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on a very soggy 1st of September back in 2008. Emily's first visit to play the Minigolf course was in late September 2008.

The Sqonkey Classic minigolf competition in Dorridge

Following the 2011 BMGA British Doubles Championships on Sunday 31st July, team mates ‘Squire’ Richard Gottfried and Scott ‘Donkey Gringo’ Lancley faced-off in a 12-hole match for the Sqonkey Classic minigolf title at the Four Ashes Golf Centre in Dorridge, Solihull.

In an exciting tussle the ‘Sq’ (but no ‘u’) portion of the team defeated the ‘onkey’ 24-26.

Photo: From l-r, Sq and onkey

Minigolf Report - BMGA British Doubles Championships 2011

3rd August 2011
Press Information
For Immediate Release

Minigolf Report - BMGA British Doubles Championships - Gottfried & Lancley 7th, Gottfried & Shepherd 10th

The 2011 BMGA British Doubles Championships were held at the Four Ashes Golf Centre in Dorridge, Solihull on Sunday 31st July, with both Richard and Emily Gottfried competing.

Photo: Team Sqonkey - 'Squire' Richard Gottfried and Scott 'Donkey Gringo' Lancley

In the tournament Richard teamed with Margate’s Scott Lancley for the first time, while Emily reformed her team with London’s Brad Shepherd. Richard’s team achieved seventh place overall; with Emily’s team finishing in tenth spot in the 14-team competition.

Each of the competing 14 teams played in a round robin group qualifying stage, before moving on to a knockout stage to determine the final rankings.

Richard and Scott won their group with two wins and a loss, to qualify for the play-offs for positions 1-8, only to be defeated in their next match against the defending champions Chris Harding and Marc Chapman, who went on to win the event for the second time.

The Gottfried/Lancley team (playing as 'Team Sqonkey) had a win/loss record of three wins, and three defeats.

Photo: Team Sqonkey look on as Richard 'Gentle Touch' Skeggs plays the seventh hole at Dorridge as his Team Wilson team mate Oliver 'The Machine' Florence watches

The Gottfried/Shepherd duo (playing as 'Fist N Lemony') had a win/loss record of two wins, one draw and three losses.

Ends

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).

Ends

Richard Gottfried - Coeliac UK Member Story - Travelling Gluten Free, Fish & Chips and Minigolf

I have had a 'member story' published in the latest issue of Coeliac UK's Electronic Crossed Grain (eXG) newsletter (August 2011). The topic for the August issue was 'travel themed member stories'.

I wrote about me and Emily's resolution to visit all of the UK's seasides, travelling on a Gluten Free diet, Minigolf, Fish & Chips, and some of the best places we've been able to eat out at.

You can read my story online at - Member Stories: Richard Gottfried

Coeliac UK is the leading charity working for people with coeliac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis (DH). Their mission is to improve the lives of people with coeliac disease through support, campaigning and research.

Course Played #70 Wroxham Barns - Adventure Golf - Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - Archive

On the 2nd of August 2008 Emily and I were invited by UrbanCrazy to attend the launch of the new 18-hole Miniature Golf/Adventure Golf course at Worxham Barns, Norfolk.

The course became the 70th played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

At the launch event two competitions were played, with me picking up the win and setting the course record at 34(-2).

We have since played at the Wroxham Barns course in two BMGA English Open competitions (2009 & 2011) and the BMGA British Championships (2010).

A great course and well worth a visit. Very tricky too.

Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Crazy Golf at 'the beach' at The Centre: MK in Milton Keynes - Minigolf course played #263

Crazy Golf at 'the beach' at The Centre: MK in Milton Keynes - Minigolf course played #263

On Friday 29th July 2011 we visited and played the temporary 9-hole Crazy Golf course that has been set up at the Centre: MK Shopping Centre in Milton Keynes.

The Centre: MK has a 'beach' set up for the summer with a number of seaside amusements to enjoy, the Crazy Golf being one of them. The Beach will be open until the 31st of August 2011.

The Crazy Golf course was the 263rd played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

In our Irregular Mini Golf Tour Match-up Emily defeated me 25-28.

Milton Keynes is also home to another Minigolf course - the permanent 9-hole Adventure Golf course at Willen Lake. We visited and played the course on the 28th of July 2007 (#29).

Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

The Dorridge Invitational Minigolf Competition 2011

As a warm-up to the Midlands Open the Dorridge Invitational Competition was contested on the 12-hole Minigolf course at the Four Ashes Golf Centre in Dorridge, Solihull on the evening of Friday 29th July 2011, with the eight players making up the field drawn from those still practicing.

Lewisham/Tooting/Hither Green/London/Wandsworth’s Seth ‘Clockwork Orange’ Thomas picked up the win in the 12-hole one-round event with a three shot margin over runner-up James ‘The Rocket’ Rutherford. Nick Sandqvist was third on 25.

The Dorridge Invitational Competition 2011
Rank Player Score
1 Seth Thomas 20
2 James Rutherford 23
3 Nick Sandqvist 25
4 Richard Gottfried 27
4 Richard Skeggs 27
6 Marina Breedon 28
7 Emily Gottfried 29
7 Adam Breedon 29

From the archives - the last remnants of the Crazy Golf course in Llanfairfechan, Wales

Back in August 2009 Emily and I were on a Roadtrip around the Welsh Coast that also saw us visit and play a number of Minigolf (Minigolff) and Crazy Golf (Golff Gwyllt) courses as part of our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

After visiting Anglesey and before we hit the Great Orme mountain/Llandudno portion of our trek we paid a visit to Llanfairfechan as we'd heard there was a very interesting Minigolf course that was still (partially at least) there.

In Llanfairfechan, under the shadow of the Penmaenmawr Mountain we found the last five holes of the Minigolf course that was once in the seafront park.









Link to more courses visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Wales

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