Report from the 2012 Crazy £2 Tat Challenge Open in Hastings

James Rutherford rockets to victory in the first £2 Tat Challenge of the year!

James 'The Man' Rutherford with the magnificent haul of treasures from the contest

On Friday 12th of October a group of Crazy Minigolfers headed to the Old Town Amusement Arcade for a £2 Tat Challenge Contest.

The players were in town to practice ahead of that weekend’s 12th annual Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open tournament, but due to the adverse weather conditions an executive decision was made to head to The Buttons for a Tat Challenge.

'Action' from the Crazy £2 Tat Challenge Open

Arriving just in Hastings just in time James ‘Mr James’ Rutherford joined the gang to play in the first Tat Challenge of the 2012 season. The competition would act as a warm-up for the 2012 World £2 Tat Challenge that is now a part an unofficial part of the Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships weekend.

John 'Thighs' Moore with his winnings

Heading into the Crazy £2 Tat Challenge Open James ‘Mr Rutherford’ Rutherford declared that he would win the contest. His opponents scoffed at this remark, little knowing that he had spent the previous weekend in Hastings ‘mapping the buttons’!

Owen Johnson didn't quite hit the jackpot with his two bits o' tat

Michael ‘The Champ’ Smith and John Moore ‘John’ made their debuts in a £2 Tat Challenge and after a quick briefing on the rules were let loose with their pots of two penny pence pieces.

'The Man They Call Johnson' Paul Johnson with his three bits of tat

The contest was an all-England clash with the field also including the inaugural Worlds £2 Tat Challenge Champion Mr Paul ‘Johnson Paul Johnson’ Johnson, Emily ‘Lemony’ Gottfried, Owen ‘Don’t call me Irwin’ Johnson and the Tat Challenge Order of Merit Number One ‘Squire’ Richard Gottfried.

'Squire' Richard Gottfried seems pleased with his 13 pieces of tat, including the Chappers Action Figure

With a new array of prizes on offer in the 2p pushers the avid tatters were in their element trying to win as big a haul as possible and take the prize of ‘all the tat’. However a clear lead was built up early on by ‘The Rocket’ James Rutherford who managed to somehow keep his pot of 2ps constantly full and his pockets filling up with Thumb Wrestling characters as his prize.

Michael 'Zero' Smith leaves the £2 Tat Challenge empty handed

Prior to the Crazy £2 Tat Challenge Open the largest winning score had been 11 pieces of tat by Polly at the 2012 Worlds £2 Tat Challenge, with other victories totalling 10, 9 and 7 pieces of tat won. In fact in the first three Tat Challenges the total tat won by all competitors was 36, 31 and 39 pieces. These figures were blown out of the water as James ‘Ruth’ Rutherford won 40 pieces all by himself!!!

The nearest challenger and still a way off Ruthers’ lead was Richard ‘Second Best’ Gottfried with 13 pieces. John ‘YI’ Moore and Emily ‘Lemons’ Gottfried tied for third-place with five pieces apiece and had no money left for a play-off. Paul ‘The Johnson’ Johnson managed to win 3 bits, while Owen ‘Irwin’ Johnson didn’t hit the jackpot with only a couple of pieces. In last spot was Michael ‘No Tat’ Smith with zero pieces of tat. Rather reminiscent of his minigolf team-mate, rival and fellow tatter Marc ‘Chappers’ Chapman’s debut at the 2010 Worlds when he also came away with nothing for his £2 stake. On a related Marc ‘The Force’ Note, one of the prizes won appeared to be a life-like action figure of the renowned Minigolfer and Tat Challenger!



The Marc 'The Force' Chapman Action Figure alongside what appears to be the San Marino Goalkeeper



2012 Crazy £2 Tat Challenge Open - 12/10/12

Rank Player Country Tat Won
1 James Rutherford ENG 40
2 Richard Gottfried ENG 13
3 John Moore ENG 5
3 Emily Gottfried  ENG 5
5 Paul Johnson ENG 3
6 Owen Johnson ENG 2
7 Michael Smith ENG 0

With his massive haul of tat the pressure will surely be on all of the other competitors to up their game at the next £2 Tat Challenge! 40 pieces with £2 of 2ps is an extraordinary amount to win, whether this record will be beaten remains to be seen.

James '40' Rutherford with his bag o' tat

Following the Crazy £2 Tat Challenge Open James ‘Ruthers’ Rutherford has moved up to the top spot, with ‘Squire’ dropping down to number two. Emily moves up from 8th place to join Alan ‘Stormin’ Norman in tied third place.

The £2 Tat Challenge Order of Merit as at 12/10/12

£2 Tat Challenge Hall of Fame:

#1 - Paul Johnson - 9 pieces of Tat

#2 - Richard Gottfried - 10 pieces of Tat

#3 - Alan Norman - 6 pieces of Tat +1

#4 - Polly - 11 pieces of Tat

#5 - James Rutherford - 40 pieces of Tat

Related Blog Posts:
- 2011 Worlds £2 Tat Challenge at the Old Town Amusements in Hastings
- £2 Tat Challenges at 'The Buttons' in Hastings - May 2011
- 'The £2 Tat Challenge' at 'The Buttons' in Hastings - October 2010

Lyle & Scott’s “Woolly Golf” Mini-Golf course in London’s Covent Garden

Playing the Lyle & Scott Woolly Mini-Golf course as part of Wool Week.

On Thursday 18th October I headed along to Covent Garden in London to play an intriguing Mini-Golf course that had been set-up by the golf and knitwear brand Lyle & Scott as part of Wool Week.

Me and a Lyle & Scott branded sheep on hole one of the Woolly Golf course in Covent Garden

I’d heard that the course was going to be in Covent Garden via a Tweet from the team at UrbanCrazy. The link led to the Covent Garden website with details of the Lyle & Scott Mini-Golf event running from the 18th to the 21st October 2012 for Wool Week. The 3-hole Mini-Golf course was located near to the Lyle & Scott store on King Street in Covent Garden and in a fenced-off ‘sheep pen’ area. The putting surface of the course was made from 100% wool and was one of the smoothest artificial Putting surfaces I’ve ever played on. It really worked well as a base for a Minigolf course and looked great! 

Hole one of the Lyle & Scott Woolly Golf course in Covent Garden

The events team on the course were really nice and friendly and chatted about The Campaign for Wool and some of the other events going on during Wool Week (which include a giant knitting needle outside Harvey Nichols and a Knitting challenge - ‘The Clickety Click on the Clickety Clack’ - onboard a train travelling from London to Edinburgh!). To gain access to the course, that was free to play, you had to head into the Lyle & Scott store to pick up a scorecard, pencil and Lyle & Scott branded Golf Ball. You could then head to the course to pick up a Putter and then hit the course to play a round. 

Hole two of the Lyle & Scott Woolly Golf course in Covent Garden

The Woolly Golf was proving popular and had a nice flow of players giving it a go, with a few people playing and re-playing the holes determined to score some holes-in-one. I managed a score of 5 with a two on the first, an ace on the second (the toughest hole on the course so I'm told) and a two on the third.

Hole three of the Lyle & Scott Woolly Golf course in Covent Garden

Once I had played the course I handed in my scorecard for a chance to win £500 of Lyle & Scott goodies and I also received a 15% discount card for use in the store and online. Fingers crossed I win the contest as I've got my eye on a jumper and a pair of gloves in the shop! Another very nice touch from the promotion is that you get to keep the Lyle & Scott branded golf ball after playing!

The Lyle & Scott Woolly Golf window display for Wool Week

Having played the course I then headed off to the 19th hole (The Cider Tap on Euston Road) for my birthday 'do'. It was a nice coincidence that I was in London on the day the Lyle & Scott Woolly Mini-Golf launched.

The course became the 307th played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour and the 305th I’ve played since the tour began on the 30th of September 2006. It was the 511th Miniature Golf course visited overall in that time.

The 3-hole Lyle & Scott Woolly Golf course was also the 22nd Minigolf course played in, or around London, on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since July 2008.

The course is well worth a visit and as it’s only there until Sunday I suggest you get along to give it a go. If you can’t make it to play the physical course you can enter the competition online by playing the 5-hole virtual course (the online game is designed by Damp Gnat - the team behind Wonderputt & Advertputt and is a great Minigolf/Crazy Golf game).

Links:

- Lyle & Scott

- The Campaign for Wool

- Covent Garden

- Covent Garden "Lyle & Scott ‘putts’ on a great show for Wool Week"

- Lyle & Scott Blog "Wool School Sweater and a chance to win £500 of Lyle and Scott"

- Lyle & Scott Blog "Woolly Golf at Covent Garden"

- Wool Week Calendar

Related Blog Posts:

- Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in and around London

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - List and links for all Miniature Golf courses visited to date

- Types and Variants of Miniature Golf visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Minigolf Report – Emily Gottfried Runner-up in the 2012 Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open

Emily Gottfried second to BMGA British Number One Michael Smith in 18-player tournament in Hastings, East Sussex.

 

On Sunday 14th October Luton Minigolfers Emily and Richard Gottfried competed in the twelfth-annual Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open. Emily finished the tournament as runner-up in the 18-player field. The three-round tournament was played out over 54-holes on the three seafront miniature golf courses in Hastings, East Sussex.

 

Emily’s 2nd place total of 107(-1) included rounds of 44(+8) on the Adventure Golf, a new personal best of 31(-5) on the Pirate Golf and another personal best of 32(-4) on the Crazy Golf course. 



Emily Gottfried playing her final shot of the Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open tournament to seal second-place



Following the tournament Emily said “I’m thrilled to have come second in the Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Open Championships. It’s the most fun and individual tournament on the British Minigolf Association Tour calendar with all three rounds played on three different courses, so there's something new to contend with on each round. I played really well and enjoyed myself too. I can't wait for next year!”

 

The tournament was won for a second year-in-a-row by Oxford’s Michael Smith with a score of 101(-7) following rounds of 36, 31 and 34. Emily’s Cambridgeshire Mini Golf Club team-mate James Rutherford was in third-place on a total of 108(par). 



The top three players at the Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open competition. From l-r Emily Gottfried, Michael Smith, James Rutherford

Richard finished in 6th place with a score of 114(+6) after rounds of 42(+6) on the Adventure Golf, 33(-3) on the Pirate Golf and 39(+3) on the Crazy Golf course. 



Richard Gottfried plays the 16th hole on the Crazy Golf course at the Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open

Richard said “Well done to Emily on her runner-up finish in the Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open with some very solid play on three tough courses.”

 

Ends

A Gluten Free Scotch Egg

Ahead of our trip to Hastings for the Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open competition I had a hankering for a Scotch Egg. Requiring a Gluten Free one and knowing that they are not readily available to Coeliacs I had a look online and posted some comments on Facebook and Twitter to see if anyone in my Gluten Free 'Networks' knew where I could get one. One of the replies came from our favourite Tea Room – the Post Office Tea Rooms in St Leonards - who said they'd be able to make us one!

 

When we arrive in Hastings one of the first things we do is head to the Post Office Tea Rooms for some food and "wonderful banter"* with the owners (not just Philip, as David has a good line in banter and anecdotes too).

 

On our recent Minigolfing trip I was able to eat there four days running and on one of the days I got to eat my first Scotch Egg in over four years! Served with a great ploughman’s lunch platter you would never have been able to tell the Scotch Egg was Gluten Free, it tasted great.



A Gluten Free Scotch Egg at the Post Office Tea Rooms in St Leonards



 

* As stated in Coast Magazine, November 2012

 

Related Blog Post:

- Great Gluten Free Tea Rooms

 

Links:

- Coeliac UK

- The Post Office Tea Rooms

The British Bread Golf Open 2012

This November sees the British Bread Golf Open take place on the River Thames in London!

It's not Gluten Free but as a fan of 'crazy' Golf events I'll be heading along to give it a go!

Last year my fellow BMGA Tour rivals Oliver 'The Machine' Florence and Richard 'Gentle Touch' Skeggs participated, with Skeggs doing rather well in it.

Check out the British Bread Golf Open poster here.

Organised by Seething Wells the event will be raising money for Creative Youth.

A Quarter of a Million visits to The Ham & Egger Files!

Today The Ham & Egger Files received its 250,000th visitor!

 

From my first blog post in December 2006 until the end of December 2011 the site received 100,000 hits and in the last nine and bit months it's received a further 150,000 visits!  People that like "Ham" and/or "Eggs" must be sorely disappointed to find a blog predominantly about Minigolf upon their visit.

 

Thank you to everyone who has visited, read, commented and linked to content on the site. It’s very much appreciated.

 

Some of the most searched for terms from visitors to The Ham & Egger Files are 'minigolf', 'crazy golf', 'crazy golf London, 'laser quest' and 'mini golf London'. From 1,527 blog posts the most visited with 21,053 hits is the 'Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in and around London' blog post.

 

In addition to details of our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, The Ham & Egger Files also contains posts about a number of different things including Air Hockey, Amusement Arcades, Arm Champs II Arcade Games Arm Wrestling, Brussels Sprout Competitive Eating, Bun Throwing, Christmas Tree Throwing, Conga Dancing, Crazy Air Squash, Crazy Golf, Crystal Maze Games, Darts, Dodgeball, Egg Throwing, Fake Alligators/Crocodiles, Gluten Free Food & Places to Eat, Guinness World Records, Lazer (Laser) Tag, Picnicking, Piers, (Ping) Pong, Pirate Flyer Laser Monorails, Rock Paper Scissors, Shooting Shacks, 'Tat' Challenges, Tea Rooms, Thumb Wrestling, Town Criers and Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm-Flailing Tube Men!

 

The most views of the site have come from the UK, some 171,530 hits. In second place with 38,705 is the USA, while there have been 3,935 visits from Germany and 3,649 from Russia. Visitors from Canada, France, Ireland, Australia, Netherlands and South Korea make up the rest of the all-time top ten page views by country.

 

The blog has now received hits from over a quarter of a million people from 112 countries! Quite what the person from Réunion, a French Island in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, was looking for I don’t exactly now. Here’s a list of the 112 countries that The Ham & Egger Files has been visited from:
 

1. Afghanistan
2. Algeria
3. Andorra
4. Argentina
5. Armenia
6. Australia
7. Austria
8. Bahrain
9. Bangladesh
10. Belarus
11. Belgium
12. Bermuda
13. Bosnia and Herzegovina
14. Brazil
15. Brunei
16. Bulgaria
17. Burundi
18. Canada
19. Chile
20. China
21. Colombia
22. Costa Rica
23. Croatia
24. Cyprus
25. Czech Republic
26. Denmark
27. Dominican Republic
28. Ecuador
29. Egypt
30. Estonia
31. Ethiopia
32. Finland
33. France
34. Gabon
35. Georgia
36. Germany
37. Ghana
38. Greece
39. Guatemala
40. Guernsey
41. Hong Kong
42. Hungary
43. Iceland
44. India
45. Indonesia
46. Iraq
47. Ireland
48. Isle of Man
49. Israel
50. Italy
51. Jamaica
52. Japan
53. Jersey
54. Jordan
55. Kuwait
56. Laos
57. Latvia
58. Libya
59. Lithuania
60. Macau
61. Macedonia [FYROM]
62. Malaysia
63. Malta
64. Martinique
65. Mauritius
66. Mexico
67. Moldova
68. Mongolia
69. Montenegro
70. Morocco
71. Myanmar (Burma)
72. Namibia
73. Nepal
74. Netherlands
75. New Zealand
76. Nigeria
77. Norway
78. Pakistan
79. Panama
80. Peru
81. Philippines
82. Poland
83. Portugal
84. Puerto Rico
85. Qatar
86. Réunion
87. Romania
88. Russia
89. Samoa
90. Saudi Arabia
91. Serbia
92. Singapore
93. Slovakia
94. Slovenia
95. South Africa
96. South Korea
97. Spain
98. Sri Lanka
99. Sweden
100. Switzerland
101. Taiwan
102. Tanzania
103. Thailand
104. Tunisia
105. Turkey
106. Ukraine
107. United Arab Emirates
108. Uruguay
109. USA
110. Uzbekistan
111. Venezuela
112. Vietnam

 

Here's to the next quarter of a million hits to the blog.

 

Related Blog Posts:
- The Ham & Egger Files – An Introduction
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Behold...

Seeing in the start of the 'festive season' with a gluten free Mince Pie

May I be the first to wish you a very Merry Christmas, Season's Greetings and all the best for 2013.

 

Why am I doing this on the 5th of October? Well, I had my first Mince Pie of the 'festive season' after buying a pack of four Genius Gluten Free Mince Pies in Asda this lunchtime!

 

My first Mince Pie of the 2012 'festive season'

 

Very tasty they are too.

 

Other Christmas-related Blog Posts at The Ham & Egger Files:

- Christmas Tree Throwing at the Yattendon & Frilsham Village Fete (in June!)

- Merry Christmas from Luton (in April!)

- Crazy Golfers Christmas 'Do' in London - Darts Tournament at Rileys Victoria!

- The Minigolfers Christmas 'Do' 2010

- Guinness World Record Attempt - Most Brussels Sprouts Eaten in a Minute!

- 2009 Christmas Crazy Golf Challenge at Devonshire Square

 

Related Blog Posts at The Ham & Egger Files:

- Gluten Free blog posts

- Coeliac blog posts

 

Links:

- Genius Gluten Free

- Genius Gluten Free Mince Pies

- Coeliac UK

Visiting the Crazy Golf course in Mill Hill Park, London

Visiting the 510th Miniature Golf course on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

While in Mill Hill I took the opportunity to check out the Crazy Golf course in Mill Hill Park.

The course visit was number 510 on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

My fellow Minigolfer Jon 'The Stance' Angel had tipped me off about the course at the park and I'd put it on our 'to visit' list. The course was the 34th in, or around, London that I've been to.

Following a spot of rain there was a little standing water on the course

The 9-hole Minigolf course can be found at Mill Hill Park, Daws Lane and is a short walk from Mill Hill Broadway. If I'm back in the area in the summer I'd give it a go, but in the Autumn weather conditions it wasn't particularly playable.

Hopefully I'll be back to give the course a try in better weather conditions

The Crazy Golf course at Mill Hill Park is of the same design as the Crazy Golf course in Wardown Park in Luton, with some similar obstacles to those at the course on Southsea Common.

Related Blog Posts:

- Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in and around London

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - List and links for all Miniature Golf courses visited to date

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

Six Years on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Visiting 509 Minigolf courses since the 30th September 2006.

Today marks the sixth anniversary of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour that began on the 30th September 2006 when we played the Victory Trail course at Treasure Island Adventure Golf in Southsea, Hampshire. Since that first course we’ve visited a further 508 courses and played 306 of them.

Minigolfing at the Dunton Hills Golf centre's Minigolf course

Our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour came about after Emily and I set out to visit every UK seaside. After visiting Southsea we were somewhat hooked on Crazy Golf and discovered the excellent Minigolf resource MiniatureGolfer.com. That website, run by five-time World Crazy Golf Champion Tim 'Ace Man' Davies, has a list of pretty much every course in the world on it! Through MiniatureGolfer.com we found out there are some 618 courses in England (& Islands), Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We've also since found that this is an ever changing figure as each year some courses are closed down, while new courses open up!

Emily playing the Windmill hole at the Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf course at Waterloo Place in Bognor Regis. This was the 275th course played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Since our coastal travels began in 2006 we've managed to get to 172 seasides, visiting or playing 111 Mini Golf courses while we were beside the sea. We have also widened our travels and have now been to 379 different places in the UK, ranging from big cities to towns, villages and hamlets.



Playing through a BIG minigolf windmill at Selsey's Crazy Golf course

In the last year we’ve played 38 courses and revisited some too. These have included Adventure Golf, Crazy Golf, Swedish Felt Minigolf, Grass Putting, Minigolf, Eternit Miniaturegolf and Miniature Golf courses in England, Scotland and Wales.



Playing hole 2 of the Basingstoke Golf Centre Minigolf course

Minigolf courses come in a variety of types and styles. While some are more conventional 'Putting on a Green Playing Surface' courses, there are others that are a bit more odd, unusual and wacky. In the last year we've Putted amongst beer barrels at the Camden Town Brewery, played through a crashed aeroplane fuselage at the Golf Apocalypse, played at a multi-sport event in Oswestry and played a number of times on a 'London Landmark-themed Crazy Golf course built in cake form(!?)' on the roof of Selfridges London!


The Golf Apocalypse in London (now in Bristol!) - standing outside the crashed aeroplane on the course as the 'passengers' Alan 'Stormin' Norman, Dave Lovatt and Gareth Holmes look on

We've also been to Wonderland in Telford. The 9-hole course there was our 300th course played and 500th visited overall and the layout featured a mixture of felt, concrete and wooden playing surfaces!



Playing hole two of the Wonderland Pirate Adventure Golf in Telford - the 300th course played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!

In April 2012 we took a 1,178 mile roadtrip up to the north west of England, a bit of Scotland and back down to Luton from the north east of England. During our trip we visited 49 Minigolf courses and were able to play a 'lucky' 13 of them.


Emily Putting at the Broughty Ferry Crazy Golf course in Scotland

One of the courses we played on this roadtrip was the world's first Minigolf course - The Himalayas at St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club in Scotland. It's a great 18-hole Miniature Golf course and is well worth a visit. There is also a 9-hole course next to it that is equally as testing and tricky.



Playing the 9-hole Miniature Golf course at the Ladies' Putting Club at St Andrews, Scotland

A running theme of our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour has seen us visit a lot of courses that we've found to be unplayable. Nothing has changed in this respect in the last year as we have visited 65 courses that we haven't been able to play!

The Crazy Golf course in Perth's South Inch Park was in a state of semi-dereliction when we visited. Hopefully it will be renovated soon as there is some investment being put into the park and leisure activities

Many of these were on our trip to Scotland and back and quite a few were in Littlehampton.

Miniature Golf courses played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since the 1st October 2011

269 Gosport (Stokes Bay) - Solent Springs Adventure Golf

270 Earnley (Earnley Butterflies, Birds & Beasts) - Millennium Crazy Golf

271 Selsey (West Sands Holiday Park) - Crazy Golf

272 Hunston (Chichester Golf Centre) - Swedish Felt B-Run Crazy Golf


Putting through a Dolphin going through a hoop at Chichester Golf Centre

273 Bognor Regis (Hotham Park) - Crazy Golf

274 Bognor Regis (Hotham Park) - Putting

275 Bognor Regis (Waterloo Place) - Arnold Palmer Crazy Golf

276 Felpham (Blakes Road) - Putting

277 Stokesley, Middlesbrough (Stokesley Golf Range) - Crazy Golf

278 Bluewater - Pirate Cove - Adventure Golf (Pirate Course) - Note: Built on the site of the Minigolf "Pro Tour Putting" course - see also #80

279 Bluewater - Pirate Cove - Adventure Golf (Smugglers Course) - Note: Built on the site of the Minigolf "Pro Tour Putting" course - see also #80


With a crocodile, or alligator, at Bluewater's new Adventure Golf course

280 Manchester (Birdies Pop Up Golf) - New Business Launch Event - Pop Up Portable Minigolf Course

281 Milton Keynes (Abbey Hill Golf Centre) - Pirate Island Adventure Golf

282 London (Alexandra Palace) - Crazy Golf - See also #155 & #155b
283 Basingstoke (Basingstoke Golf Centre) - Minigolf
284 Basingstoke (Basingstoke Golf Centre) - Putting Course
285 Forton, near Garstang (Zumo Cafe) - Crazy Golf
286 Brockhole - Crazy Golf
287 Ambleside (White Platts Recreation Ground) - Crazy Golf
288 Keswick (Hope Park) - Putting
289 Carlisle (Bitts Park) - Eternit Crazy Golf
290 Perth (Noahs Ark Golf Centre) - Adventure Golf Putting
291 Broughty Ferry, Dundee (Castle Green) - Eternit Crazy Golf
292 St Andrews (The Himalayas - St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club) - Miniature Golf - The world's first Minigolf Course
293 St Andrews (The Himalayas - St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club) - Miniature Golf


At the Himalayas Miniature Golf course in St Andrews - the world's first Minigolf course!

294 Dunfermline - Fife Leisure Park - Adventure Golf Island - Adventure Golf (Pirates Cove Course)
295 Dunfermline - Fife Leisure Park - Adventure Golf Island - Adventure Golf (Treasure Island Course)


Emily at the Adventure Golf Island course at Fife Leisure Park

296 North Berwick (East Links) - Putting Course
297 Seahouses (The Bunker) - Crazy Golf
298 London (Selfridges) - Bompas & Parr Rooftop Crazy Golf
299 West Horndon, near Brentwood (Dunton Hills Golf Course) - Miniature Golf

300 Telford (Wonderland at Telford Town Park) - Crazy Golf - Also the 500th Minigolf Course Visited Overall!
301 Oswestry (Oswestry Games at Oswestry Leisure Centre) - Putterfingers Portable Mini Golf


Putting on the portable Crazy Golf course at the BMGA & Putter Fingers Oswestry Games Minigolf Championships

302 London (Camden Town Brewery - The Brewmaster's Open) - 5-hole Temporary Mini-Golf course


Playing the UrbanCrazy portable Minigolf course at the Brewmaster's Open tournament at the Camden Town Brewery in London

303 London (Clarence Way, Camden) - Crazy Golf
304 London (Golf Apocalypse) - Crazy Golf - Update: September 2012 - course has moved to Bristol
305 Dunstable (The Disability Resource Centre) - Mini golf - supplied by the Dunstable and District Disabled Sports (D.A.D.D.S.) Group
306 London (Tintype Gallery) - Crazee Golf Art Exhibition (and playable hole!)



Many thanks to everyone who has tipped us off about a Minigolf course that we weren't aware of. We've met some great people along the way and made some great friends through playing Minigolf for fun and on the national and international competition circuits of the British Minigolf Association and World Minigolf Sport Federation. Thank you to course owners, builders, managers and staff everywhere for being in a great industry and for their great hospitality and welcome to their Crazy Golfing customers.

If you know of a Minigolf course we should check out do let us know via the comments below. Also, if you have any suggestions on what we could do with the next six years of our lives we'd welcome your comments too.

You can find lists and details of Minigolf, Mini Golf, Crazy Golf, Miniature Golf, Grass Putting and Adventure Golf courses worldwide at the excellent minigolf website MiniatureGolfer.com.

Related Blog Posts:

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - List and links for all Miniature Golf courses visited to date
- Five years on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!
- Minigolf Revisit - Treasure Island Adventure Golf in Southsea - Five Years Later...

- Happy Fourth Birthday to the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!
- Types and Variants of Miniature Golf visited and played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Links:

- MiniatureGolfer.com – Minigolf course lists

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

Report from the Second Knowley Grail Minigolf Tournament

Results and report from the second Knowley Grail Minigolf Competition.

 

The second edition of the Knowley Grail was contested between thirteen BMGA Tour Pro players following the first day's play of the BMGA British Open at Strokes Adventure Golf in Margate, Kent.

 

The rules of the Knowley Grail dictate that all players use the same Minigolf ball - a 'Pinky Diver' - and any player scoring a seven is automatically eliminated from the rest of the one-round competition.

 

With two balls available the group of thirteen split into two groups and commenced play. Defending champion Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd was in group one and along with players including Seth Thomas and Will Donnelly set an early pace rattling in the holes-in-one.



'Squire' Richard Gottfried plays hole three at Strokes Adventure Golf course in Margate, Kent during the second The Knowley Grail minigolf tournament



The first player to be eliminated was 'Oh' Chris Jones who was unable to get the super bouncy ball to stay at the top of the ramp at hole three and so was relegated to a 'plastic garden chair of shame' for the rest of the round.

 

'Oh' Chris Jones has a rest after being eliminated from the Knowley Grail at hole 3

 

No other players were eliminated from the tournament until Paul 'Johnson Paul Johnson Don't Call Me Sue Thompson' Johnson scored a seven at the 11th hole - the aptly named "Heartbreak Ridge". The hole would also claim Scott 'Donkey Gringo' Lancley as another victim and both would join 'Oh' Chris Jones on the lawnchairs of shame.

 

A less than happy Paul 'Johnson etc.' Johnson having been eliminated from the Knowley Grail at hole 11

 

Scott 'Donkey Gringo' Lancley takes a seat after being knocked out of the Knowley Grail tourney at hole 11

 

At the end of the 18-hole round there was a tie for first place, with James 'The Rocket' Rutherford and Adam 'AK47' Kelly both scoring rounds of 38(+2). A sudden-death play-off commenced and The Rocket scored a hole-in-one, while AK47 was unable to respond with an Ace, meaning that the new Knowley Grail champion was James Rutherford.

 

James 'The Rocket' Rutherford looks for an Ace at hole 11 to take the outright win

 

A reluctant and defeated Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd hands over the Knowley Grail trophy to James 'The Rocket' Rutherford

 

Results of the second Knowley Grail competition:

1. James Rutherford - 38 - won play-off

2. Adam Kelly - 38

3. Ted McIver - 41

4. Michael Smith - 42

5. Brad Shepherd - 43

5. Will Donnelly - 43

7. Richard Gottfried - 47

8. Seth Thomas - 48

8. Alan Norman - 48

10. Gareth Holmes - 51

DNF Scott Lancley - scored a 7 at hole 11

DNF Paul Johnson - scored a 7 at hole 11

DNF Chris Jones - scored a 7 at hole 3

 

The Knowley Grail minigolf competition was created by members of the London Minigolf Club following the Midlands Open tournament held at the 12-hole Minigolf course at the Four Ashes Golf Centre in Dorridge, Solihull. The LMGC members had spent the Friday perusing the charity shops of nearby Knowle and found a silver chalice on sale for £2.50. This became the trophy for the Knowley Grail tournaments.

 

Related Blog Post:

- The Knowley Grail of Minigolf

Bar Billiards and other pub games at the East Kent in Whitstable

Pool, Bar Billiards and Table Football at pubs in Whitstable and Tankerton-on-Sea.

 

Last Thursday Emily and I visited the lovely seaside town of Whitstable in Kent. Next to our B&B on Oxford Road was the East Kent pub, which advertised itself as having the best beer garden in the town. We didn't get as far as the garden as we spotted a Pool table (with Free Play on a Thursday) and a room with a Bar Billiards table and a very old Table Football!

 

The East Kent had a pub dog that was keen for customers to play with it, along with a squawking Parrot next to the bar and the Bar Billiards table!

 

Bar Billiards and Table Football in the Games Room at the East Kent in Whitstable

 

Our Pool competiton began at The Royal in Tankerton-on-Sea, another nice pub that is worth a visit, and saw me take a 2-nil lead in our first-to-three competition. In the first game at the East Kent Emily took the win to force another game. I won that one to win 3-1.

 

In our Bar Billards match I was victorious 1,050-nil after Emily wiped out her total of 190 by knocking down the black peg.

 

The final game in our pub games series was on the brilliant old Table Football machine. The table was in great condition and it was far superior to modern machines. I won the game 6-3 in a match that lasted a good 20 minutes! One of the attempts on goal took about 5 minutes!

 

The Table Football in the Games Room at the East Kent pub in Whitstable

 

The East Kent is a great pub. It's nice and friendly with lots to do (there are two dart boards as well) and a good selection of drinks. I could easily spend a day in there.

 

Links:

- The East Kent at Shepherd Neame

- The All England Bar Billiards' Association (AEBBA)

 

Related Blog Posts:

- All Bar Billiards-related Blog Posts on the Ham & Egger Files