Minigolf Report – 2014 BMGA British Masters in Worthing

14th April 2014

Press Information

For Immediate Release

Minigolf Report – BMGA British Masters in Worthing

Richard Gottfried 5th and Emily Gottfried 11th in national Miniature Golf tournament. 

Luton Minigolfers Richard and Emily Gottfried competed in the BMGA British Masters tournament that took place at the 18-hole Splash Point Mini Golf course at Denton Gardens in Worthing, West Sussex on Sunday 13th April. In the four-round, 72-hole tournament Richard finished in 5th place overall in the 30-player field. Emily finished in 11th place overall, and was the winner in the Category 3 event contested by six players.

Richard and Emily Gottfried receive their medals from the Mayor of Worthing, Bob Smytherman

Richard scored a three-round total of 149(+5) after rounds of 37, 36, 39 and 37. With twelve holes-in-one across the four rounds he won the Category 1 player Aces title.

Richard Gottfried playing hole 4 during the Hole-in-One Charity Challenge at the 2014 BMGA British Masters tournament at Splash Point Mini Golf in Worthing

Emily scored a total 168(+24) with rounds of 44, 41, 41 and 42. For the second year in a row Emily had to face a play-off to win Category 3. In the sudden-death play-off Emily defeated Kent’s Adrian Amey at the first extra-hole to take the title.

Emily Gottfried in her sudden-death play-off on hole 10 at the BMGA British Masters competition at Splash Point Mini Golf in Worthing 

Richard said "Splash Point Mini Golf is a course that seems to get tougher each and every year, but I relish the chance to visit Worthing and tackle it. I dropped a few more shots this year but was very happy to finish fifth overall, as well as pick up the medal as the Aces Champion. I’m really pleased for Emily too as she improved by one place overall from last year and did really well to retain the Category 3 title.”

Emily said “I’m really happy to finish 11th overall! Splash Point is a really tough course with couple of horror holes for me, so I’m really delighted with this result. I’m also pleased to come first in my Category, despite making it harder for myself by making a few silly mistakes which meant I had to play-off for the title, but it was great victory for me. I’m looking forward to the next event in Margate now, even though that’s another tricky course.” 

The winner of the 2014 BMGA British Masters was Oxford’s Michael Smith with a score of 135(-9) who became a two-time champion. Newcastle’s John Moore, a former champion, was runner-up on 141(-3), with Portugal’s Nuno Cunha third on 144(par) and defending champion, Cambridgeshire’s Adam Kelly, fourth on 146(+2).

Ends

UrbanCrazy at the Manchester Golf Show 2014

The team at UrbanCrazy will be at the Manchester Golf Show this month and visitors will have the chance to play on the company's brand new Serpentine Minigolf Course.

The Manchester Golf Show will be taking place at EventCity from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th April, with doors opening at 10am on the Friday. 

For more details about the show and UrbanCrazy check out the links below:

- UrbanCrazy at the Manchester Golf Show 2014

- The Serpentine Course

- Manchester Golf Show

Check out other UrbanCrazy-related blog posts on The Ham & Egger Files.

Lyle & Scott's Hole-in-One Challenge

Playing the special Minigolf Hole-in-One Challenge at Lyle & Scott's Carnaby Street shop in London.

All this week the clothing brand Lyle & Scott has had a special Hole-in-One Minigolf Challenge set up at the flagship store on Carnaby Street. The layout has been supplied by Urban Crazy.

On my lunch-break yesterday I popped along with fellow Minigolfer Gareth 'Osmosis' Holmes and my old Dodgeball rival 'Rowdy' Russell Fenner as we tried our luck on the tricky challenge that had been set-up as a promotion for The Masters golf tournament.

Adam from Urban Crazy was on-hand at the hole to instruct players about the challenge and we saw him knock in a couple of good holes-in-one.

Urban Crazy's Adam on the Lyle & Scott Hole-in-One Challenge hole on Carnaby Street

Each player was given three attempts to register a hole-in-one and win a prize. Both winners and losers could make use of a discount on the day too for purchases in-store.

Tee-ing up my shot

Gareth Holmes failing to get an Ace as Adam and Russell look on

Small swing and a big miss for 'Rowdy' Russell on the Lyle and Scott challenge

Unfortunately none of us managed to score an Ace - and we won't be sporting a Lyle & Scott polo shirt this weekend. We did see a couple of other players manage the feat though, to a ripple of applause from the crowds in the bustling street.

You can still play the special Hole-in-One Challenge hole this week. Follow Lyle & Scott and the Lyle & Scott Golf Team for more info.

Back in October 2012 Lyle and Scott and The Campaign for Wool created a special Woolly Golf course in Covent Garden for that years Wool Week. That course became the 511th visited and 307th played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since 2006.

Links:

- Lyle & Scott

- Lyle & Scott Golf

- Urban Crazy

Related blog posts:

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

- Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in and around London

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Q&A with the Glutenlibre Celiac Awareness website

Check out my recent Q&Q with the Glutenlibre team at "Glutenlibre Q&A with Richard Gottfried."

The Glutenlibre website and brand promotes awareness for celiac* disease and the gluten-free lifestyle.

In my interview I discuss my diagnosis as a coeliac* in 2008, life as a Pro Minigolfer, how I've managed the transition to a gluten free lifestyle, the impact on my life and the wide-range of sports, games and activities I get up to on my travels.

Playing in the final of the World Crazy Golf Championships the year after my diagnosis

Since 2012 Glutenlibre has been using "Gfree performance" to show people they can still have a full, healthy lifestyle despite having to live on a strict and life-long gluten free diet.

Links:

- Glutenlibre

- Glutenlibre Gfree Athletes

- Glutenlibre on Twitter

- Glutenlibre on Facebook

* Celiac in the USA and Coeliac in the UK, but either way it's pronounced "See-lee-ack".

Crazy Golf at the Zumo Cafe in Forton (from the archives)

A felted 'Concrete' type of Minigolf course in Forton, Lancashire.

My friend, Minigolf rival and co-owner of the excellent Splash Point Mini Golf course in Worthing, Anthony Pope recently spotted a 'felted-Beton' type of Minigolf course in De Panne and Koksijde, Netherlands and posted the pics on Twitter.

At first I didn't think we'd found a type of this course - known in continental Europe and by the World Minigolf Sport Federation as 'Concrete' - on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. But then I remembered we'd played a felted-concrete layout on a road-trip in 2012.

The 18th at the Zumo Cafe in Forton

Emily playing Crazy Golf at the Zumo Cafe in Forton

The course in question was the first we played on our 49 course tour of the north west of England, some of Scotland and the north east coast. Located at the Zumo Cafe course in Forton, near Garstang in Lancashire, the course was the 285th course we played.

Each of the holes on the course is named after a local place or landmark.

Hole 1 - Cockerham Sands

Hole 2 - Fleetwood

Hole 3 - Parlick Pike

Hole 4 - Lancaster Canal

Hole 5 - Blackpool Pleasure Beach

Hole 6 - Glasson Dock

Hole 7 - Beacon Fell

Hole 8 - Windy Harbour

Hole 9 - White Scar Caves

Hole 9 - White Scar Caves

Hole 10 - Zumo Cafe/Bar Special

Hole 10 - Zumo Cafe/Bar Special - an intriguing hole!

Hole 10 - Zumo Cafe/Bar Special - the green

  

Hole 11 - Isle of Man

Hole 12 - Nicky Nook

Hole 13 - Brock Bottoms

Hole 14 - Garstang

Hole 15 - Morecambe Promenade

Hole 16 - Forest of Bowland

Hole 17 - Trough of Bowland

Hole 17 - Trough of Bowland - the hole!

Hole 18 - Lancashire Windmills

While not a totally official type of 'Concrete' course (see our blog post for photos from the championship course in Stockholm, Sweden for pics of a traditional looking one) the course in Forton looked very similar to Beton (albeit with shorter holes), with obstacles and lane types we've seen and played before.

On our visit, the owners of the Zumo Cafe told us they had been inspired to build the course having played a lot of Minigolf on courses like it in Spain.

The Miniaturegolf standard of course (aka Eternit) is another smooth concrete type of Minigolf, and we've found a few examples - official and un-official - on our travels. Notably in Warrington, Clacton-on-Sea (where a couple of the holes were a bit Beton-y too), Colchester, Woking, Beckenham and Milton Keynes.

More recently we visited Valley Gardens in Harrogate where I played on the solid concrete course that was very similar to the Eternit type of Miniaturegolf.

Link:

- Golf Westhoek BVBA in Koksijde

Related blog posts:

- Visiting a further 49 Minigolf and Crazy Golf courses in England and Scotland

- 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.

The Simply Cook Gluten Free Box

Trying out the new Gluten Free recipe and ingredient box from Simply Cook.

The Gluten Free Box from Simply Cook

At the recent launch of the online gluten free review website Gluugle I met Karen (aka The Gluten Free Chef) from Simply Cook.

Following the event Karen sent me a sample box including four recipes and ingredients from their first ever Gluten Free Box.

The aim of the kits is to give restaurant quality food in 20 minutes, with you just needing to follow the recipe and add between 4-6 fresh ingredients.

The Gluten Free Box looks good and is well laid out in the smart packaging. The recipe cards and ingredients contained within allow you to make four interesting meals – Malay Laksa (a chicken and butternut squash dish), Pork and Chorizo Beans, Spiced Butternut Squash Risotto and Smoked Haddock Kedgeree.

The recipes are for two people – and we found there was plenty left-over for lunch the next day (or seconds).

Check out our photos of the four tasty meals below.

The first dish we made was the Malay Laksa

One pot cooking

Gluten Free Malay Laksa

The Pork and Chorizo Beans recipe card and ingredients

Dinner is served

The ingredients and recipe card for the tasty Spiced Butternut Squash Risotto - no photo of the finished meal exists as it was quickly scoffed!

The ingredients for the Gluten Free Box Smoked Haddock Kedgeree recipe

I'm a big fan of Kedgeree so this was my favourite meal of the week

Emily enjoyed cooking and eating the dinners, while I enjoyed eating the food Emily and the Gluten Free Box produced. Following our testing of the box we've sent the team at Simply Cook our feedback.

The normal price of the subscription service is £10 a month, which includes postage. Simply Cook has an offer where you can get 50% off when you quote the code 'GFRichard' when making an order on the Gluten Free Box.

Find out more about Simply Cook at the links below.

Links:

- Simply Cook website

- Simply Cook Gluten Free Box

- Simply Cook on Twitter

- Simply Cook on Facebook

- Gluten Free Chef on Twitter

- Gluugle

- Gluten free-related blog posts

Pirate's Landing Adventure Golf at Trent Lock Golf Centre in Long Eaton

Playing the 332nd and 333rd miniature golf courses on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

On the Pirate's Landing Adventure Golf course at Trent Lock Golf Centre

On Friday 28th March 2014 we headed to the Trent Lock Golf Centre in Long Eaton, Nottinghamshire to visit and play the 12-hole Pirate's Landing Adventure Golf course.

The course is next to the clubhouse and car park and is instantly noticeable on your arrival at the Trent Lock Golf Centre.

It's a great looking course and has some striking features including the giant pirate ship in the middle of the course, the two rafts players must use to travel between some holes and the Pirate Captain's Toilet on hole 8!!!

Photos of the course from our visit.

As a warm-up we played the good little 6-hole Putting Green next to the Pirate's Landing course. In our match-up Emily won 13-14 on the 553rd Minigolf course we've visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

The 6-hole artificial turf Putting Green at Trent Lock Golf Centre 

Emily putting on the Putting Green

In our main-event match-up on the 12-hole Pirate's Landing Adventure Golf course Emily also ran out the winner with a score of 34 to my 35.

Hole 7 was a killer hole for me - watch me get robbed of a number of shots on it.

Check out the Adventure Golf page of the Trent Lock Golf Centre website for details of the course opening times and prices.

Links:

- Trent Lock Golf Centre

- Pirate's Landing Adventure Golf

Related blog posts:

- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

- Playing Minigolf Through A Dunny!

- Fake Crocodiles! Or are they Alligators?

Videos from our visit:

- Firing through the cannon Pirate's Landing Adventure Golf 

- The Pirate's Toilet Obstacle at the Pirate's Landing Adventure Golf course 1 of 2 

- The Pirate's Toilet Obstacle at the Pirate's Landing Adventure Golf course 2 of 2