Sports Philatelists International and the Journal of Sport Philately

This year I joined the Olympin Club and through that I heard about Sports Philatelists International! As a collector of sporting postcards and Olympic memorabilia I had to join that club too.

This week I received the Fall 2016 issue of the Journal of Sports Philately in the post. Not only is the journal a great read and packed full of great images and info, but the club have taken the time and effort to mail it out with some fantastic stamps on the envelope. Take a look at the photo below to see what I mean!

What an envelope

Seeing these two stamps on the piece of post made me incredibly happy - and surprised! I never knew there had been a re-issue of the infamous Inverted Jenny stamp

For more information and joining instructions check out the Sports Philatelists International website and Facebook page.

Links:
- Sports Philatelists International
- Olympin Club
- The Inverted Jenny stamp 

New darts stuff

I recently treated myself to an early birthday and Christmas present by buying some new darts stuff from the Darts Performance Centre - and of course it was Peter 'Chatterbox' Sajwani branded merch!

A lovely lot of darting merch. And a new postcard too

In his debut at the 2015 BDO World Championships Peter Sajwani caused an upset with victory over the number one seed James Wilson.

I'm a member of the Sajwani Army. Not sure what rank I carry though?

The chatty underdog won a legion of fans with his post-match interview where he claimed "It doesn't matter what you score. What does matter is hitting the double. A gorilla can punch the ball 600 yards but can't putt."

Wise words indeed.

The excellent gorilla putting darts flight - one for the Crazy Golf Museum too...

We've found a lot of the pubs in our new local area have dart boards, fantastic to see. We always carry a set now just in case the opportunity to have a quick game arises.

'Peppering' the 20 bed with the new Sajwani Army flighted arrers

A Shanghai on 19s at the Queens Arms in Cheadle

Check out the Darts Performance Centre and their shop for some great kit.

I also picked up some Harrows and Eric Bristow darts kit from The Sport Shop while in Shanklin on a recent trip to the Isle of Wight

As that great sports writer (and fellow member of the Sajwani Army) Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley might say "All the gear, no idea."

Links:
- Darts Performance Centre
- Peter Sajwani, Darts player (Twitter and Facebook)

Related blog posts:
- Darts
- Peter Sajwani

Adventure Golf at Walton Hall and Gardens in Warrington

Playing the Adventure Mini Golf course at Walton Hall and Gardens in Warrington.

Back in July 2008 we visited Walton Hall and Gardens in Warrington and visited the Crazy Golf course and Putting Green there.

The new layout is very different to the old one

Earlier this year a new Adventure Golf course opened up on the site of the old Crazy Golf course, a course that had been in the park since 1973 and was originally of the Eternit Miniature Golf format.

On the 18th September we met up with our friends and minigolf rivals Jon and Cheryl Angel for a round on the new course. We had great weather for the round on the tricky course.

Playing the last hole

My new 'local' knowledge must of played a part as I picked up the win with a score of 49. Emily and Jon tied for the runners-up spot on 52, with Cheryl picking up the bronze medal with a score of 65.

Jon 'El Pato' Angel lining up a putt

In the team event Jon and Emily won with a combined score of 104 to 114.

Emily in action

Cheryl playing the toughest hole on the course

The new course became the 702nd visited and 413th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since September 2006.

There's also a nice looking Pitch & Putt layout at Walton Hall and Gardens. We might give that a play in the future.

The Pitch and Putt course at Walton Hall and Gardens

Check out the Walton Hall Gardens website for more information, opening times and prices for the Minigolf courses in the park.

The Putting Green at Walton Hall and Gardens

As a fan (and curator of a) quirky museums we were interested to see a Cycle Museum at Walton Hall and Gardens too.

The museum was just closing as we were heading out of Walton Hall and Gardens

We did manage to grab a quick look around though. There were some interesting exhibits

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Minigolf Course Visit No. 115 - Walton Hall Gardens Crazy Golf
- Minigolf Course Visit No. 116 - Walton Hall Gardens Putting Green

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems.

You can now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

Happy Miniature Golf Day 2016!

Celebrating Miniature Golf Day with a round of Pitch and Putt at Bruntwood Park in Cheadle, Cheshire.

Having a putt around on Miniature Golf Day

The 21st of September is ALWAYS Miniature Golf Day. It's set in stone and a rule, so who are we to argue? To mark the great occasion we nipped along to our new local mini golf course at Bruntwood Park for a round of Pitch & Putt.

The GIANT Footgolf hole. The cups on the Pitch and Putt course were quite large too

Luckily we were in time to sneak in three holes as the man had already collected in the flags and the last group of Footgolfers were halfway through their round. When he heard about the importance of Miniature Golf Day he grabbed some flags and put them out on the 1st, 2nd and 7th holes so we could get in a mini round of minigolf. That was absolutely brilliant of him.

Emily's golf ball takes flight

Last month we visited Bruntwood Park and had a look at the course, but unfortunately didn't have time for a round. Having had a taste of the layout this evening we'll definitely be heading back for a game. The holes are just long enough to be a challenge, but short enough that you won't spend a lot of time pitching, lobbing and hacking your way round. Perfect for putters like us.

A little chip and run to the hole

The result of our quick minigolf match-up was Richard 3-4-3, Emily 5-7-4. We can't wait for the rematch.

The 7th hole had a lot of leaf fall from the silver birch tree - Emily's balls got quite well camouflaged in it!

September is a BIG month in the mini game and our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. In addition to Miniature Golf Day, next Friday we celebrate 10 years since our travels began, and last weekend we reached the MASSIVE milestone of the 700th minigolf course visit.

Bruntwood Park's minigolf course became the 695th visited when we had a gander at it on the 14th August. It's now the 414th that we've managed to play.

Related blog posts:
- Mini Golf Dates for your diary
- Pitch and Putt at Bruntwood Park, Cheadle
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Links:
- Bruntwood Park on Cheadle Golf Club's website
- Bruntwood Park on Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council's website

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems.

You can also sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

Crazy Golf at Vickersway Park in Northwich, Cheshire

Visiting the 700th course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

On Saturday 17th September 2016 we reached another BIG milestone on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour as we played the 9-hole Crazy Golf course at Vickersway Park in Northwich, Cheshire - it was the 700th miniature golf course we've visited since our quest began back in September 2006.

At our 700th course

One of the nicest looking courses we've ever seen

Vickersway Park is a perfect setting for a sunny afternoon's minigolfing and is one of the nicest parks we've been to on our travels.

The Crazy Golf course was the 411th we've managed to play and it was very pleasing to see the layout offering up obstacles we'd not seen before.

Emily teeing off on hole 1 of our 700th course visit

On hole 2

Hole 4 was the longest

The hilly 5th hole

The tough uphill 6th hole

Hole 8

The incredibly tough 9th hole

In our match-up on the course Emily picked up the win 30-31 - but if it were not for the incredibly tricky pipe obstacle on the last hole it would've been by a lot more.

When we arrived at the park we were surprised to find there's not one minigolf course there, but two! So, we also managed to play the 412th course on our tour!

Hole 1 of the Putting Green

The looping Putting Green was a nice course, with some difficult routes to the cups.

A view of the Putting course

There were also some chicken coops and hen houses and bird cages next to the course which was interesting to see and hear. I got a small measure of revenge for my earlier defeat on the Crazy Golf course by winning our round on the Putting course 23-26.

Emily putting

The park games are nicely priced and we received brilliant service from the lady in the kiosk. The park and its team are certainly an asset to the town.

The menu board

The first game we spotted at the park looked like a minigolf course, but was actually a pair of skittle alleys.

The Skittle alleys

We'd definitely return to Vickersway Park for some more minigolf, a game of skittles, a nice wander and a sit down in the pleasant surroundings. Visit the GoNorthwich website for more information.

Emily enjoying a nice sit down at the Putting course

This year we're celebrating ten years of our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. It all began down in Sothsea, Hampshire on the 30th September 2006. We can't believe we've managed to visit 700 courses in that time. When we began there were around 600 courses in the UK! There are now 50 or so more for us to visit, but with new courses opening all the time who knows when, or if, we'll ever complete the set...

We added another brilliant minigolf scorecard to our collection

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

Videos:
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 1
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 2 - hole-in-one
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 3
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 4
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 5
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 6 - hole-in-one
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 7 - hole-in-one
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 8
- Vickersway Park Crazy Golf Hole 9
- Putting Green at Vickersway Park Hole 1 and chickens
- Putting Green at Vickersway Park Hole 5
- Crazy Golf and a Northern train at Vickersway Park in Northwich

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems.

You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.

Crazy Golf at the Pier Head in Liverpool

Visiting the 699th course on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

On Saturday 10th September we visited the 12-hole Crazy Golf course at the Pier Head in Liverpool.

It became the 699th miniature golf course visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour since we began our travels on the 30th September 2006.

At course number 699

It's a fun layout - made tricky by the use of regular bouncy golf balls - and had some interesting obstacles.

An interesting place to park a London bus

It was similar in style to the courses we've played in Brockhole and Torquay. And a bit like the course in Ayr as decking had been used for some of the holes.

The course became the 410th played overall and at £3 per player it was a good price for some fun minigolf.

Now we roll on to the 700th course. Who knows where it'll be!

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

Video:
- Playing hole 7

Give the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour a Like on Facebook, watch our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter @putting_gott and @Ems_Lems.

You can also now sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter.