Sunday, June 23, 2013

New Mini Golf course open in Barnard Castle

Brand new UrbanCrazy Miniature Golf course holding an official opening in Barnard Castle, County Durham in July.

The team at Minigolf course designers and builders UrbanCrazy have put the finishing touches to a brand new Mini Golf course in the town of Barnard Castle in County Durham.

The 9-hole layout opens on Saturday 20th July at 1pm and the official opening will see members of the public able to play the course for FREE!


Members of the Great Britain Minigolf Team will be on hand for tips and to take on in challenge matches.

Emily and I are looking forward to giving it a play and making it another course visited on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour. We’ve played a number of UrbanCrazy’s permanent and portable Mini, Adventure and Crazy Golf courses and they’re always great fun and a test of putting skill.

The course is open for play now and is operated by Barnard Castle Town Council. You can find it located at Scar Top, Barnard Castle, County Durham, DL12 8LY.

Links:
UrbanCrazy

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Emily Gottfried wins the WMF World Adventure Golf Masters Women’s Title in Hastings

22nd June 2013
Press Information
For Immediate Release

Emily Gottfried wins the WMF World Adventure Golf Masters Women’s Title in Hastings

Gottfried’s compete in the WMF World Adventure Golf Masters International Championship in Hastings.

Luton Minigolfers Richard and Emily Gottfried received their fifth Great Britain caps as they played in the third World Minigolf Sport Federation tournament held in the UK. Emily became a two-time WMF World Adventure Golf Masters Women’s Champion at the event defeating defending champion Ruth Burke in a sudden-death play-off at the third extra-hole after both players had tied after six rounds.

Emily Gottfried - 2013 WMF Women's World Adventure Golf Masters Champion

The 2013 WMF World Adventure Golf Masters took place at the 18-hole Pirate-themed Adventure Golf course in Hastings, East Sussex on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th June and saw a 37 player individual tournament take place along with a seven-team competition.

Great Britain 3 from l-r John Moore (c), Emily Gottfried, Richard Gottfried, Craig Patterson

Emily said “I'm unbelievably happy to win my second World Adventure Golf Master Women’s Title. It was a close-fought battle, with Ruth and I trading the lead between each of the six rounds, and then finally finishing on the same score. The play-off was tense so to win it with an ace on the third-hole was an exciting way to secure the title!"

As part of the Great Britain 3 Team Richard and Emily teamed with Newcastle’s John Moore and Brighton’s Craig Patterson as they took on Germany, Sweden, three other Great Britain teams and a WMF Allstar team comprised of players from Germany and Finland. The GB3 team made the cut for the final round and finished in fifth place overall, defeating the much fancied GB2 team in the contest. Germany won the event, with GB1 runners-up and Sweden in third place.

In the two-day individual competition played over seven-rounds Richard finished in 20th place scoring rounds of 36, 33, 33, 35, 33, 33 and 30 for a total of 233(-19). In the male category competition he finished in tied 12th place of 22 players.

Richard Gottfried hitting a hole-in-one


Emily Gottfried teeing-off in the sudden-death play-off
Richard said “It’s always special playing for the national team and I was pleased to put in a good performance for our team. I was very pleased to shoot a low of 29 in the team final and to finish 19-under par in the individual contest was a good result. Well done to Emily on her women’s title win too, she did very well to recompose herself after a fraught final round to secure the win through the play-off.”

Sunday 16th June also saw the second BMGA British Adventure Golf Open competition take place. The three-round tournament saw Richard finish in 10th place with Emily in 19th in the 23-player field. The result sees Richard move up one place in the BMGA Tour Strokeplay Order of Merit Rankings to 7th of 125 players, with Emily in 44th position. In the BMGA Season Only Rankings for 2013 Richard is in 9th place of 56 players and Emily is in 15th spot.

In the latest World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) Rankings Great Britain is ranked 18th of 29 countries.

Ends

Back blogging...

A crazily busy month both in and out of Minigolf!

The last month has been very busy what with moving house from sunny Luton to sunny Leagrave.

Still, this hasn’t stopped us from our Minigolf adventures and I will be writing some new blog posts detailing a couple of new Miniature Golf course visits on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour, plus reports and photos from the third WMF World Adventure Golf Masters Tournament in Hastings (along with the off course Bar Billiards, Tat and Air Hockey shenanigans) and updates on our rankings in the WMF and the BMGA.

Sunday, June 16, 2013

2013 World Adventure Tat and Air Hockey Challenges!

Report from the off-course shenanigans in Hastings.

When in the Miniature Golf mecca that is Hastings, East Sussex it is almost guaranteed that after a hard days practice or competition on the seafront courses you'll find a bunch* of Crazy Golfers spending their time in one of the amusement arcades (or 'The Buttons' as a wise man once termed them, Christian Fuchs wasn't it). 
Pasi 'Bruiser' Aho was keen to get in some early practice
At the 2013 WMF World Adventure Golf Masters tournament it was no different as sixteen Minigolfers adventured into the Old Town Buttons for the 2013 World Adventure £2 Tat Challenge and Air Hockey Championships!
New Buttons Committee Member Johnny Waffles
With a truly international field competitors from Great Britain faced Swedes, a Finn who resides in Germany and an Englishman from the United Arab Emirates lined up for the seventh ranking Tat Challenge tournament.
Sweden's Bjorn Dinau approaches the field of play
With a number of debutees in the tourney it was left to new Buttons Committee member John 'YI' Moore to gather the players ready for the big event and also explain the rules of the contest, with some help from Richard Gottfried.
Thrilling action
In a truly enthralling contest there were a number of players racking up a nice haul of tat, while others fared less well, including veteran players including Emily Gottfried and Will Donnelly.
Will Donnelly had a bad day at the office
A shocking result came from former Worlds number one player James Rutherford who limped out of the contest with a meagre two bits of tat.
Even a double fire approach from James 'Ruthers' Rutherford was not enough to help him this time
Young gun Adam 'AK47' Kelly was heading for last place, but by tactically not declaring his score of zero until he'd done a bit of ratting enabled him to move up the leaderboard to lucky seventh.
Newcomer Craig Small is watched by veteran competitors Richard Gottfried and Adam Kelly
With a strong score of 32 (second only in the all-time list to James Rutherford's massive score of 40 in 2012) Richard Gottfried declared.
A smug Richard Gottfried on course for the win?
With Mike Small, Craig Small, John Moore and Torgny Kjellstrom the final players left with any two-pees in the contest it looked like the win was all but secured.
A mighty haul is shown to adjudicator John Moore
However, in an extraordinary debut from the Dubai-based player Mike Small managed to keep on winning tat and replenish his tuppenny bit ammo stockpile. With the crowd gathering and excitement building Small eventually ran out of money and his big haul counted.
The crowd are in awe of Mike Small's tatting
Astonishingly he also scored 32!
The crowd waiting to see the (tup)pennies and tat fall...
Deciding against a play-off, or even the traditional argument decider of Rock Paper Scissors the players agreed that the contest would be a draw.
Here are your winners - Mike Small (l), big bag of tat (m) and Richard Gottfried (r)
Each competitor in the event was allowed to choose one piece of tat as a memento from the 151 pieces the group had won, before the big bag of it was given away to other players in the arcade who had been watching in equal measures of amazement and confusion as the group of players had been in action!


The £2 Tat Challenge Order of Merit has been updated following the contest and now sees 54 players from seven countries ranked!


The next Tat Challenge takes places in Hastings in October and will be the WORLDS title match!

World Adventure Air Hockey 2013

In the World Adventure Air Hockey contest fourteen players faced-off to take the crown. With Sweden's Filiph Svensson and Torgny Kjellstrom receiving byes in the first round the results were:
- Chris Wood lost to Will Donnelly 5-6
- Ruthers beat Mark Wood 5-4
- Big Al Moore lost to Peter Eisenschmitt 2-7
- Pastie Aho beat Craig Small 7-1
- Mike Small beat AK47 3-2
- Paulli lost to Bjorn 6-7

In the quarter finals:
- Filiph bested Will D 7-4
- Ruthers beat Peter E 4-4
- Pasi defeated Mike Small 6-1
- Bjorn beat Torgny 7-3

In the semi finals:
- Filiph beat Ruthers 6-5
- Pasi beat Bjorn 3-2

Pasi and Filiph in Air Hockey action
In the grand final Pasi (the reigning World Crazy Air Hockey Champion) was bested by Filiph 4-3. Watch the video of the final moments of the match-up.


* Not sure what the collective term is for a group of Crazy Golfers is. Suggestions on a Postcard 

Related Blog Posts:

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Two Miniature Golf Firsts

Visiting and playing the first two Miniature Golf courses in the world!

On the long and winding road that is the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour Emily and I have so far visited 528 Minigolf courses and played 317 of them. There have been a wide-range of designs, obstacles, layouts and hazards. Some of the courses were new, some were temporary and others had been established a long time.

Two of the courses we have played lay claim to being the first of their type in the world!

The third Minigolf course we ever visited on what was to become the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour was the Southsea Golf Links in Hampshire, England which according to the British Pitch & Putt Association opened in 1914 and was the first course in England, if not the World, to be purpose built for use by members of the public!

Richard pitching on hole 2 at the Southsea Golf Links
Pitching on hole 2 at the Southsea Golf Links

The 292nd and 293rd courses we played were at St Andrews in Scotland where we played The Himalayas Putting Courses, home to the St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club, and the world's first Minigolf course as it was first laid out in 1867!

Emily Putting at the 18th hole at The Himalayas in St Andrews
Emily Putting at the 18th hole at The Himalayas in St Andrews

Other courses and locations we've played at with a fair bit of history include Splash Point Mini Golf in Worthing where there has been Minigolf played on the site of the new course since the 1920's and the roof of Selfridges Department Store on Oxford Street in London which last year re-opened for the first time since the 1930's.

Links:

Related Blog Posts:

Friday, May 24, 2013

A London Bar Billiards Pub Crawl

Report from a journey to five London pubs to play the classic game of Bar Billiards.

On Saturday 18th of May Kevin ‘Booze N Cues’ Moseley led an increasingly merry band of semi-pro Minigolfers on a tour of five pubs to play the fine pub sport of Bar Billiards.

Travelling in from Bath, Newcastle, Luton, Manchester and other parts of London the intrepid group of amateur Bar Billiarders met at Cutty Sark DLR and headed for the first port of call – the Pelton Arms.

Bar Billiards in London
Kevin 'Booze N Cues' Moseley outside the first stop of the day

The original plan for the day was going to see a pair’s tournament held across the five pubs, but on the day itself it was decided to aim to play three games in each venue with teams drawn at random. This was a great approach as some players had played before, while others hadn't.

Bar Billiards in London
The barmy Bar Billiardists

Lining up at the ‘do’ were:
Brad "Flying Fists" Shepherd
John "Wipe-out" Moore
Kevin "Booze N Cues" Moseley
Oliver "Late Starter" Florence
Seth "Das Nugget" Thomas*
Emily "Trick Shot" Gottfried
Richard "The Black Peg" Gottfried
* nickname later changed to "Trafalgar"

Unable to attend this time around, but with nicknames decided were:
Trevor "Le Champignon Noir" Robertson
Martin "Middlesex Fats" Robertson

Ahead of the day out Booze N Cues had emailed, tweeted and called each of the pubs to ensure the Bar Billiards tables were in working order. The fine chaps at the Bar Billiards Online Forum and the All England Bar Billiards' Association have put together some great lists of where you can find a table (there are about 600 in total in the UK and Channel Islands).

The thoroughly mapped out and timetabled route around London saw us travel around 20 miles by DLR, Train, Tube, Bus and foot. Perhaps next time we’ll schedule in a trip on a ferry too.

The table at the Pelton Arms had recently been serviced and was good to go.

The Pelton Arms was a great pub, was doing a brisk trade and served some large portions of pub grub by the looks of it! But we weren’t interested in eating; our appetite was for Bar Billiards!

Things got off to a shaky start as one of the balls was lodged in the machine. But after getting the man he opened the table up and the ball was released ready for us to play.

The most striking thing about the table was that instead of just having one red ball and seven white balls, the table had seven reds and a lone white! This was very confusing to begin with as it’s normally the red ball that counts double, but at the Pelton Arms it was the white that was the doubler!

Bar Billiards in London
An odd coloured combination of Bar Billiards balls!?

Bar Billiards in London
Richard 'The Black Peg' Gottfried is confused by the number of red balls at the Pelton Arms

In matches from the Pelton Arms:
Richard & Kevin defeated John & Seth 770 to 680 after scoring 200 with the final (white double) ball
Brad & Emily bested Kevin & Seth 720 to 300

From the Pelton Arms we caught a bus to Deptford and the Dog & Bell pub. Located in a housing estate the Dog & Bell was a brilliant boozer, had excellent customer service (some of the best I’ve ever received in a pub) and a great Bar Billiards table.

Heading to the Dog & Bell pub in Deptford
Heading to the Dog & Bell pub in Deptford

Plenty of space was given to the Bar Billiards area (and the eighty year old table) and the spacious public house was a nice spot to spend some time in. Definitely a pub to revisit.

Bar Billiards in London
Booze N Cues in action at the Dog & Bell

In results from the Dog & Bell:
John & Kevin lost to Emily & Seth 0 to 170 after Kevin wiped-out a score of 900 on a very unnecessary shot at the 200-hole!
Richard & John lost to Seth & Kevin 370 to 1,680 with Seth sinking the last white in the 100-hole
Emily & Brad lost to Richard & Seth 0 to 480 after wiping out their score of 150 points

Bar Billiards in London
Brad 'The Flying Fist' Shepherd entertains the crowd

Bar Billiards in London
The Flying Fist shows orf his new titfer while Trick Shot lines up some sort of trick shot

We then headed (by way of a charity shop where Brad got two VHS tapes for 10p in a BOGOF offer) back to Cutty Sark and on to Stratford to catch a bus to the King William the Fourth in Leyton; quite a journey.

Bar Billiards in London
Booze N Cues schools his rivals in potting at the King William the Fourth

At the King William the Fourth the table is free to play if a charity donation is made. We happily paid, grabbed the cues and got cracking on the matches.

The scores on the doors from the King William the Fourth were:
Brad & Richard lost to Kevin & Seth 1,500 to 1,960 in one of the day’s best matches
Emily & Seth lost to John & Kevin 1,140 to 1,290 in the other of the day’s better matches

The table at the King William the Fourth was the best example that we found during the day and played really well.

Next up was a trip to Hackney and the Pembury Tavern. This bustling pub was fairly packed and as soon as we walked in some other customers started playing the Bar Billiards table! This was a first for many of us and so while we waited to play we had a nice sit down and ordered some food and a few more drinks.

With only time for one match at the Pembury Tavern the result was a win for John against Richard in a ‘breakaway’ tournament.

Bar Billiards in London
The Black Peg plays Wipe-out as latecomer Oliver Florence looks on

By the time we reached the King Charles I near Kings Cross the scoring had gone a bit out of the window, so it was a good job we weren't playing a full tournament.

However, results for the first two games were scored and counted and saw Oliver ‘Late Starter’ Florence playing for the first time in the day, having met us at the Pembury Tavern.

Scores from the King Charles I:
Ollie & Seth lost to Brad & John 210 to 570
John & Seth lost to Ollie & Brad 560 to 850
The results of the match between Brad & Richard and Seth & Kevin are lost in the ether...

Brad, Emily and I have played the King Charles I table a number of times, so were prepared for the adverse camber the table offers. It’s also the only table we’ve seen with red baize.

Bar Billiards in London
The merry bunch at the King Charles I

The King Charles I was the end of the line for Bar Billiards but the adventure continued for Brad and Seth as they headed to a Eurovision Song Contest Karaoke House Party on the Caledonian Road. Everyone else headed home. That is except for Kevin who stayed on at the pub to teach some locals the rules of the game, and where he also witnessed a couple getting engaged in a very peculiar fashion!

The best total team score of the day was 1,960 by Kevin & John at the King William IV
The worst total team score of the day (not including zeros from wipe-outs) was shot by Emily& Seth at the Dog & Bell
The highest break of the day was 1,360 set by Kevin at the King William IV
The player with the most wins across the day was Kevin with four victories
The player with the most losses across the day was Seth with five defeats
Seth played in eight games, the highest number of appearances of the group (John also played eight games, including the rebellious breakaway match at the Pembury Tavern)
Ollie only played two full matches

At each of the pubs we visited and played at it was great to see our fellow patrons taking an interest in us playing the game. While we were playing/scoring/reffing a fair few people were asking us about the game, its history and how you play it. I’m not sure we showed them the highest quality play, but I hope we inspired some other people to pop a pound in a table and give it a go.

We’re now looking ahead to another London area Bar Billiards Pub Crawl. If anyone has suggestions for places to go do let me know via the comments below.

Links:

Pub Links:
The King Charles I - no website or twitter, but here's a blog post about a previous visit

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Saturday, May 11, 2013

What a Day, Week and Month!

Happy National Miniature Golf Day to all (and there's a bunch of other stuff to celebrate today)!

May the 11th, and indeed this week and next, plus the month of May is packed full of celebratory day's to mark everything from Minigolf to Doughnuts.

Check out the latest blog post from our friends over at Putterfingers about today's Day, plus yesterday's Windmill Day. The British Minigolf Association is also holding the annual BMGA British Championships tournament at Wroxham Barns, Norfolk this weekend (it teed-off this morning). Follow the live results here and if it takes your fancy you can join the BMGA for free here.

And if you're playing at a Miniature Golf (or Crazy Golf or Adventure Golf) course then send a review over to the team at The Putting Penguin and MiniatureGolfer.com! There's a lot of Minigolf history to read up on over at the Crazy Golf Museum too.

As well as being National Miniature Golf Day, it's also World Fair Trade Day today. I found this out while out for a wander in Stopsley, Luton this afternoon when I found the Fair Deal World Shop located in Stopsley Village. 

And don't forget, according to Punchbowl today is also Eat What You Want Day (mmmm, so far I've had a Choco-Knobbly Crispy Rice Bites Gluten Free bar, an Egg in a Bap, some scorchingly hot Awfully Posh Pork Cracklings and home-made Popcorn (with more grub to scoff later).  It's also Twilight Zone Day (great as I love the show and movie) and National Train Day (brilliant, while not a spotter I can tell a Class 316 DMU from an HST).

This week is National Pet Week (interesting as we're Dog Sitting) and May is National Hamburger Month (yum), National Strawberry Month (we bought some today) and National Bike Month (handy that as I'm selling a Mountain Bike at the moment, let me know if you're interested). 

I heard from The Dull Men's Club that it's also National Doughnut Week at the moment. 

From the 13th to the 19th of May is Gut Awareness WeekCoeliac UK's annual week of activity to raise awareness of Coeliac Disease (of which I am afflicted!). For more info and advice on getting a diagnosis check out the Gut Feeling Awareness Week 2013 website

I'm sure my friend and fan of "Day's" Oliver 'The Machine' Florence is having a field day with all the activity! He let me know it is National Mills Weekend this weekend too.

All the best for today, whatever you are celebrating. Have a good one.

Links:

By the way, if anyone knows what 2013 is the year of then do let me know...

Sunday, April 28, 2013

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!

Photo of USA Minigolfer Jon Drexler playing Crazy Golf in Hastings, England
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:

Happy Minigolf Tag 2013 (Minigolf Day)

National Day of Miniature Golf in Austria on Sunday 28th of April!

Minigolf Tag (Minigolf Day) is organised by the Austrian Minigolf Federation (Österreichischer Bahnengolf-Verband - OBGV) and 2013's Minigolf Tag is the fourth edition of the event.

Around 550,000 Austrians (some 15% of the country's population) play Minigolf each year and from 10am until 5pm on Sunday 28th of April 50 Minigolf courses in Austria will be celebrating the event with free games on offer, and tips and tricks on display from professional players.

For more information please visit the Minigolf Tag website.

In March 2010 I visited Austria and the Askoe Wien Wasserpark in Vienna where I was able to play one of the toughest (and longest) Swedish Felt Minigolf courses. It was the 163rd played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Playing Minigolf in Austria at the Askoe Wien Swedish Felt Course in 2010

I also got to see, but not play, the Eternit Miniature Golf at the sports club and I also saw the interesting Minigolf/Billiards variant game 'Pit Pat' (known in Austria as 'Hindernis Billards')!

There are also two other Miniature Golf Days. 'National Miniature Golf Day' is on Saturday 11th of May and 'Miniature Golf Day' always falls on the 21st of September each year. This year it's on a Saturday. Both of these days will see players from the British Minigolf Association in action as the BMGA British Championships at Wroxham Barns and the BMGA British Open at Strokes Adventure Golf will both be getting underway!

And don't forget, on Twitter every Monday is #MinigolfMonday!

Related Blog Posts:

Links:

Saturday, April 27, 2013

A New Career High Minigolf Ranking!

Gottfrieds in the latest British Minigolf Association Rankings.

The British Minigolf Association has updated the BMGA Strokeplay Order of Merit and BMGA Season Only Rankings for the 2013 season following the 14th annual BMGA British Masters Minigolf championship held at the 18-hole Splash Point Mini Golf course in Worthing, West Sussex.

Tackling the Volcano hole at Splash Point Mini Golf

After achieving a 4th place finish in the BMGA British Masters competition I am now ranked at a career-high of 5th in the BMGA Strokeplay Order of Merit National Ranking List. 121 players are currently ranked in the list, with Emily at number 42.

Photo of Minigolf being played at Splash Point Mini Golf course in Worthing
Emily in a play-off at Splash Point Mini Golf

The British Minigolf Association was formed in 1998 and is the governing body for Minigolf Sport, including Crazy Golf and Adventure Golf and organises tournaments and produces rankings lists for its members across the UK. The BMGA is a member of the World Minigolf Sport Federation and the European Minigolf Sport Federation. Two BMGA membership options are available – Free and Tour Pro. Further details can be found on the BMGA website.

BMGA Strokeplay Order of Merit National Ranking 2012-2013 Season following the BMGA British Masters:
1. Michael SMITH 3185
2. Adam KELLY 2785
3. Sean HOMER 2046

8. Tony KELLY 1785
9. John MCIVER 1655
10. Andy EXALL 1555
11. Brad SHEPHERD 1416
12. Scott LANCLEY 1405
13. Fred BLACKBURN SHAW 1351
14. John MOORE 1226
15. Alex PRAGNELL 1187
16. Kevin MOSELEY 1130

17. Chris JONES 1116
18. Marc CHAPMAN 1100
19. David GOMM 1066
20. Seth THOMAS 1060
21. Ruth BURKE 1040
22. Chris HARDING 1030
23. Alan NORMAN 986
24. Paul JOHNSON 946
26. Gareth HOLMES 922
29. Nick SANDQVIST 810
30. Keith KELLARD 800
31. Trevor EXALL 760
32. Alastair SHAW 515

33. Stephen GOW 500
35. Denis EXALL 300
36. Mark WOOD 297
38. Stephen LANGFORD 280
40. Simon HONE 251
41. Oli PAXTON 250
43. Owen JOHNSON 223
44. Rupert CONEY 220
45. Nick CHITTY 185
46. Chris HANNIGAN 180
47. Jon ANGEL 122
48. Alan FAWDEN 120
49. Peter JONES 120
50. Nuno CUNHA 100
52. James WATERHOUSE 70
53. Brenda SMITH 62
54. Chris WOOD 27
55. Marina BREEDEN 21
62. Brian SMITH 2
63. David PRAGNELL 2
64. Adam BREEDEN 2
65. Adrian PARSONS 1
66. Graham STURTON 1
67. Jeremy MOON 1
68. Helen EDWARDS 1
69. Steve LOVELL 1
70. Chris CLARK 1
71. Steven RAGLESS 1
72. Derek CLARK 1
74. Jonathan BRISTOW 1
75. Philip HANDRIHAN 1
76. Kyle MCSPORRAN 1
77. David SIMPSON 1
78. Josh PENMAN 1
79. Kieran JONES 1
80. Vanessa WOOD 1
81. Oli POOLE 1
82. Neil PARSONS 1
83. Jonathan GOY 1
84. Harry MEDAWAR 1
85. Chris JOHNS 1
86. Caroline BENFIELD 1
88. Giuseppe RUGGIERO 1
89. Matthew HUMPHREY 1
90. Rhys GRANT 1
91. Aidan LEE 1
92. Ed EVANS 1
93. Allun WAKEFIELD 1
94. Paul JONES 1
95. Tom DAILEY 1
96. Georg BAUER 1
97. Charlie TALBOT 1
98. Harley EDWARDS 1
100. Lee EDWARDS 1
101. George EDWARDS 1
102. Bulent HOSSEIN 1
103. Tarik HOSSEIN 1
104. Mustafa MANYERA 1
105. Ayten MANYERA 1
106. Andrew FRANKLIN 1
107. Rose MAHONEY 1
108. Jack MATTHEWS 1
109. Anna GREEN 1
110. Alan MCLAUGHLIN 1
111. Toby FITZHERBERT 1
112. Neil GRAY 1
113. James MULLINS 1
114. Paul TATTERTON 1
115. Graham CALDERBANK 1
116. John BARRON 1
117. Matthew LEMMON 1
118. Robert WITTON 1
119. Mike KOZIOL 1
120. Chris WALSH 1
121. Nicholas BROWN 1

In the BMGA Season Only Rankings for 2013 I am currently ranked at number seven, with Emily at number 10, with a total of 49 players having competed in an official BMGA Tour contest so far this season.

The BMGA also operates a Season Only Ranking List for Clubs and a BMGA Matchplay Order of Merit Ranking for competitions including the BMGA British Matchplay Championship and BMGA British Doubles Championship.

In the current BMGA Club Rankings the Midlands Minigolf Club of which I am a member is at number two, while Emily and her cohorts in the Cambridgeshire Mini Golf Club are at number three of six clubs.

BMGA 2013 Season Club Rankings following the BMGA British Masters:
2. Midlands Minigolf Club - 32
5. London Minigolf Club - 8
6. Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club - 1


In the November 2012 edition of the World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF) Minigolf Rankings Emily is in tied 113th place of 113 positions alongside players from Iran, China, Portugal and Thailand. 123 players are listed in the WMF General Class (Adults) Women’s category. In the WMF General Class (Adults) Men's category I am ranked in tied 391st place of 391 positions. A total of 399 players are in the list and I sit alongside GB team-mates Scott Lancley and Brad Shepherd, and players from Russia, Hong Kong, Norway, Hungary and China. Overall Great Britain is ranked 18th of 29 Nations, with Germany at number one, Austria at two and Sweden at number three.

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