Crazy Golf at Riverside Park in St Neots

A look at the Ambiance Cafe Crazy Golf course at Riverside Park in St Neots, Cambridgeshire.

Thanks to our friend and minigolf rival Steve Gow for letting us know about the Crazy Golf course at the Ambiance Cafe in Riverside Park, St Neots, Cambridgeshire.

Crazy Golf at Riverside Park in St Neots. Photo by Steve Gow

The course has been there for a few years, but it was the first we'd heard about it.

It's mad how there are still so many undiscovered minigolf courses out there.

Check out the Ambiance Cafe website for more info.

Crazy Golf at Riverside Park in St Neots. Photo by Steve Gow

Also have a look at the course's location on a satellite image for an interesting sight!

It'll be nice to visit the park as there's a miniature railway there too.

Riverside Park's miniature railway. Photo by Steve Gow

Report from the Surrey Invitational Minigolf Tournament 2016

Results of the second Surrey Invitational Tournament.

On Saturday 14th May five semi-pro minigolfers competed in the second edition of the Surrey Invitational Tournament in a two-round, two-course, 27-hole contest.

The Surrey Invitational Tournament competitors line-up for a shot at the title in Woking Park

The competition was played at the 9-hole Eternit Miniature Golf course at Woking Park, and the 18-hole Swedish Felt B-Run course at Stoke Park in Guildford. The staging of the 2016 event coincided with National Miniature Golf Day.

Inaugural Surrey Invitational Tournament champion Matt 'The Don' Dodd leads out the players on hole 1 at Woking Park

The champion after 27-holes of play was Burpham's Oliver 'The Machine' Florence, who was victorious with a score of 65, having shot rounds of 19 and 46. Luton's 'Squire' Richard Gottfried became a two time S.I.T. runner-up with a total of 74, with Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried picking up the bronze medal with a score of 82.

The new Surrey Invitational Tournament champion Oliver 'The Machine' Florence captured the title and big minigolf trophy at Guildford's Stoke Park

The first stage of the Surrey Invitational Tournament was won by Surrey's Steve 'F1' Gow with a score of 17(-1) on the Woking Park layout. However, the veteran and GB international was unable to maintain the momentum and scored 68 in round two to finish in fourth place.

Steve 'F1' Gow playing the snakey second hole in Woking

Defending champion Matt 'The Don' Dodd scored rounds of 33 and 61 to finish in fifth place.

Ollie on target in Woking

New Surrey Invitational Tournament champion Oliver 'The Machine' Florence said "At the first Surrey Invitational in 2014 I had a prior engagement which meant I had to leave the tournament after the first round and it was really disappointing as I was in the lead. I was a bit worried I was going to have to depart early this year as I was scheduled to attend my mother's birthday tea at 4pm in Weybridge but luckily I managed to get the job done before heading off to enjoy the party."

Oliver in action on hole 6 of the Woking Park Mini Golf course

Florence commented "Among the sandwiches my particular favourites were the mini ham rolls but I also took a shine to the cream cheese and cucumber offerings. After a round of scones, both fruit and plain, with raspberry jam and cream, I partook in a delightful mango cheesecake among other sweet treats."

Florence added "Thanks to Richard and Emily for organising the Surrey Invitational and Matt and Englefield Green's finest Steve for taking part. I look forward to defending the magnificent trophy next time."

The scores and first-round rankings from Woking were:
1. Steve 'F1' Gow - 17
2. Oliver 'The Machine' Florence - 19
3. 'Squire' Richard Gottfried - 24
4. Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried - 28
5. Matt 'The Don' Dodd - 33

'Squire' Richard Gottfried playing the second hole in Woking

Matt tackles the fifth hole

Steve on the seventh

Each round winner of the Surrey Invitational Tournament gets to lift the trophy, but only the overall winner gets to keep it until the next edition of the event.

Steve 'F1' Gow with the Grand Prix - for the first round at least

The scores and second-round rankings from Guildford were:
1. Oliver 'The Machine' Florence - 65
2. 'Squire' Richard Gottfried - 50
3. Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried - 54
4. Matt 'The Don' Dodd - 61
5. Steve 'F1' Gow - 68

Tournament leader Steve Gow tees-off round two at Guildford's Stoke Park

Emily playing the second hole. Quite possibly the most difficult hole in minigolf - all of the players scored a seven on it!

Matt tackling another very difficult hole

Richard has slightly better luck than Matt as Ollie looks on

Steve playing his second shot as Ollie gets ready to tee-off

The final rankings and two-round totals from the Surrey Invitational Tournament 2016 were:
1. Oliver 'The Machine' Florence - 65
2. 'Squire' Richard Gottfried - 74
3. Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried - 82
4. Steve 'F1' Gow - 85
5. Matt 'The Don' Dodd - 94

Surrey Invitational Tournament champion Oliver 'The Machine' Florence playing the Stoke Park loop-di-loop hole. Strangely, the loop is turfed on the outside!

Surrey Invitational Tournament Hall of Fame
2016 - Oliver 'The Machine' Florence
2014 - Matt 'The Don' Dodd

National Miniature Golf Day Tournament Hall of Fame
2016 - Oliver 'The Machine' Florence
2015 - Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd

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Results from the Minigolfer’s Annual Christmas Darts ‘Do’ in London

Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd makes it four Christmas competition wins in-a-row!

Gravesend’s Brad ‘Norovirus’ Shepherd won the annual Christmas ‘Do’ for the fourth year in-a-row with victory in the “Riverclose Worlds UnProfessional Minigolfer's Darts Championship” held at Rileys Victoria in London on Sunday 23rd December 2012.

Brad Shepherd 'takes' the cup

The tournament saw eight dartists step up to the oche on the evening and after a quick warm-up and a few swift pints the format for the event was decided and the draw was made.

The eight players were drawn into two groups for a round-robin stage, with the group winners advancing to the semi-finals along with the two group stage runners-up. As the reigning Christmas Champion Brad was the seeded player in Group 2, with BMGA Darts Champion Alan ‘Stormin’ Norman drawn into Group 1.

The players inaction. Lots of mental arithmetic in full flow

Alan ‘Stormin’ Norman qualified as the top player in Group 1 after beating Jon ‘The Stance’ Angel in a play-off to decide the group winner after both players had won 2 and lost one game.

Richard ‘Squire’ Gottfried was the winner of Group 2 with three wins from his three matches. Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd was the group runner-up.

Steve 'What's the Skinny?' Gow draws quite a crowd

Results from Group 1 – all matches one-leg 301-straight-in, double-out

• Chris Jones beat Alan Norman

• Jon Angel beat Steve Gow

• Alan Norman beat Jon Angel

• Steve Gow beat Chris Jones

• Jon Angel beat Chris Jones

• Steve Gow lost to Alan Norman

Rankings from Group 1

1. Alan Norman – won 2, lost 1 Q*

2. Jon Angel – won 2, lost 1 q

3. Chris Jones – won 1, lost 2

3. Steve Gow – won 1, lost 2

* Alan beat Jon in a play-off to determine who would qualify as the group winner to face the group runner-up from Group 2

Results from Group 2 – all matches one-leg 301-straight-in, double-out

• Richard Gottfried beat Emily Gottfried

• Seth Thomas lost to Brad Shepherd

• Richard Gottfried beat Brad Shepherd

• Emily Gottfried beat Seth Thomas

• Seth Thomas lost to Richard Gottfried

• Brad Shepherd beat Emily Gottfried

Rankings from Group 2

1. Richard Gottfried – won 3, lost 0 Q

2. Brad Shepherd – won 2, lost 1 q

3. Emily Gottfried – won 1, lost 2

4. Seth Thomas – won 0, lost 3 

The semi-finals saw Squire face The Stance in a 501 match, eventually finishing on double one. In the other match The Fist picked up the win against Stormin to advance to yet another Christmas Final. 

Semi-Finals – one-leg 501-straight-in, double-out

• Richard Gottfried beat Jon Angel

• Alan Norman lost to Brad Shepherd

Classification Matches for places 5-8 – all one-leg 301-straight-in, double-out

• Steve ‘F1’ Gow lost to Emily ‘Ah Bristow’ Gottfried

• Chris ‘Stretch’ Jones lost to Seth ‘Sethers’ Thomas

• Emily ‘Lemony Lemster’ Gottfried lost to Seth ‘Wandsworth’ Thomas – Seth finished in 5th place to win ‘the shield’

• Steve ‘Stevie Gow’ Gow beat Chris ‘Stretch’ Jones to finish in 7th place

Before the final Norman & Angel faced-off for the third time in the evening in a one-leg 501 game to decide who would take the last spot on the podium. The BMGA Darts Champion showed his class and took the win against Jon ‘Safe Darts’ Angel.

3rd/4th place play-off – one-leg 501-straight-in, double-out

• Alan Norman beat Jon Angel

The final match was played in a best of three-legs format on one of the ‘fancy’ boards with electronic scoring. The referee/scorer for the contest was Emily ‘Dagenham Dan’ Gottfried. The first leg was won by The Fist after innumerable chances were squandered by both players. The second leg was clinched by Squire to mild interest from the spectators.

With the crowd growing restless and eager to head off for a curry in Bayswater Brad nailed his finish to take the win and his fourth Christmas ‘Do’ title victory in four years! An amazing achievement indeed.

Final – best of three-legs 301-straight-in, double-out

• Brad Shepherd beat Richard Gottfried 2-1

The ever-popular Brad Shepherd receives congratulations from his fellow competitors

Ranking Table

1. Brad Shepherd

2. Richard Gottfried

3. Alan Norman

4. Jon Angel

5. Seth Thomas

6. Emily Gottfried

7. Steve Gow

8. Chris Jones

Following the main-event Alan ‘Stormin’ Norman organised a game of ‘Halve-It’ between the eight contestants. With three lives each the players attempted to best the previous player’s score, with any failure to exceed the target meaning a life was lost. Guess who won? Alan was the runner-up though.

Alan 'Halve-It' Norman and another player at the Darts Tournament 

Brad ‘Mr Christmas’ Shepherd picked up yet another victory on the night as he was on the winning team, along with Seth Thomas & Steve Gow in the three-a-side Table Football match.

The three-a-side Table Football match-up

Crazy Golfers Christmas Do/Shenanigans Hall of Fame

2012 – Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd – Riverclose Worlds UnProfessional Minigolfer's Darts Championship

2011 – Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd – Rivernear Worlds Professional Crazy Golfers Darts Championships

2010 – Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd – Christmas Minigolf 9-Hole Putting Green Sudden Death Challenge

2010 – Keith Kellard & Jon Angel (Team KJ Choice) – Sim BIG Golf Par-3's of the World Doubles Challenge

2009 – Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd – Christmas-themed Crazy Golf at Devonshire Square

Before Records Began – Lionel ‘The Spoon’ Bender – Crazy Golf Contest

The Christmas Club Committee will be convening in early 2013 to confirm the contest for next Christmas. If any readers know of Brad’s sporting weaknesses do let them know. Suggestions on a postcard...

Link:

- Rileys Victoria

Related Blog Posts:

- Crazy Golfers Christmas 'Do' in London 2011 - Darts Tournament at Rileys Victoria!

- The Minigolfers Christmas 'Do' 2010

- 2009 Christmas Crazy Golf Challenge at Devonshire Square

- Darts-related Blog Posts