Showing posts with label Ten Pin Bowling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ten Pin Bowling. Show all posts

Thursday, November 02, 2017

Trailer Trash Jim's Crazy Golf inside Level at Preston Guild Hall

New indoor Crazy Golf course opening at Preston Guild Hall.


Part of the redevelopment of Preston Guild Hall includes the opening of a new Crazy Golf course. Trailer Trash Jim's Crazy Golf will be located on Level 1 of Level - Preston's new leisure and entertainment venue.

It sounds like a brilliant place as not only will there be an indoor Crazy Golf course on Level 1, but you can also play Laser Tag and Arcade Games. Level 2 has Ten Pin Bowling and Darts, while Level 3 of the centre is home to a Daredevil Assault Course.

Level at Preston Guild Hall opens on Friday 8th December.

Visit the Preston Guild Hall website and Level Preston on Facebook for more information.

Thursday, September 14, 2017

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth

Playing the new Medieval-themed Adventure Golf course at Namco Funscape in Tamworth.


Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
The Adventure Golf course has some incredible theming

On Sunday 10th September the Castle Adventure Golf course at Namco Funscape in Tamworth became the 774th visited and 460th played overall on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
Head through the portcullis to the Castle Adventure Golf course

In our match up on the Castle Adventure Golf course I picked up the victory with a score of 55 to Emily's 62.

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
Putting my way to the win

We normally regard each hole on a course as a par-2 - so an 18-hole layout would be a par-36 course. In the case of Castle Adventure Golf the course par of 69 for the 18-holes is far more realistic a target as it's a very tricky course indeed.

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
Emily on hole 2

The 18-hole layout is certainly not the easiest course we've played! A lot of the holes are very bumpy and uphill, with extra plateaus too. That said, each of the holes is unique and the theming is some of the best we've seen on our travels.

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
My brother Christopher owns a suit of armour and would love the course. I was half expecting the knight to move!

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
A tricky circular forge hole

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
This hole was excellently executed

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
Hanging around on the Tamworth Adventure Golf course

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
A Ham and Egger in his element

Interestingly the course is half indoors and half outdoors - not something we've seen all that often either. Some of the outdoor holes were also under shelter too.

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
One of the outdoor - but under cover - holes

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
The last hole before heading back inside to play the 17th and 18th

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
Another tough hole

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
Under siege!

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
Emily wasn't on target for a lot of the round!

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
The 13th - one of two holes I aced

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
Holes 17 and 18 take you back inside

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
There are two routes to the hole (in a bucket) on the 18th

Visit the Tamworth Namco Funscape website for more information, opening times and prices.

Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth

Links:
- Castle Adventure Golf at Namco Funscape in Tamworth
- Namco Funscape

Related blog posts:
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Indoor Adventure Golf
- Tamworth
- Namco

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. Please do sign-up to receive our miniature golf newsletter too.

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Foot Bowl at MFA Bowl in Leeds

While in Leeds we had a couple of games of tenpin bowling at the MFA Bowl below the Merrion Centre. While there we spotted a new game - Foot Bowl.

Foot Bowl (or Footbowl) at MFA Bowl in Leeds
Foot Bowl (or Footbowl) at MFA Bowl in Leeds

The MFA Bowl in Leeds is home to the only Foot Bowl alley/pitch.

We didn't have time for a game, but we did see a few people giving it a go.

It's interesting to see how many variations of sports and games are being created at the moment, with the likes of Footgolf, Rugby Golf and Football Pool either growing in popularity or being tested. All good stuff to get people more active and having fun.

Monday, June 19, 2017

Tenpin bowling at Parrs Wood in Manchester

Spotting some fun new posters at the Tenpin bowling centre at Parrs Wood.

We enjoy a game of bowling and last week we visited the Tenpin bowling centre at Parrs Wood for the first time in what seemed like ages. Walking through the entrance we spotted some new posters that made us smile.

Don't be a groan up! poster at the Tenpin bowling centre at Parrs Wood in Manchester
I'd like to see these warning posters in more places

It's always nice to see some added FUN - especially somewhere like a bowling alley where the game SHOULD DEFINITELY BE FUN.

Don't be a groan up! poster at the Tenpin bowling centre at Parrs Wood in Manchester
I've done 'The Robot' as a celebration after scoring a minigolf hole-in-one

In our match-up I picked up the win and we both got some Strikes. I wasn't far off getting a Turkey at one point too.

Don't be a groan up! poster at the Tenpin bowling centre at Parrs Wood in Manchester
What do you call 'Tag'? Emily calls it 'It' or 'Tag', while I know the game as 'Tig'

We'll be back for some more FUN at the Parrs Wood entertainment complex soon. We've still got to play the Sector 7 Laser Tag game they've got there!

We were lucky enough to get magic Lane 13 on our visit. We also beat the rush and played in 'Haunted Bowling Alley' conditions like something out of Scooby Doo
We were lucky enough to get magic Lane 13 on our visit. We also beat the rush and played in 'Haunted Bowling Alley' conditions like something out of Scooby Doo

In the meantime I'll be wasting some time popping bubble-wrap and other stuff on the Don't be a groan up website.

Tenpin bowling in Parrs Wood Manchester
Perfect bowling conditions

Links:
- Tenpin Parrs Wood
- Parrs Wood Manchester

Related blog posts:
- Tenpin bowling
- Parrs Wood

Friday, June 16, 2017

New Adventure Golf course in Tamworth

New medieval-themed Crazy Golf course now open at Namco Funscape in Tamworth.


There's a new 18-hole Minigolf course Namco Funscape in Tamworth. The medieval-themed layout has 9 indoor holes and 9 outdoors - a combination you don't normally see on a course.

Castle Adventure Golf is open seven days a week. Check out the Namco Funscape Tamworth website for more info.

Our nearest Namco Funscape is at the Trafford Centre. Emily visited it on New Year's Eve

We're big fans of tenpin bowling and have visited a number of Namco Funscape centres. We've won a few bowling tournaments at the Luton venue over the years too.

On our last visit to Tamworth we played the town's outdoor course at the Castle Grounds. That Crazy Golf course was the 356th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

It's great there's another course in the town now. We're looking forward to a return visit.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Winning the Mayor of Luton’s Charity Tenpin Bowling Challenge

Report from the new Mayor of Luton’s Charity Tenpin Bowling Competition at Namco.
The Mayor of Luton Tenpin Bowling Championship Trophy!
On Thursday 27th September 2012 the Ham & Eggers Tenpin Bowling Team turned out for the second of this year's Charity Tenpin Bowling Challenge tournaments for the Mayor of Luton's charities. The competition took place at Luton's Namco Funscape in the Galaxy Centre and the team beat seven others to be crowned the champions.
The Ham & Eggers Tenpin Bowling Team - Back Row from l-r: Christopher Gottfried, Emily Gottfried, James Cunliffe. Front Row: Richard Gottfried, Simon Hall. Not pictured Laura Wood.
In March the Ham & Eggers Tenpin Bowling Team had competed in the last Mayor's competition in March 2012 and finished in third-place. Over the years the team has competed in a number of Tenpin Bowling tournaments in Luton and Dunstable and were the 2009 Macmillan Cancer Support Annual Bowling Challenge Champions.
 
Ham & Eggers Team – Player Results:
1. James Cunliffe - 145 + 115 = 260 - Top player overall on the night
2. Laura Wood - 144 + 100 = 244
3. Simon Hall - 118 + 117 = 235
4. Richard Gottfried - 115 + 111 = 226
5. Christopher Gottfried - 123 + 100 = 223
6. Emily Gottfried - 109 + 85 = 194
 
The team scored a total of 1,382 points over the two rounds.
 
Two of the Ham & Eggers Tenpin Bowling Team were able to attend the trophy presentation by the Mayoress on the 30th October and also played a one-on-one challenge game which saw Simon 'Practice' Hall beat Richard 'Classics' Gottfried 108 to 96 having scored a Turkey in the tenth frame!
 
On the night the team also had a couple of wins in the Raffle! The evening of bowling and the raffle raised a total of £448 for the Mayor of Luton’s charities.
One of the Raffle Prizes fails at Tenpin Bowling
The Ham & Eggers are looking forward to the next charity tenpin bowling event whenever that may be.
 
Ham & Eggers Tenpin Bowling Team Honours Board:
2012 - Mayor of Luton’s Charity Tenpin Bowling Challenge (2) - 1st
2012 - Mayor of Luton’s Charity Tenpin Bowling Challenge - 3rd
2010 - Macmillan Cancer Support Annual Bowling Challenge - 3rd
2009 - Macmillan Cancer Support Annual Bowling Challenge - 1st
2008 - Macmillan Cancer Support Annual Bowling Challenge - 3rd
2007 - Macmillan Cancer Support Annual Bowling Challenge - 6th
 
 

Friday, March 09, 2012

The Mayor of Luton’s Charity Tenpin Bowling Challenge

Results of the Mayor of Luton’s Charity Tenpin Bowling Competition at Namco

On Thursday 8th March the Ham & Eggers Tenpin Bowling team headed to Namco Fun Station in Luton’s Galaxy Centre to take part in the Mayor of Luton’s Charity Tenpin Bowling Challenge.

The Ham & Eggers Tenpin Bowling Team with the Mayor of Luton
The Ham & Eggers Tenpin Bowling Team with the Mayor of Luton - from l-r: Laura 'Spinsten' Wood, Emily 'Skipping Rope' Gottfried, Christopher 'Ted Spin' Gottfried, Don 'The Mayor of Luton' Worlding, Richard 'Bowling Shirt' Gottfried, James 'The Great Sparedini' Cunliffe

A call had gone out for teams to compete in the two-round competition and the Ham & Eggers signed on the dotted line to try to best the Mayor!

On the night the team were unable to win the whole event, but did finish in a creditable 3rd place in the 11 team field. The evening of bowling and the raffle raised a total of £700 for the Mayor of Luton’s three charities in 2012 - The Lister Kidney Foundation, Keech Hospice Care and Action for Kids.

Ham & Eggers Team – Player Results:
1. Christopher Gottfried – 155 + 109 = 264
2. Richard Gottfried – 129 + 125 = 254
3. James Cunliffe – 106 + 138 = 244
4. X – 113 + 109 = 222
5. ? – 94 + 95 = 189
6. Emily Gottfried – 85 + 86 = 171
7. Laura Wood – 89 + 52 = 141

The team scored a total of 1,485 points over the two rounds for a team average of 212.14. The winning team had a team average of 264.20 and the runners-up scored 239.50. The Mayor's team finished the contest in 6th position with an average of 176.80.

The Ham & Eggers are looking forward to the next charity tenpin bowling event and are still looking to find the form that won them the prestigious Macmillan Cancer Support Annual Bowling Challenge Title in 2009.

Ham & Eggers Tenpin Bowling Team Honours Board:
2012 - Mayor of Luton’s Charity Tenpin Bowling Challenge - 3rd
2007 - Macmillan Cancer Support Annual Bowling Challenge - 6th

Other Tenpin Bowling Honours:

Other Results:

Saturday, December 31, 2011

2011 - Ham & Egger Files - The Year in Review

All the highlights & happenings and fun & games from the past year!

2011 saw another busy year of blogging here on The Ham & Egger Files. The site began on the 21st of December 2006 and in the past five years a total of 1,350 blog posts have been published! 450 of them being written in 2011.

During 2011 we've played a further 72 Miniature Golf courses, taking the total played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour to date to 282, with a further 162 visited but not played for a variety of reasons. This makes a grand total of 444 visited overall since the 30th of September 2006!

Us with some FREE Minigolf Game Passes won at Great Yarmouth

Below is a month by month breakdown of some of the highlights of our year of Adventures on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour (and in other sports and games).

January
- 39 blog posts
- Emily wins the first Minigolf competition of the year at the Luton Invitational Tournament
- Richard is the runner-up in a GMGC Club Tournament
- Richard is 17th and Emily is 28th at the Star City Open minigolf competition in Birmingham

February
- 30 blog posts
- Richard attends his first-ever Punk Gig!
- Richard is 12th in the BMGA Rumble in the Jungle minigolf tournament in Bristol
- Richard is 3rd in a GMGC Club Tournament
- Teaming with Oliver 'The Machine' Florence, Richard finishes in 7th place in the GMGC Green Doubles minigolf tournament in Hither Green

March
- 32 blog posts
- We play the 212th and 213th courses on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour on a trip to Liverpool
- We find a Ham & Egg Parade in New Brighton
We fight each other in a one-on-one Laser Tag Battle at the Lazer Quest in New Brighton!
- Richard is 16th and Emily 19th in the BMGA National Open in Liverpool
- Richard wins the Scrap Iron Cup in Liverpool

April
- 29 blog posts
- Richard is 85 years too late to play a rooftop Minigolf course in London
- Richard is 9th in the BMGA British Masters in Margate, Kent. Emily is 25th
- Richard is 4th in a GMGC Club Tournament
- Richard is the runner-up in the London Invitational Minigolf Tournament
- We attend the latest Royal Bun Throwing in Richard's home town of Abingdon

May
- 77 blog posts
- We play a brand new Minigolf course in Emily's home town of Ipswich
- We pop to Clacton for some Minigolf on a Pier!
- We play minigolf for Great Britain in the WMF World Adventure Golf Masters in Hastings
-- Despite travelling to Hastings numerous times before, Richard gets lost on the way!? But he does find a new Crazy Golf course to play!
-- Emily becomes the first-ever WMF World Adventure Golf Masters Women's Champion
- Some £2 Tat Challenges are played in Hastings
- Richard teams with Alan Norman to take-on the Kosovan National Minigolf Team in a Doubles Match
- We visit 10 Miniature Golf courses on a coastal roadtrip from St Leonards to Worthing
- Richard is interviewed by the Putter King website in Japan
- We visit 40 Mini, Crazy & Adventure Golf courses on our seaside and minigolf tour of Lincolnshire & Norfolk
-- The first played is at Oddballs Crazy Golf in Cleethorpes, Lincs
-- The last is at the Vegas Amusements in Hunstanton, Norfolk
- Emily is 4th in a GMGC Club Tournament. Richard ties for 6th place

June
- 57 blog posts
- Richard & his team mate Will Collins are runners-up in the Lost World Adventure Golf Pro-Am Classic in Hemsby
- Richard finishes 7th in the BMGA English Open at Wroxham Barns, Emily is 19th
- We play minigolf for Great Britain in the WMF Nations Cup in Stockholm, Sweden
-- Read about the 5 Days on International Minigolf Duty
-- The Beton (Concrete) Miniature Golf course becomes the 250th played on our Crazy World of Minigolf Tour
- Along with Brad Shepherd we head to Elstree & Borehamwood for the 40th Anniversary On The Buses Event!
- Richard becomes the Melbourn Village Fete Target Bowls Champion

July
- 36 blog posts
- Alongside Oliver Florence and Kallum Harper, we take part in the Worm Charming Competition at St Mary’s Village Carnival in Edlesborough
- Richard wins the 2011 Cystadleuaeth Minigolff Cymraeg (Welsh Minigolf Tournament)
- Richard is the runner-up in the Cwmbran Table Tennis Classic
- We play our first Laser Maze in Weston-super-Mare

August
- 42 blog posts
- We compete in the 2011 UK Thumb Wrestling Championships in Lowestoft, Suffolk
- Emily is 7th in the Midlands Open minigolf competition in Dorridge. Richard ties for 8th place
- Richard teams up with Scott Lancley and Emily teams with Brad Shepherd in the BMGA British Doubles Championships
- On a trip to Scotland we meet-up with fellow Minigolfer John 'Thighs' Moore to go and watch some Cycle Speedway!

September
- 28 blog posts
- Emily leaves the Midlands Minigolf Club to become a member of the new Cambridgeshire Minigolf Club
- We revisit fabulous Las Vegas and Richard wins the Putt Park Annual Mini-Golf Tournament, Emily is the runner-up
- Luton Dodgeball Club hits 'One'
- We celebrate five years of the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour with a revisit to the first two courses ever played!

October
- 32 blog posts
- We finally meet Mick 'The Man' Gisbourne at Poole Park's Crazy Golf course!
- Richard is the runner-up in the fourth Weymouth Open minigolf tournament. Emily ties for 8th place
- Richard attempts to help break the Guinness World Record attempt for the most people to ‘High Five’ simultaneously
- We compete in the Sportingbet UK Rock Paper Scissors Championships in London
- We attend the 59th Annual National Town Criers Championships as spectators
- Emily is 6th in the Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open, Richard is tied for 10th place
- Richard is 25th and Emily 51st in the Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships
- Richard, Emily and Christopher (and friends) just about survive the Zombie Apocalypse in Hastings!
- Richard is a runner-up and Emily is tied for 9th place in the 2011 Worlds £2 Tat Challenge
- Richard competes in the Worlds Crazy Air Hockey Championships 2011, losing in the first round

November
- 17 blog posts
- Richard & Emily join the EcoStyle team for a 3rd place finish in the Namco Business Tenpin Bowling Grand Final in Luton
- Richard is the runner-up in the 1st Annual Putter King Miniature Golf Scavenger Hunt
- The 2011 BMGA Tour season comes to a close in Dorridge, Solihull - Richard and his Midlands Minigolf Club Team Mates finish 3rd in the BMGA British Club Championships
- Richard finishes the BMGA Tour season as the British number 16 in the BMGA Order of Merit Rankings, Emily is tied for 35th place. In the BMGA Season-Only Rankings Richard is 10th with Emily 24th
- Emily wins the Stokesley NO/NIT Classic Minigolf Tournament in Middlesbrough

December
- 31 blog posts
- Richard is a runner-up in the Putterfingers Micro Putt Online Mini Golf competition
- Along with Tim 'Ace Man' Davies, Richard has a feature on Crazy Golf Postcards published in Picture Postcard Monthly
- Richard wins the Oliver Florence Birthday Invitational Minigolf Tournament in New Malden
- Richard is 3rd and Emily is 8th in the 2011 Rivernear Worlds Professional Crazy Golfers Darts Tournament


Year by Year Blog Post Stats on The Ham & Egger Files:
- 2006 - 3 blog posts
- 2007 - 43 blog posts
- 2008 - 158 blog posts
- 2009 - 332 blog posts
- 2010 - 364 blog posts
- 2011 - 450 blog posts


Previous Year in Review Blog Posts:
- 2010 - Ham & Egger Files - The Year in Review
- 2009 - Ham & Egger Files - The Year in Review


The Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Friday, December 23, 2011

MK Winter Sporting Challenge - Minigolf/Adventure Golf, Air Hockey, Quasar Laser Tag & Pool

On Thursday 15th December 2011 me and Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley met up in Milton Keynes for a "Best-of-Three, no wait make it Best-of-Five Games Series" for the title of MK Winter Sporting Challenge Champion! We had planned to play a lot of Quasar Laser Tag at the Tenpin Mega Bowl at MK Leisure Plaza, however there were no spaces in games until 9pm! So with time to spare we headed to the brand new Pirate Island Adventure Golf at the Abbey Hill Golf Centre for a game of Minigolf.

Photo: Not me & Marc having a Pirate Battle on a Minigolf Island!

As I had arrived in MK before Marc, I had managed to get a game in beforehand (making it minigolf course #281 played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour!). Not that my warm-up game helped too much in our challenge match. Under floodlight conditions we hit the 18-hole course and it's excellent Pirate-theming for a match played in very cold conditions.

Photo: Marc Putting on a Double Plateau Hole

Photo: Richard on a Raft attached to a Minigolf Island

To say the match was one-sided in the early stages would be an understatement as Marc, the BMGA British #89, raced ahead over the Front-9 holes.

Video - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley Plays the 10th Hole at Pirate Island Adventure Golf:


Photo: Marc has a testing second Putt on the 18th hole

But by the 17th hole the match was level on both Strokeplay and Matchplay! I stepped up first and hit a two, Marc played his first shot which ended in the rocks, played his second and waited... and it ran just passed the hole and he had to settle for a very unfortunate three. The final scores - Richard 52, Marc 53.

Game One - Winner - 'Squire' Richard Gottfried

Following the Minigolf match we decided to head back to the Mega Bowl to have a warm game of Quasar.


While we were waiting for the 9pm game slot we decided to have a game of the Crazy Golfers Favourite - Air Hockey. Despite leading for most of the (10-minute!) match I lost 8-9 after scoring an own goal in injury time. The game conditions were quite interesting, with just two of us and with no Emily to fetch #TheMan when the Puck went flying off the table there were a lot more throw-ins than usual!


Game Two - Winner - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley

With 9pm approaching we headed to the check-in desk, signed the disclaimer (no running, no swearing, no fighting, no rifle-butts to the face etc.), found out that it would just be a one-on-one match and then waited to be called through to the Briefing Room. While we were waiting to go through Marc had the opportunity to have his photo taken with one of his Minigolf heroes!

Photo: Marc and his Minigolf Hero

Once in the Briefing Room the man said that before we could play we would have to watch "The DVD"! He seemed quite apologetic that we'd have to sit through it, however Marc and I were quite excited as in all the times we've played Laser Tag we've never had a briefing through a TV/DVD! The video was very informative, told us we were playing "Q-2000" and that once the film was over we'd be led to "The Vesting Room"!


The Milton Keynes Quasar Arena was very maze-like, with narrow passages leading to a central hub. With the game beig a solo battle the bases were unfortunately not in play. The game saw each of us trying to track the other down and in the quite big arena you had to take your opportunities and use the element of surprise on your opponent. Marc managed to do this and scored more hits, ending the game with a win for the REDS.

Photo: RED Marc and GREEN Richard

In the Quasar Stats for our game Marc was playing as RED 9 while I was GREEN 12. Marc won with a Hit Ratio of 0.9% after firing 855 shots and scoring 1,600 points! Inconceivably I was shown to have fired 4,003 times in our battle and ended with a Hit Ratio of 0.1% and 1,000 points!?

In the Never Ending Laser Tag War waged between the forces of the REDS, BLUES, GREENS, and YELLOWS players in the Laser Tag Rankings have taken part in Laser Battles in 'laser-war-torn' places including Birmingham, Hemel Hempstead, Bristol, London, Peterborough, Crawley, New Brighton, Cannock, Whitstable, Skegness, Rayleigh and Milton Keynes.

Updated Laser Tag Rankings following the MK Battle:

Click to enlarge image

Game Three - Winner - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley

With the series at two-wins-to-one in Marc's favour we headed to the Pool tables. The table we played on seemed to have a bit of a slope and was also a bit troublesome if you were shooting from one end of it, as you had to open the door to the Hurricane Simulator arcade machine to get any sort of leverage!?


The other Pool table was out of order, but happened to be the one with any chalk in the chained up chalk holder!


In our match Marc won, with me still having three balls left to pot when Marc nailed the black for victory.

Game Four - Winner - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley

After playing Pool we (I) tried to make the series a best-of-seven event, but Super Mario Kart wouldn't accept any of our coins and someone had jammed a pound coin and a ten pence piece in the coin slot of Out Run 3, putting paid to any chance of another win for me.

Overall Champion of the MK Winter Sporting Challenge - Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley

Ultimate MK Games Champion Marc 'The Roller' Bazeley said "I knew it was going to be tough, especially after the minigolf. But I always believed in myself and that belief was justified."

Perennial Runner-Up ‘Squire’ Richard Gottfried said “Well done to Marc on his big win at the games. It was well deserved indeed and he was unlucky not to beat me at the Minigolf too! I’m looking forward to some more games of Laser Tag and visits to #TheButtons soon.”

The new Pirate Island Adventure Golf course at Abbey Hill Golf Centre in Two Mile Ash is well worth a visit and we'll be heading back again. Hopefully we'll get to play the Quasar with more people next time too.

Links:
- Pirate Island Adventure Golf at Abbey Hill Golf Centre
- Tenpin - Milton Keynes
- Blog Posts - Air Hockey
- Blog Post - Quasar in Milton Keynes
- Blog Post - A new Mini Golf course in Milton Keynes - Pirate Island Adventure Golf at the Abbey Hill Golf Centre
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Thursday, December 22, 2011

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

Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd wins the 'Rivernear Worlds Professional Crazy Golfers Darts Championships' in 14-player field

Shepherd makes it three wins in three years at Crazy Golfers Crimbo Shindigs!

The un-Bronze Bully Prize!
Photo: The un-Bronze Bully Prize!

On Monday 19th December 2011 thirteen of the World’s best Crazy Golfers and Snooker Ace/Juggler Richard '147' Linden met under the Arrivals Board at Victoria Station (how romantic) before heading to Rileys Victoria for an evening of shenanigans in the 2011 Crazy Golfers Christmas ‘Do’.

Previous years have seen the group play Minigolf in 2009 (a busman’s holiday) and Indoor BIG Golf on a simulator & a bit of Putting in 2010. But for the 2011 Open Invitational event there were a few new options suggested, including Tenpin Bowling, Darts, Laser Tag and Table Football.

With Bowling Alleys either charging too much (read 'extortionate'), or not bothered about the potential booking from the group it was decided that Darts would be a good option and after some research on the Bachelor of Darts’ Capital Arrows website the venue for the ‘Do’ was found and a booking made for three Dart Boards at Rileys Victoria. What was even better was the Boards were free to book!

The 14 players would be vying for the Christmas Champion Title and the un-Bronze Bully in the ‘Rivernear Worlds Professional Crazy Golfers Darts Championships’! Players got into the festive/darts spirit by donning Christmas hats and gaudy shirts for the night out.

Photo: Action from Board 3. Trevor 'The Wraith' Robertson on the oche in his match against Emily 'Ah Bristow' Gottfried. Alan 'Stormin' Norman is the scorer

At 7pm the players began practising their throws and the competitors could get an early idea of who the opposition would be. While the praccy was underway a draw/bracket/format was organised by EmilyLemonyCoach, TevorTheWraithSmeethino and Brad.

Of note is the fact that Seth ‘Zen’ Thomas had brought his own Snooker Cue, which many players thought was a Javelin in a case when they met at Victoria. Unfortunately with so much ‘arrers action going on the group never had time to play any Pool or Snooker. Perhaps next year...

Photo: Seth 'Zen' Thomas and his Pool Cue in a case at Victoria Station. Also pictured, Alan 'Stormin' Norman (l) and Steve 'F1' Gow

One of the early favourites for the tournament victory was Gareth ‘Colleen’ Holmes, who while not present on the Minigolf-scene of late (since a devastating tackle from Brad at an Air Hockey table in Hastings which put him on the disabled-list), was thought to be a challenger as someone said he’d “played a bit of Darts before.” Where he’d played, how long ago and against who is still unclear!? On the walk to Rileys ‘Oh’ Chris Jones had also stated that he’d played before and wasn’t bad, however he then said "But that was 32 years ago!"

Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd on the oche, with scorer Martin 'Smashin' Robertson
Photo: Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd on the oche, with scorer Martin 'Smashin' Robertson

With the competition format decided a draw was then held to decide the groups for the event.

All of the matches, except the final, would be played as one-leg shoot outs of 301 straight-in, double-out games. The final of the ‘Rivernear Worlds Professional Crazy Golfers Darts Championships’ would be played in a 501 game.

For the qualifying round the 14 players were drawn into three Pools and each assigned to a Dart Board to play round-robin matches. The top two players from each group would then qualify automatically to the last-8, with the three players who finished third in their groups meeting one another in a play-off to decide which two would qualify as players 7 & 8.

The remaining players would be placed into a Loser’s Pool to play-off in a round-robin format to decide places 9-14.

The top-8 would play in a knockout format to decide who would make the semi-finals and the losing four players would then play for positions 5-8. There would also be a 3rd/4th place match prior to the Grand Final.

Pool A / Dart Board 1

Seth ‘Zen’ Thomas

Jon ‘The Stance’ Angel


‘Oh’ Chris Jones

Gareth ‘Colleen’ Holmes

Richard ‘147' Linden


Pool B / Dart Board 2

‘Squire’ Richard Gottfried

Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd

Martin ‘Smashin’ Robertson

Lionel ‘The Spoon’ Bender


Pool C / Dart Board 3

Emily ‘Ah Bristow’ Gottfried

Trevor ‘The Wraith’ Robertson

Alan ‘Stormin’ Norman

Steve ‘The Rant’ Gow

Marc ‘The Professor’ Chapman

Due to unforeseen technical issues, the pre-prepared 'Walk-on' music for each player ahead of their matches was unavailable. It wasn't a big problem though as it would likely have been drowned out by the Christmas tunes anyway!

Automatically qualifying for the quarter-finals from Group A was Seth, with Martin and Brad joining him from Group B. Alan was the automatic qualifier from Group C.

In Group A and C there were players tied for the second and third places so a three-way 9-dart play-off was required to decide who finished 2nd, 3rd and 4th in each group. In Group A Gareth won with a score of 156 to qualify as group runner-up. Jon was third, scoring 113, and would go into the play-off pool for the third place players, joining Richard G and the third player from Group C. Richard L scored 70 and finished 4th in Group A.

In Group C Emily won the 9-dart play-off with a score of 127, with Steve qualifying for the three-way play-off against Richard G and Jon, having scored 117. Despite hitting treble-20 with one of his last three darts Marc scored 108 to finish fourth in the Group.

The highest three-dart score of the whole tournament was made by Trevor ‘The Wraith’ Robertson in a first-round match when he hit a great score of 111.

Before the matches in the last-8 could commence, the players who would be ‘seeded’ 7th and 8th needed to be decided. In the three-way play-off Richard G beat Steve, Steve lost to Jon, and Jon beat Richard G, meaning Jon qualified as number 7 and Richard as number 8. Steve would join Marc, Richard L, Chris, Trevor and Lionel in the Loser’s Pool for the ranking matches for places 9-14.

In these matches both Marc and Steve managed to complete their games before the Grand Final got underway and finished in 9th and 10th places respectively, with Marc winning four of his five round-robin games. Steve won two and lost three in the round-robin pool. Steve also managed to play the most competitive matches in the tournament, stepping up to the oche to compete in eleven matches overall!

Lionel, Chris, Trevor and Richard L did not complete all of their round-robin games and were tied in 11th place (or 11th, tied 12th and 14th to be ever so precise).

In the last-8 matches Emily lost to Richard G in a grudge match between the two Lutonians. Brad beat Martin in a re-match from the group stages. Gareth lost to Seth and Jon beat Alan.

In the games to decide the rankings from 5th to 8th place Emily lost to Martin who found some of his first-round form to get the win. Alan beat Gareth in an all-London encounter. Martin lost to Alan and Emily lost to bookies favourite Gareth.

In the semi-finals Richard G once again lost to Brad, as he had in their group match, with Brad progressing to the Grand Final. Earlier in the day the two had stumbled across a Pub in Wood Green advertising their Dart Board and had a few games, with Richard winning five-out-of-five, but he could not find the double against Brad in the semi-final.

Semi-Finalists Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd and 'Squire' Richard Gottfried
Photo: Semi-Finalists Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd and 'Squire' Richard Gottfried

In the second semi-final Seth beat Jon to book his place in the Grand Final against Brad.

Semi-Finalists Seth 'Zen' Thomas and Jon 'The Stance' Angel
Photo: Semi-Finalists Seth 'Zen' Thomas and Jon 'The Stance' Angel

Ahead of the Grand Final Richard and Jon met, in another re-match from earlier in the evening, to decide who would finish as the Bronze medallist. In the 301 contest Richard picked up the victory to claim a place on the Podium.

The Finalists Seth 'Zen' Thomas and Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd. With scorer Gareth 'Colleen' Holme
Photo: The Finalists Seth 'Zen' Thomas and Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd. With scorer Gareth 'Colleen' Holmes

With the un-Bronze Bully up for grabs, a fair few drinks imbibed and hunger setting in, the atmosphere for the final saw the other twelve players reaching a sort-of mild fever-pitch.

In the 501 straight-in double-out contest Brad ‘The Fist’ Shepherd managed to defeat surprise finalist Seth ‘Zen’ Thomas by hitting double-2, leading to a big cheer from the crowd as Brad realised his dream of winning the competitions at three Christmas ‘Do’s’ in three years! Marc the announcer declared Brad the winner and Gareth the scorer presented him with the coveted un-Bronze Bully to shouts of “Bully! Bully! Bully!” from the uproarious audience.

Video: Crazy Golfers Christmas Darts at Rileys London - The Grand Final


2011 Rivernear Worlds Professional Crazy Golfers Darts Champion Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd
Photo: 2011 Rivernear Worlds Professional Crazy Golfers Darts Champion Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd

With the matches over and the promise of some sore heads & throwing arms and bruised egos the next day, the merry minigolfers made their way to all corners of London and the Home Counties (and Canterbury) all looking forward to a Merry Christmas and dreams of toppling Brad’s reign as Crazy Golf’s Crimbo Champ in 2012!

Suggestions for sporting contests for the 2012 Crimbo Contest already include:
- Draughts/Kick-boxing
- Ludo/Fencing
- Connect-4/Arm-Wrestling
- Ping-Pong/Sumo

Other ideas more than welcome, please leave comments below...

Final Rankings and Win/Loss Records for the 2011 ‘Rivernear Worlds Professional Crazy Golfers Darts Championships’


More photos from the event:

Photo: Lionel 'The Spoon' Bender hits the Bullseye!

Photo: Snooker player and Juggler Richard '147' Linden reaches his 'perfect' score!

Photo: Marc 'The Professor' Chapman takes a closer look at Bully (censored version)

The 'Rivernear' Darts Tournament was the biggest in the history of Crazy Golf! In 2008 the first-ever (and only one to date) Links Darts tournament was contested at Planet Hastings Crazy Golf course at the end of the first day’s play of the 2008 BMGA British Minigolf Championships. That contest was won by Sean ‘The Sandman’ Homer. Perhaps the 2012 minigolf season will throw-up a meeting between Brad and Sean in a battle of the two ‘codes’ in a Grand Slam of Minigolf-Darts!

Links:
- The Minigolfers Christmas 'Do' 2010
- 2009 Christmas Crazy Golf Challenge at Devonshire Square
- Links Darts at MiniatureGolfer.com
- Justin Irwin, the Bachelor of Darts
- Rileys
- Rileys Victoria
- The World Darts Federation (WDF)
- The British Darts Organisation (BDO)
- The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC)
- The British Minigolf Association (BMGA)

More Darts Blog Posts on The Ham & Egger Files:
- Writing about a little bit of Britain on the Las Vegas Strip for Smitten by Britain
- The Las Vegas Darts Classic - Richard vs. Emily
- Cwmbran Darts Classic 2010
- Minigolf 'Links Darts' featured in We Love Darts magazine