Results and photos from the 2012 Luton Invitational Minigolf Tournament at Woodside Animal Farm, Slip End Village near Luton.
Luton's Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried became the first player to retain the Luton Invitational Tournament title as she defeated 'Squire' Richard Gottfried in the 2012 edition of the competition.
Reigning Luton Invitational Tournament minigolf champion Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried with the 2012 LIT prize of a magnetic Rat
Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried tees-off on hole one to begin what would be her successful defence of the LIT title
The fourth staging of the event saw only two players compete as Simon 'Practice' Hall failed to make the 2pm tee-off time as he was in no condition to perform.
Emily won the tournament with a score of 47(+11) to Richard's 49(+13), with Emily hitting two Aces on the 18-hole course. Richard scored zero holes-in-one.
Two-time Luton I.T. Minigolf Champion Emily 'Lemony' Gottfried said "I am very pleased to be the first LIT Champion to retain my title, and I am obviously also very happy with my successful start to 2012."
'Squire' Richard Gottfried said "Well played to Lemony for a big minigolf win to start the new year. I always enjoyed starting the year by visiting Woodside Animal Farm. I was disappointed not to win the competition though and doubly annoyed to have fallen over and hurt my knee on the hill on the 15th hole. This year the animals were in high spirits too and we saw two Pigs attempting what looked to be a Piggyback! I think they failed though!"
Simon 'Practice' Hall said "I'm planning to be back in action at the 2013 edition of the event and hopefully it'll be taking place in the French Riviera."
Since 2010 the Luton Invitational Minigolf Tournament has been the traditional opening Miniature Golf event of the year on the Irregular Mini Golf Tour. In 2010 the players faced-off in arctic cold weather conditions, while 2011 was played in heavy drizzle. 2012's weather was mild, but drizzly.
Luton Invitational Tournament Honours Board:
2012 - Emily Gottfried
2011 - Emily Gottfried
2010 - Richard Gottfried
2006 - Joanne Tubby
2007-2009 - Luton Invitational Tournament: Not Played
2006 Luton Invitational Tournament Results*: 1. Jo Tubby - 54 (par)
2. Emily Gottfried - 56 (+2)
3. Richard Gottfried - 62 (+8) * Note: Par used was 'Course Par' of 3 shots per hole, rather than 'BMGA Par' of 2 shots per hole.
The Woodside Animal Farm Crazy Golf course was the 4th course ever to be played on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour back on the 27th October 2006. As of January 1st 2012 Emily and Richard have visited 444 Miniature Golf courses on the Tour.
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).
Brad 'The Fist' Shepherd playing hole 3 at Ally Pally
Brad and I faced-off in an 18-hole one-round contest on the course. Over the front-9 holes I scored 15, with Brad hitting a 23. Brad struck back on the back-9 and scored a 22 to my 26. However, I managed to defeat him 41-45.
The course is owned by Moneypenny Events and features some of the holes/frames as the Minigolf courses we previously played at Devonshire Square in London (#155 & #155.5/visit 199b). The company also own the course that has appeared at the o2 (#210).
Photos of the course:
Alexandra Palace is also home to an interesting looking Pitch & Put Miniature Golf Course. Some of the holes are played up/down hill! There is also a Putting Course there. They are both on the 'to play' list, hopefully sometime in 2012...
As a BIG fan of both Las Vegas and Minigolf I'm pleased to see that another new Miniature Golf course is opening in the city in 2012!
Back in July 2011 I spotted that a KISS-themed Indoor Mini Golf course was being built by Monster Mini Golf and it was due to open in late 2011/early 2012.
Unfortunately the opening, should it have been in the autumn, would have come after our revisit in September (we did get to play the other new course in downtown Las Vegas at The Swingers Club at the Plaza and Emily and I were first & second in the Putt Park Annual Mini-Golf Tournament!).
According to Monster Mini Golf the brand new 18-hole KISS Glow-in-the-Dark Indoor Minigolf course will be part of a unique KISS Rock n’ Roll-themed attraction that will also house an amusement arcade, Wedding Chapel, and KISS Cafe, KISS Gallery and the largest KISS Gift Shop in the World!
Fingers crossed for another trip to Las Vegas in 2012.
Prior to the Crazy Golfers Christmas Meet-up at Rileys in Victoria, Brad Shepherd and I met up at Wood Green before heading off to visit and play the Crazy Golf course at Alexandra Palace.
We followed a Brown Tourist Sign to point us in the right direction and one of the first things we spotted was another very interesting sign, this time outside a Pub!
Photo: The Pub Darts Sign
Photo: Brad 'Stops' by the Pub Darts Sign
We decided to come back and give the Jolly Anglers pub a go on our way back after playing at Ally Pally. Just a short distance further along Station Road we spotted a Darts Shop too! And it was on a 'Bradley Road'!!! Sadly it had closed down, so we couldn't get stocked up on any Darts supplies ahead of the evening's tournament.
Photo: Brad standing outside the old Darts shop on Bradley Road
After playing the Minigolf course at Alexandra Palace we had plenty of time to head back to the Jolly Anglers to warm-up with a few games of Darts.
Photo: Brad chucks some 'arrers
In between drinks and goes on the Quiz machine, Brad and I played five '301' games of Darts, with victories all going my way. However, in the evening's main-event Brad would get his revenge by beating me in our two meetings (group stage & semi-final) and eventually went on to win the 'Rivernear Worlds Professional Crazy Golfers Darts Championship'.
Photo: Me and the Dart Board at The Jolly Anglers pub
The Jolly Anglers pub was friendly enough and the board, while not super high-quality, was in good condition and we were able to play there for well over an hour. Their sign advertising the Darts did well!
Photo: The Jolly Anglers pub sign
Photo: The Brown Tourist Sign pointing towards Alexandra Palace
While they may not be places likely to be well known for habitat suitable for Crocodiles or Alligators on our recent travels we have managed to find a fair few Crocodiles/Alligators lurking on Miniature Golf courses at Bluewater Shopping Centre, World of Golf New Malden and on a Pirate Adventure Golf course in Milton Keynes!