Hi, it's Steve Lovell. I hope wherever you in the world, this finds you safe and well with those you hold dear. As we all know, minigolf has the incredible power to unite us all and during the time of Covid-19, this is heighetened. I've spoken to a few friends around the world to ask them the same three questions about the situation we face.
How badly has Covid-19 affected your country?
When do you think you could be playing minigolf again?
Have you managed to do any minigolf activities at home, like Puttathome or made any obstacles?
Our sixth interview in this series, I meet Florian Weitz from Germany, who I recently met at the Monza Night Marathon back in January.
My name is Florian Wietz, I am from Hamburg in Germany and I have been playing minigolf since 1987 for Niendorfer MC.
I think I have to give two answers on this question (to how bad the country has been affected). We have had a pretty big amount of infections so far, but because of our good healthcare system and in relation to the size of our population and the, in my opinion, good strategy of our government, we haven‘t suffered as many deaths like other countries our size.
Actually, we are allowed to play minigolf with some terms that we have to fulfil. We can play in smaller groups if we keep to a distance of 1,50m. At the moment, we are only allowed to practice. No tournaments as yet. There are different regulations in the different regions. I think some clubs are already planning tournaments, so maybe there is a chance to play some in June or July?
I was invited by my friend from Italy, Roberto Agliardi, to do a puttathome video, so I did. Also, my club, Niendorfer MC, did a donation campaign, where we sold our team shirts and some balls and we gave the profit of 1136€ to an initiative, founded by German football national players Joshua Kimmich & Leon Goretzka, named “We Kick Corona”.
A fantastic amount raised and I wish all the best to everyone in Germany and thank Florian for his time.