Minigolfnews

Uppsala takes the lead on home ground

13 May 2012 21:52:35 +0200

This weekend was the first out of 3 weekends in the Swedish Elitserien. This time the favorites from Uppsala also had the advantage of playing at home. The challenging felt course in Uppsala proved to be a challenge especially for the guests.

Actually the most difficult game for the home team was in the first against Tantog�rden. Tantog�rden shocked the home team and was for a while in the beginning of the match in the lead by ten strokes. In the end Uppsala was the strongest team and won with ten strokes.

In the second game Uppsala improved by 11 strokes to win against J�nk�ping with 36 strokes. In this match we saw two comebacks from Swedish ladies star after childbirth. Both Karin Wiklund from Uppsala and Sandra Weaver for J�nk�ping was back to play for their teams. The rest of the matches Uppsala won with broad margins, 35, 34, 32, 28 and finally 13 strokes against main rival Skoghall.

Another way of noticing how superior Uppsala was this weekend is to take a look at the straight list of individual rankings where all six Uppsala players are amongst the 8 best. Best of all was not surprising on a though felt course Carl-Johan Ryner with a 29,0 average. CJ had an inspired Saturday afternoon with 23-25 in game 3 and 4. Then the second best overall Filiph Svensson from Skoghall could not keep up. In the end Filiph was the only one close to performing like C-J with 29,3 in average.

Skoghall is second in the table with 10 points after losing to Uppsala and Sj�viken. S�dert�lje also has 10 points after losing to Uppsala and Skoghall. The negative surprise of the weekend was J�nk�ping that only managed to win one game and is now in seventh position.

The team of the week is:

1. Carl-Johan Ryner, Uppsala, 29,0
2. Filiph Svensson, Skoghall, 29,3
3. Anders Olsson, Uppsala, 30,4
4. Ulf Kristiansson, Skoghall, 32,1
5. Anders Wiklund, Uppsala, 33,2

Next round will be played in Kung�lv on eternit the 9-10 of June.

Junior Girl of the Year 2011: Interview with Vanessa Peuker

09 May 2012 12:12:11 +0200

Interview with Vanessa Peuker (VP), Germany and MGC Dormagen-Brechten

This interview was done the 9th of May 2012. Interviewer is Hans Bergstr�m (HB).

HB: First of all congratulations to a great season of 2011 which lead to winning the title of �Junior girls player of the Year� on Minigolfnews by winning the expert vote and become second in the public vote. Did you expect to win this vote?

VP: No I didn�t expect to win this vote because I didn�t even know about the vote before I have read about it on Facebook. :)

HB: So, can you tell our readers who is Vanessa Peuker?

VP: I'm an 18 years old girl from Dormagen in Germany. I'm a 12 grade student at a comprehensive school. I like to do sports. My two favorite sports are football and minigolf. If I don't play minigolf I like to meet my friends and together we go shopping or do something else.

HB: In the public vote you came second and in the expert vote you won. Which of the two votes do you consider the greatest honor?

VP: In my opinion the greatest honor is the expert vote because the expert voters know what is important to become the "junior girl player of the year". The voters in the public vote just see me as a person and vote for those they know and like.

HB: 3 out of 4 in the German in Naturns made their international debut. Even though all four where the best individual players in the Championship. Can you tell us how you managed to build a successful new team so fast?

VP: The important things to build a successful new team are the teamwork and the atmosphere in the team. It�s very hard to inspire young people to play minigolf. The most young players, play minigolf because their parents plays it, or a player from the team ask them to play minigolf. It's important to talk to good player and be inspired by them.

HB: Often the modus in international Championship with team play, stroke play and match play is debated. What is your opinion about the current modus?

VP: The best modus is the team play because the team matches are very interesting and exiting to see which team will win in the end. I think the current modus are very good because without the stroke play modus I would not have been a European Champion in the individual :). The modus is fair because the there are some players that are better in stroke play and the there are others that are better in match play.

HB: Before 2011 you were not so known outside Germany. Now you are a rising star! How has this international breakthrough changed your Minigolf life?

VP: It hasn�t changed my minigolf life but when I come at a Championship or big tournaments everybody seems to knows my name and its strange since sometimes I don't know who the person is that talks to me.

HB: In Germany you cannot play in the German Bundesliga for your club, MGC Dormagen-Brechten, just because you are a girl. This is allowed in other countries like Sweden. What is your opinion about this, should this be allowed also in Germany?

VP: In my point of view I think that I should be allowed to play in a men�s team as a girl in the German Bundesliga, because there are not that many girls� teams anymore. If I want to play in the ladies German Bundesliga I have to play for a team that is far from my hometown.

HB: The German National team for ladies General Class has not been known to let younger player in like other nations (Sweden, Austria and Switzerland) have done. Now with so many talented girls coming up do you think this will change also in Germany?

VP: I don't think that will be changed in Germany in the near future because in Germany are many good ladies in the General Class and up to now they didn't need to introduce younger player in the team.

HB: So how do you feel about the upcoming season? How does your season planning look like for 2012?

VP: I want to play the qualification for the German Championship and hope that I play good on this Championship. But the important Championship for me is the YWC in Bad M�nder. If I will qualify for this Championship I very much want to play a good result for my team.

HB: Will we see you also in YWC in Bad-Munder?

VP: As I said I really hope so. The World Championships in the own country is a special event that maybe only happen once in your life.

HB: If you could recruit any player in the world, as long as it�s not a German, to play for your club MGC Dormagen-Brechten, who would you pick?

VP: I think the answer is clear to all involved but that�s top secret. Its a good player and friendly person.

HB: What happens next for you in Minigolf?

VP: Next I will play the Nations Cup in Bad M�nder and for this I have to practice a lot.

HB: Again a big congratulation to winning the expert jury part of vote for �Junior Girl player of the Year� on Minigolfnews and good luck in the future.

VP: Thank you for this Interview and the Congratulations.

Itoh and Koshimura are the National Champions of Japan

09 May 2012 10:27:34 +0200

On the weekend of the 21-22nd of April the Japanese National Championships was plaeyd on two courses. On saturday two rounds was played on the eternit course in Yokohama. And on Sunday two more rounds was played and a 12-hole felt course at the University of Shukutoku. The weather was a bit chilly and on sunday also some rain.

For each day there was a winner over the two rounds but also for the best single round. And also a winner for the two days combined was chosen. The combined gold medalists and National Championbs of Japan for 2012 was in the mens category Fuminori Itoh with 117 strokes and in the ladies category Yuki Koshimura with 125 strokes.

Result:

Men E E F F Total
1 Itoh Fuminori 26 28 32 31 117
2 Itoh Satoshi 26 25 36 32 119
3 Terui Yoshio 25 28 39 32 124

Women E E F F Total
1 Koshimura Yuki 25 26 35 39 125
2 Koto Seiko 35 26 35 35 131
3 Wakano Hiromi 36 27 39 32 134

The most exiting was in the best single rounds for men on eternite where 3 players had a single round of 25. The price was decided after a thrilling suddendeath where the winner Yoshio Terui won on lane 6 (pipe) shooting a 3.

The players with best single rounds on the felt course on Sunday where both students from the Shukutoku University.

Best Single round:

Eternite
Men: Yoshio Terui 25
Women: Yuki Koshimura 25

Felt
Men: Takayuki Kanai 30
Women : Hiromi Wakano 32

Men Player of the Year 2011: Interview with Filiph Svensson

08 May 2012 10:28:57 +0200

Interview with Filip Svensson (FS), Sweden and Skoghalls BGK

This interview was done the 8th of May 2012. Interviewer is Hans Bergstr�m (HB).

HB: Many things to congratulate on since we had the last interview. First of all I wish you congratulations to becoming the �Player of the Year 2011� on Minigolfnews. Second congratulate on becoming Player of the Year in Sweden and lastly also congratulation on becoming the Nordic Champions. Which of these three achievements do you rank the highest?

FS: I must say that I put �Player of the Year in Sweden� highest of those tree. This award I have not been given before and it feels like a great honor to get it.

HB: Let�s start with the �Player of the Year 2011� on Minigolfnews award. You were elected as winner in the public vote and second in the expert vote after Walter Erlbruch. But together you had the highest points. So who was the best in 2011 you or Walter?

FS: We are both World Champions so I guess we are equally good :)

HB: Please tell us about you victory in the Nordic Championship. It was a tight race against your fellow club mate from Norway. What gave you the victory in the end?

FS: I know that I am usually strong in these tight situations, but this time it felt more that I was the person getting the longest straw.

HB: What were your thoughts on lane 18 knowing that an ace meant gold? Nervous?

FS: I don�t want to sound too cocky but not the least nervous. Actually I enjoy these situations :)

HB: What is your impression about competing in Latvia?

FS: It was great! Not only because of my good results in the tournament but also because of the food, the course and the surroundings. It was a great event and a god arrangement!

HB: Soon the Swedish Elitserien will start. Will you be able to take up the fight with Uppsala this time?

FS: I absolutely think so. Can we only get the best team with us to all the weekends then we will be able to give them a good fight for the victory.

HB: Will you aim on the European Championships in Porto in August?

FS: You can bet on it!

HB: What happens next for you in Minigolf?

FS: Next up is the Swedish Elitserie and then I have some planned events that will be really nice.

HB: Again a big congratulation to the Nordics and the awards.

FS: Thank you back. I guess I need to say something smart also to all the readers. Stay on the course!

Vergiate takes home victory with "Europa Cup" result

07 May 2012 16:18:43 +0200

The second day of Italian league has been played on famous Vergiate course, which hosted the last edition of European Team Cup.

Despite of the weather forecasts, that said it should have rained all the weekend, the two days have been quite dry and the tournament could be played in a regular way (only a bit humid lanes in the morning).

Of course GSP Vergiate was clearly favourite to take the second victory of the season, and they managed to do that with a really impressive score: 531 strokes (29.5 average), which is almost the same than the average they setted at the European Team Cup when they got the bronze medal. A very special performance considering also the not easy weather conditions.

GSP Cusano played a good tournament with 30.3 average but could not do anything to challenge the home team, finishing 15 strokes behind them but 12 better than MT Amatese which overtook MC Monza for the 3rd place.

As ever, no history in the ladies competition with GSP Cusano winning with 32 strokes advantage on MMC Paderno and 36 on MC Monza.

These are the team rankings of the day

MALE TEAMS

1 GSP VERGIATE 182 172 177 531 29,5
2 GSP CUSANO 187 182 177 546 30,3
3 MT AMATESE 191 182 185 558 31,0
4 MC MONZA 187 190 184 561 31,2
5 MC I BASILISCHI 201 203 191 595 33,1
6 GSP SEBINO 211 207 215 633 35,2

FEMALE TEAMS

1 GSP CUSANO 98 90 94 282 31,3
2 MMC PADERNO 102 111 101 314 34,9
3 MC MONZA 102 116 100 318 35,3

The league situation now is pretty defined, because GSP Vergiate should come worst than 4th in the last day in Canegrate to lose the league, and this seems pretty difficult because there are only 4 teams challenging at a high level.
GSP Cusano ladies has already won the league because there are only 3 teams in the ladies tournament and even if they get a 3rd place in the last day, they would be on top of the ranking.

Individually, the best 3 male players of Vergiate day has been the same of the previous in Cusano, only in different order: Roberto Garbui (GSP Vergiate) that was 2nd in Cusano now took the victory with 84 strokes (31-25-28) and exchanged place with Paolo Porta (GSP Cusano) winner in Cusano, that now was 2nd with 85 strokes (27-30-28). Stefano Piccini (MT Amatese) confirmed the 3rd place with 86 strokes (28-26-32).

About ladies, another tournament dominated by Anna Bandera (GSP Cusano) that scored an impressive 87 (31-27-29)

These are the best individual players of the day

MALE

1 Roberto Garbui GSP Vergiate 31 25 28 28,0 6 84
2 Paolo Porta GSP Cusano 27 30 28 28,3 3 85
3 Stefano Piccini MT Amatese 28 26 32 28,7 6 86
4 Ivan Baruscotti GSP Vergiate 29 29 30 29,3 1 88
4 Antonio Di Bella MT Amatese 29 29 30 29,3 1 88
4 Massimiliano Ciceri GSP Vergiate 29 30 29 29,3 1 88
4 Francesco Leuci MT Amatese 29 30 29 29,3 1 88
8 Massimiliano Tenconi MT Amatese 31 28 29 29,3 3 88
9 Ermes Franchini GSP Vergiate 30 30 29 29,7 1 89
10 Roberto Alemanno GSP Cusano 33 28 28 29,7 5 89

FEMALE

1 Anna Bandera GSP Cusano 31 27 29 29,0 4 87
2 Anna Catanzaro MMC Paderno 30 32 32 31,3 2 94
3 Antonella Flamini GSP Cusano 32 31 32 31,7 1 95
4 Silvia Bandera MC Monza 31 34 30 31,7 4 95
5 Sara Marchiani GSP Cusano 35 32 33 33,3 3 100

The best individual round has been played by Roberto Garbui with 25 strokes.

The last day of the league will be played in Canegrate concrete course next 3rd June.

A Presidents view: Interview with Dr Gerhard Zimmermann

07 May 2012 11:30:39 +0200

Interview with Dr. Gerhard Zimmermann, WMF President, Germany

This interview was done the 06th of May 2012. Interviewer is Hans Bergstr�m (HB).

HB: First of all thank you for letting Minigolfnews interview you about your first time as WMF President. Can you share how your first time as the WMF President with the new Board has been?

GZ: As all of us should know the most members of WMF board were newly elected last August. So the first period was dominated by settling the most important issues so that the daily business is running well in future. During the first weeks we had furthermore to replace the newly elected finance manager, who could not continue from private reasons.

Also Bengt Svensson, the office manager of WMF headquarters is new in his position and took over now the current issues coming in from all over the world. Right now we run an extraordinary Delegates Conference to change seat, applicable law and place of jurisdiction from Bern / Switzerland to Gothenburg / Sweden. From that point WMF again will be a well organized official body, which can go forward with worldwide development.

HB: Recently you were visiting the new WMF Member Kosovo and a friendly game against neighbor Croatia in Pristina. Can you tell us about this experience and the development of Minigolf in these two countries?

GZ: Kosovo and Croatia are accepted as new members since Delegates Conference in August 2011 in Stockholm. In Pristina I could notice that both members are very engaged to develop our minigolf sport, where the friendly match on a wonderful adventure golf course was a key for direct contacts between the two members and WMF. Kosovo is a very new state fighting for worldwide recognition as a nation. WMF is one of the first international sport federations accepting Kosovo as a full member and the politicians and the sport officials of Kosovo are very proud of it.

In Croatia different old courses are meanwhile renovated, two big new projects are close to a final schedule and a club structure is the next step, on which the Croatian federation is already working on very intensively.

HB: Last weekend you were also visiting another new member Israel. Can you tell us about Minigolf in Israel and the outlook of the development of the sport in Israel?

GZ: In Israel only a few small courses exists from former times. But there are new plans for huge projects in different cities, where minigolf as event location will be established. Together with our friends from the Israeli Federation we could see the project plans on paper, the respective real sites and visit three mayors of big cities, the ministry of tourism in Jerusalem and the head office for labor sport organization in Tel Aviv organizing sport events all over Israel.

The enthusiastic plan is to arrange an international minigolf event parallel to the Jewish multisport event, the Maccabiah Games 2013, where top minigolf players of our community will be invited and also the participants of the Maccabiah Games will take part. This event could be a key for our new member to be well known as a sport all over Israel and for WMF to come into contact with different new countries all over the world as potential WMF members.

HB: WMF are planning to move the legal seat from Switzerland to Sweden. What is the reason for this change?

GZ: After last elections WMF has no office in Switzerland anymore, which is by the Swiss law mandatory for keeping the seat in Switzerland. So we decided to propose to our members by the running extraordinary Delegates Conference with postal voting to change the seat to Sweden, where the new WMF headquarters are located. This also will lead to the new comfortable situation, where instead of Swiss law the Swedish law is applicable for all legal WMF issues, which is easier to understand for the most European member nations and the board members as well compared with the Swiss law on the experience of the last years.

HB: For the second time there will be an official WMF event on an MOS course, the WMF World Adventure Golf Masters in Hastings UK. Can you tell us your view of the development of the MOS part of Minigolf?

GZ: The decision in 2007 to integrate Minigolf Open Standard officially as a new system in our WMF rulebook had the main goal to spread minigolf worldwide especially in countries, where a lot of adventure golf courses already exist.

To avoid to plan integration only on the paper we now offer different official international a-class tournaments on MOS courses to get more familiar with the organisation of events on our new minigolf system and to learn, if any rule adaptions are recommended for this type of courses. In 2012 there will be tournaments in Hastings/UK, Moscow/Russia and Pristina/Kosovo whereas in 2013 an adventure golf tour is going to be scheduled.

HB: WMF has recently made an agreement with Minigolfnews to become the official WMF Media Partner. Can you tell our readers the background from the WMF side on making this agreement?

GZ: WMF needs more media attention to reach our goals to get new members and to spread worldwide. Minigolfnews is as an established, well informed minigolf partner our number ONE inside the minigolf community to be connected from media reasons and the benefits will be on both sides.

Additionally our new media manager will together with his media committee arrange more media contacts, e.g. WMF subscribed a contract with the international sport media agency SportCal, which gives us the opportunity to be involved in the international sports news with 10 press releases per year.

Furthermore we plan to be more active on new media in cooperation with the organizers of international championships of WMF. Minigolfnews is an important part of this overall media plan, which is needed very much for the further WMF development.

HB: The main event arranged by WMF this year is the Youth World Championships in Bad M�nder. Can you share with our younger readers about how the preparations are proceeding and what they might expect for August in Bad M�nder?

GZ: The youth of the minigolf world will meet two times in Bad M�nder in 2012, first at the Nations Cup at the end of May and second time at the Youth World Championships in August just after the Olympic Games in London.

As the leader of the organisation committee in Bad M�nder I try to work very hard on the best possible preparation for these top events. Bad M�nder is a lovely small town close to Hannover, which supports the events with all channels.

So you are very welcome and you will feel as honoured guests of the town Bad M�nder, the regional minigolf sport federation of Lower Saxony and of the German federation DMV. Especially for our young minigolf community all over the world we will respect the needs of active social media work to be always available also for our friends, who can�t be themselves directly at the events. We just promise to work hard, to fulfil the expectations and to create a small cluster of friendship in our busy world.

HB: Recently the Minigolf Community shared a great loss in the tragic death of Marcus W�thrich. What will be in your memories when you think of Marcus in the future?

GZ: With Marcus we lost a very engaged official, a well respected international referee, an internationally well known minigolf player and simply a close friend. It was an absolutely personal need for me to be personally present at the thanksgiving ceremony at the cemetery in Burgdorf to say finally goodbye to Marcus.

After his passing away we are faced with a lack of officials even becoming bigger than before. Marcus will always stay in my memories as a successful supporter of the minigolf movement on all levels.

HB: You are soon off to Quebec, Canada for the SportAccord Conference. Can you tell our readers why it�s important for WMF to be part of SportAccord?

GZ: SportAccord is the worldwide umbrella organization of international sport federations, where WMF is a member since almost 10 years. This platform is very helpful and efficient for all sport issues worldwide. WMF benefits by personal contacts, by support programs of SportAccord and by the huge network, we simply have for all important issues a competent partner to take contact with and to get very reliable information.

At the upcoming SportAccord Convention in Quebec WMF is present with an own table, equipped with our WMF banner free of charge to start up personal discussions with a lot of potential partners. WMF has to learn, that improvement with media and sponsors is based on lobbying and networking, where we still have a highly visible lack.

HB: It seems like you are always traveling in the name of Minigolf. How many travel days do you have each year?

GZ: Indeed I travel a lot for minigolf, but also for business and for private. So it is not easy to count the travel days, which are especially for minigolf. Focus for minigolf travelling is to visit the new WMF members and candidates to give them support and ideas how to develop minigolf in their country.

Also I always could notice very clear, that a new member feels extremely pleased if the WMF president comes for a personal visit to learn their situation and their concerns. Some new members are in the pipeline again and furthermore the Asian Federation including their members needs support as well for developing a minigolf infrastructure in Asia.

HB: By the colleagues that have worked with you in WMF and the DMV you are known for thorough and detailed preparations and follow up. Where do you find your motivation on working as much as you do for the Minigolf Sport?

GZ: In the period as a minigolf player I had the pleasure to have many many successful and nice moments and I have a lot of positive memories about this time. Later on I changed from a player to an internationally acting coach in different federations, to a sport official and finally to the position of president in Bavarian federation, in DMV and in WMF. By this engagement I try to give something back to the minigolf world. It is my personal characteristic to arrange most things very strategic and in details including a follow-up of each plan. From my point of view it is an important part of success to work in this way and to go ahead as a well organized and motivated leader to have as many friends as possible to follow this movement.

HB: What have been your greatest moments as a Minigolf leader for your country and for WMF?

GZ: To be honest the most emotional situation in my international minigolf life was the surprising and overwhelming victories of the first World Championships titles with the men�s team of Switzerland as well as the individual titles of Miranda Graf and Raffael Noesberger just one year after changing as head coach from Germany to Switzerland. Some months ago we had the 20-years celebration of these titles to meet all old friends again. The most impressive issue as leader of DMV and WMF is the permanent development of the minigolf movement with implementing new ideas and getting more and more officials involved in the daily work to develop minigolf.

HB: And the worst moments?

GZ: To speak for the most minigolf officials who take over responsibilities in their clubs, countries or in WMF, it is sometimes a pity to be attacked by any persons, who can�t call themselves friends of minigolf anymore. Positive criticism in the sense of optimizing different issues and procedures is always very welcome, but bad attacks with mostly not real arguments and untrue facts lead to a demotivation of our officials, who would better use their full power for a positive development.

For me personally attacks in the past have always been on middle and long term simply the best possible motivation to continue with my personal engagement, giving me the impression that it is very necessary to avoid that negatively influenced persons get more influence to destroy our minigolf sport. It is worth to point out, that the percentage of destructive persons in our minigolf community is very very low, which also should allow us to focus on the cooperation with the positive thinking minigolfers all over the world.

HB: Finally when do you think we will see a world championship be played outside Europe?

GZ: As already mentioned above, it is one of my goals to spread minigolf worldwide. That also means it is the willingness and also WMF�s duty to work on World Championships outside Europe for one of the next events. In the current financial crisis it seems not very easy to get many players to such an event to arrange a big success. What we need first to prepare this planned event in future is to develop our media structure, to find sponsors interested in our main events and to support our members on the Asian and American continents to be prepared to organize such an event under the umbrella of WMF.

HB: Thank you and good luck in the future!

GZ: Thanks for giving me the opportunity for this interview by you as our minigolf media partner number ONE. We are looking forward to a very fruitful cooperation.

Hardenberg wins 4th Bundesliga match

07 May 2012 02:12:16 +0200

The 4th Bundesliga match took place on the felt course in Niederstetten on the 6th of May. But it was more underwater minigolf with several interuptions due to heavy rain showers and even thunderstorms. The men's teams managed to finish 2 rounds (the number of rounds was cut from 4 to 2), but the women's teams failed to finish the 2nd round, so the women have to repeat the match sometime.

The men's teams provided a normal result, but with a strong team from Bochum, reaching the 2nd place.Hardenberg won again with a total score of 397 (average: 33.1), but only 6 shots ahead of Bochum. Dormagen-Brechten came 3rd further 17 shots behind. Mainz reached a 4th place ahead of Arheilgen. And the team from Berlin (Tempelhofer MV) again got no points.

So there is not much change in the table after 4 matches. Only Mainz and Arheilgen changed their places because of a small difference in total shots.

1. BGS Hardenberg 38 1778 24.69
2. MGC Dormagen-Brechten 25 1840 25.56
3. MGC Mainz 20 1857 25.88
4. SG Arheilgen 20 1863 25.88
5. Bochumer MC 17 1847 25.65
6. TMV Berlin 0 1933 26.85

The best 5 players were:

Karel jr. Moln�r, Bochumer MC: 57, 28.5
Alexander Geist, BGS Hardenberg: 61, 30.5
Harald Erlbruch, BGS Hardenberg: 62, 31.0
Lucas Scholz, MGC Mainz: 62, 31.0
Timo Greiffendorf, BGS Hardenberg: 62, 31.0

Links to results and reports, all in German language:

WAT 21 and Rot Gold takes firm grip on Austrian BL

04 May 2012 14:58:29 +0200

The Austrian Bundesliga played its 3rd and 4th playing days when April turned into May. This two playing days was played at the Baggersee Beton course in Innsbruck.

After these two playing days it�s now clear that the two favorites WAT 21 (men) and BGCU Rot Gold (ladies) have taken a firm grip on the title. 2 playing days remains.

In the ladies team category the MSC Linz team won the first day and with an 29,4 average. Second where G�nserndorf and third where Rot Gold. On the second day the Rot Gold came out as a new team and shifted with MSC Linz to win before G�nserndorf. Noteworthy is that best overall the second day was veteran Elisabeth Kammerer who played substitute for Rot Gold with 79 strokes (improving 16 strokes on 3 rounds from the day before).

Table ladies after 4 of 6 playing days:

1. BGC Union Rot Gold 1086 20
2. SV OMV G�nserndorf 1089 16
3. ASK� 3D MSC Linz Lissfeld 1112 12
4. MGC Innsbruck IGLS 1195 0

Best individual lady over the two days where:

1. Manuela Zojer, Linz, 28,2
2. Carina Utzig, G�nserndorf, 28,3
3. Elisabeth Kammerer, Union Rot Gold, 29,0
4. Roberta Rohregger, Innsbruck, 29,5
5. Johanna Knotzer, Union Rot Gold, 29,5

In the men�s team category the WAT21 and Wien team tied the victory on the first day and with an 28,9 average. The second day the WAT21 team managed to win with an brilliant 27,9 team average before Styer this time. The team Wien team had this time a bit more trouble and was only in fourth place. WAT21 has now what seems to be a given victory with a 13 point margin down to Steyr on second place in the table.

Table men�s after 4 of 6 playing days:

1. Wiener ASK� Team 21 (WAT21) 2032 39
2. ASK� MSC Steyr 2072 24
3. SV OMV G�nserndorf 2082 22
4. BGC Wien 2087 21
5. ASK� MGC Bischofshofen 2104 12
6. MGC ATUS Knittelfeld 2152 2

Best individual man over the two days where:

1. Manfred Lindmayr, Wien, 26,8
2. Heinz Weber, WAT21, 26,8
3. Robert Konrad, Steyr, 27,0
4. Karl Lakos, WAT21, 27,3
5. Franz Berger, Wien, 27,8

Jan-�ke Persson employed by the Swedish Federation

03 May 2012 20:59:06 +0200

From the first of May Jan-�ke Persson is employed as development consultant at the Swedish Minigolf Federation (SBGF). This is the result of an organizational review made by the SBGF during the fall and winter. At the same time Peter Gyllhag has resigned from a similar position.

Jan-�ke Persson has played on international level for many years but is recently known as a successful player in the Swedish Oldtimers National Team. His latest achievement as player was becoming the Nordic Champion in Latvia with the best overall result.

Jan-�ke will work with a broad field within Minigolf especially focusing on helping the Swedish clubs in developing and administrate youth recruiting projects.

The Swedish Federation has now 2,5 employees.

Bengt Svensson as Secretary General (100%)
Jan-�ke Persson as Development Consultant (100%)
Jan Strandberg as Sport Manager (50%)

Zodrow and Erlbruch is the new WMF number one

03 May 2012 11:23:32 +0200

The March 2012 edition of WMF world rankings is published. So far it�s only for the general class. The changes from the November 2011 edition is not very big and has more to do with what years can be counted and also junior players becoming seniors.

On the ladies side the dominating star of 2011, Bianca Zodrow of Germany is now also taking over the WMF top position from Karin Heschl Austria, now a fifth position when the 2009 season is not counting anymore. New on second position is Austrias Elisabeth Gruber, who was fighting for the team gold in Stockholm with Bianca. Third position is now held by Yvonne Klukas of Switzerland.

Best new juniors on the seniors ranking are Anne Bollrich of Germany on 11th position, Melanie Schwarz of Austria on 28th and Frida Elmdahl of Sweden on 29th.

The five best ladies in the 2012 March edition of WMF rankings are:

1. Bianca Zodrow, Germany 2852 points
2. Elisabeth Gruber, Austria 2365 points
3. Yvonne Klukas, Switzerland 2344 points
4. Stefanie Kern, Germany 2274 points
5. Karin Heschl, Austria 2194 points

At the men�s side Walter Erlbruch, Germany is found still in top as was also the case in November 2011.

On second position we find Austrias Gunther Inmann who passed Swedens Filiph Svensson (now in third) because Filiph could no longer count his successful 2009 season.

In third position and up 19 positions from a year ago He was the second best player in 2011 with 2947 points. And since he didn�t play in 2008 he can now fully count his 3 years in the ranking and that means a third place overall.

The five best men in the 2012 March edition of WMF rankings are:

1. Walter Erlbruch, Germany 3839 points
2. Gunther Inmann, Austria 3275 points
3. Filiph Svensson, Sweden 3040 points
4. Harald Erlbruch, Germany 3013 points
5. Marcel Noack, Germany 2949 points

Best new juniors on the seniors ranking are Kevin Fuechtl, Austria on 12th position, Nicolai Bhend, Switzerland on 18th and Phillip Riegler, Austria on 27th.

Top 20 nations are the following:

1. ( 2.) Germany 77.319
2. ( 1.) Sweden 68.765
3. ( 4.) Austria 58.183
4. ( 3.) Switzerland 56.514
5. ( 5.) Czech Republic 36.891
6. ( 6.) Italy 32.910
7. ( 7.) Netherlands 20.283
8. ( 9.) Denmark 20.017
9. ( 8.) Finland 18.122
10. (10.) Slovakia 9.815
11. (12.) Portugal 8.411
12. (11.) Russia 8.348
13. (16.) France 5.200
14. (13.) Hungary 3.293
15. (14.) Latvia 3.281
16. (21.) Norway 3.115
17. (22.) Belgium 2.715
18. (15.) China 2.295
19. (20.) Great Britain 2.028
20. (17.) Japan JAP 1.504

Minigolfnews celebrates 1000 users

02 May 2012 11:51:09 +0200

Yesterday on the first of May 2012 Minigolfnews became 1000 user when new user Mahdi Tarahomi from Iran was approved as member.

Since the start in beginning of 2009 we had in averagre one new user per day on our site. Some more statistics about minigolfnews.com since the start.

* Total visits: 407.000
* Unique IP adresses: 65.000
* Page views: 1.423.000
* Avergare visits/day: 340
* Peak visit date: Saturday the 28th of August 2010 (Final day of EC in Predazzo with 1207 visits)
* Vistis by returning visitours: 85 %
* Top 3 languages spoken by visitours: German (16,7%), English (14,3%) and Swedish (13,7%)
* Number of countries visited the site: 138
* Nationality of the visitours spending most time in average on the site: Czech Republic (7 minutes and 54 seconds).

We are now aiming on the next 1000 users.

Website of Chiang Mai 2012 now online

02 May 2012 10:11:32 +0200

The 2012 Open Asian Minigolf Championships will be played at 22-24 of November in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Now the official website of the tournament is online including invitation and registration and information about accommodation.

Team Germany for NC in Porto nominated

30 Apr 2012 11:28:39 +0200

The German Team for Nations Cup in Porto the 26-27 of May is now nominated by the Head Coach Michael Koziol. The team consists of 3 new players in the German Senior squad and merited Walter Erlbruch.

The team:

Anne Bollrich, SG Arheilgen
Walter Erlbruch, BGS Hardenberg-P�tter
Sebastian Kube, MGC Dormagen-Brechten
Martin St�ckle, Niendorfer MC

Coaches:

Michael Koziol
Michael Neuland

Team Sweden for NC in Porto nominated

30 Apr 2012 07:16:41 +0200

The Swedish Team for Nations Cup in Porto the 26-27 of May is now nominated by the Swedish Head Coach Jan Strandberg. The team consists of 3 players with lots of experience and one new player, Eirik Seljelid, who is making his debut in the Senior squad

The team:

Sandra Bengtson, Uppsala BGK
Lars Brown, Uppsala BGK
Peter Eisenschmidt, Askim BGK
Eirik Seljelid, Kung�lv BGK

Coach:

Jan Strandberg - Head Coach

Youth German Federal States Cup (JLP) in Heilbronn

26 Apr 2012 08:36:25 +0200

The first national minigolf event 2012 in Germany was held on the Eternit course in Heilbronn on the 13th and 14th of April. The Youth German Federal States Cup (JLP in German) is a junior team competition of the federal states of Germany. Every minigolf association of a German federal state (Bundesland) can form a team of 5 or 6 juniors (male or female). If at least one female junior plays for the team, the worst score of each team round is cut. So only the best 5 scores per round count for the team. There were 10 rounds to go.

Most of the time Northrhine-Westfalia was leading, but in the last round Bremen/Lower-Saxony beat them by just one shot. Bavaria came third 20 shots further behind.

Heilbronn seems to be a good Eternit course as there were some extraordinary good scores. The best players had an average below 21 in 10 rounds, and there were several "blue" rounds (scores below 20).

Manuel Szablikowski from Mainz (Rhineland-Palatinate) won the male kids category with a total of 218. Pascal Fischbeck from Arendsee (Saxony-Anhalt) came second with a total of 223, followed by Tristan Kleiner from Celle (Lower Saxony) with 231.

The winner of the female kids category was Maike Haupt from Herten (Northrhine-Westfalia) with a total of 227. Patricia Fischbeck from Arendsee (Saxony-Anhalt) reached a second place with 250, followed by Sarah Schumacher from Tuttlingen (Baden) with 256.

Vanessa Peuker from Dormagen-Brechten won the female juniors category with a total of 213, followed by Annika Dellmann from Neheim (both Northrhine-Westfalia) with 221. Isabell Raschke from Diepholz (Lower Saxony) came third with 229.

Marcel Waleska from G�ttingen (Lower Saxony) and Sebastian Piekorz from Niederstetten (W�rttemberg) finished the tournament with the same total score - 208. So the winner of the male juniors category had to be decided in a play-off, won by Marcel Waleska, who even played an 18 in the last round. Robin Hettrich from Dormagen-Brechten (Northrhine-Westfalia) came third with 219.

The local player Jan van Vught was proud to end up on a 9th place with a total of 223. He was interviewed and filmed by a TV team of SWR 3. Please follow the link below.

Links to results, reports, photos and a TV broadcast, all in German language:

»Online results
»Team and individual results by DMV
»Report by DMV
»TV broadcast by SWR 3
»Report by MVBN
»Photo gallery by BGC Heilbronn

Michael Smith wins coveted British Masters jacket

23 Apr 2012 20:14:33 +0200

BMGA News Report
Supplied by Richard Gottfried

Oxford�s Michael Smith won the 13th annual BMGA British Masters minigolf tournament at the Splash Point Mini Golf course in Worthing, West Sussex on Sunday 22nd April.

28 British Minigolf Association players took part in the four round (72-hole) tournament on the 18-hole Splash Point Mini Golf course. Michael Smith won with a score of 137 (-7). Cambridge�s James Rutherford was runner-up after defeating Brighton�s Peter Emmerson at the fourth hole of a sudden-death play-off after both players had tied on 144 (par).

Michael Smith, the BMGA British Number One and reigning World Crazy Golf Champion, said �I'm delighted to have won the British Masters. It was especially satisfying to win on such a difficult course and to have beaten such a high quality field. As expected, the Splash Point Mini Golf course was an extremely challenging test for all the players, and there were plenty of dropped shots and high scoring. It was a great day of minigolf that all the players enjoyed, especially as the forecasted rain stayed largely away from Worthing. Thanks to Anthony, Sean, and Marion for running the tournament and to the course owners, Anthony and Peter, for hosting such a great event."

Other prize winners at the competition were Oxford�s Chris Smith, who won the Category 2 prize. The Category 2 runner-up spot went to London�s Nick Sandqvist, and London�s David Donnelly was third. Worthing�s Oli Poole won the top novice prize, with Jes Moon runner-up.

Birmingham�s Chris Harding won the Aces prize. Harding had to defeat Gravesend�s Brad Shepherd and Bath�s Kevin Moseley to claim the prize after all three players had scored thirteen holes-in-one across the four-rounds.

Anthony Pope from Splash Point Mini Golf said �"It was great to play host to the UK's best Minigolfers and after four tough rounds I think we saw a worthy winner in Michael Smith. It was particularly pleasing to see local player Oli Poole take the novices prize. We hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend in Worthing and we look forward to hosting another event soon. Many thanks to the British Minigolf Association for their support in putting this event on."

BMGA Chairman Sean Homer said �Thanks to Marion Homer for running the event, and to the Splash Point course owners Anthony Pope and Peter Emmerson for hosting the event and to all who took part.�

Emanuele Prestinari breaks all records in Cusano

23 Apr 2012 16:12:48 +0200

One week later the League day, the miniaturegolf course in Cusano is again theather of a national tournament.

75 players took part in the event that showed really great scores. The intense training for the league day and the nice weather conditions allowed very good results.

The absolute protagonist of the day has been Emanuele Prestinari , almost 17 years old player from the home team.
He won the overall male category with an outstanding score of 81 strokes in 4 rounds, which destroyed the old course record that was 84.
Emanuele scored 22 19 21 19 collecting all the course records and twice missing the 18-round (never setted on this course) due to a couple of very unlucky shots.

The young Emanuele is probably in the best moment of his minigolf life, having won 3 tournaments in the last months.

Great results also for Cristian Pinton (MC Monza), second with 83 strokes, Francesco Leuci (MT Amatese) third with 84 strokes. The winner of the individual ranking of the league day, Paolo Porta, scored the same result than previous tournament (86) but this time could only reach the 4th place.

5 19 rounds on this course where the 18 has never been played: Emanuele Prestinari (2) Cristian Pinton, Marco Ambrosini and Pierluigi Marchiani.

Very good performance also in the ladies category, where Sara Marchiani (GSP Cusano) won with the female course record on 4 rounds 88 .
Second place for another player from Cusano, Anna Bandera.

GSP Cusano dominated the individual rankings but had to be content with a second place in the team event. The victory went to MT Amatese (Boris Arzuffi, Francesco Leuci, Antonio Di Bella, Massimo Diotti) that also setted the new team course record with 269 strokes in 3 rounds.

Minigolf Dream Team 2011, juniors

23 Apr 2012 09:14:38 +0200

The most respected boy junior players of the 2011 season, according to our 10 expert voters, are 1. Robin Hettrich (GER), 2. Kevin Feuchtl (AUT), 3. Gerrit Below (GER), 4. Lorenzo Levis (ITA), 5. Philip Lau (GER), 6. Kai Lödding (SUI), 7. Philipp Riegler (AUT).

Our public voters ranked the Dream Team of 2011 season a bit differently: 1. Lorenzo Levis (ITA), 2. Gerrit Below (GER), 3. Robin Hettrich (GER), 4. Kevin Feuchtl (AUT), 5. Derice Shumilov Susoho (SWE), 6. Kai Lödding (SUI), 7. Filip Johansson (SWE).

When the results of these two votes are combined, Robin Hettrich can be nominated as Boy Junior Player of the Year 2011, with 16.4% + 8.4% of the votes.

The expert vote included these persons: Pasi Aho (FIN), André Campos (POR), Erik Gustavsson (SWE), Manfred Lindmayr (AUT), Jan Pergl (CZE), Paolo Porta (ITA), Michael Smith (GBR), Petra Szablikowski (GER), Erik Tiekstra (NED), Lubomir Zontag (SVK).

Arheilgen breaks the Hardenberg winning suite

22 Apr 2012 23:33:25 +0200

Before this weekend�s playing day in the German Bundesliga, Harbenberg had a winning suite of 9 playing days victories in a row. Last time anyone beat the Hardenberg team was Dormagen-Brechten who was beating them with one stroke on felt the 30th of May 2010.

This time Hardenberg was beaten by Arheilgen on eternit in Brilon. 4 of the 6 players in Hardenberg played very good in the tough course and weather but 2 players (Mann with 101 and W Erlbruch with 93) had difficulties. This was enough for the Arheilgen team, where all six players had between 85 and 91, to secure the win by a margin of 9 strokes. Third was Mainz another 3 strokes behind.

Still the Hardenberg team seems to once again be the favorite for the title since the teams behind are beating each other a bit too much. Now the margin to second place Dormagen-Brechten is 9 points.

Table after 3 rounds:

1 Hardenberg-P�tter 1381 28
2 MGC Dormagen-Brechten 1420 19
3 SG Arheilgen 1430 18
4 MGC Mainz 1432 16
5 Bochumer MC 1444 9
6 RMV Berlin 1487 0

In the ladies class the G�ttingen ladies have taken the grip of the title by another won playing day and a 4point lead in the table.

Worth noticing are that the Mainz ladies, current defender of the EC-title are struggling a lot to even keep a position in next year�s first Bundesliga.

Table after 3 rounds:

1 MGC G�ttingen 728 18
2 MSK Olching 766 14
3 MC Cuxhaven 766 12
4 MSC Bensheim 778 11
5 MGC Mainz 794 5

Best 3 indiviudal players was:

Men:

Roman Kobish, Mainz, 20.8
Harald Erlbruch, Hardenberg, 20.8
Timo Grieffendorf, Hardenberg, 21.3

Ladies:

Nicole Piechotta, G�ttingen, 22.0
Andrea Reinicke, Cuxhafen, 22.5
Alexandra von dem Knesebeck, G�ttingen, 22.5

»Report by Birgit Stiebeling
»Report by newspaper "Der Westen"
»Report by newspaper "Sauerland Kurier"

Oirschot 2 surprises in second round Dutch league

21 Apr 2012 12:56:41 +0200

The second round of the Dutch league was played on the eternit course in Spoordonk where in 2004 the European Cup was played. It was not so very nice weather, rather cold and windy, so the scores were not rally good.

The first round was won by Oirschot 2 and Appelscha with 100 strokes just before Zoetermeer with 101 and defending champion Oirschot 1 started on the seventh place with 107 strokes. The second round was won by Oirschot 2 with 95 strokes and they alone took the lead with 195 strokes. On the second place came now Zoetermeer after a round with 96 strokes with 197 strokes just before Appelscha with 198 strokes.Oirschot 1 came with 99 strokes still on the seventh place.

the third round was also won by Oirschot 2 tigether with their first team with 92 strokes. Oirschot 2 stayed on the lead and they found still Zoetermeer on the second place after a round with 95 strokes. The winner of the first round fourteen days ago the Hole Ridders from Ridderkerk came on the fifth place after three rounds. The last round this day was won by Oirschot 1 and Appelscha with 93 strokes but that wasn�t enough to win this day. Oirschot 2 won the match this day after a last round with 97 strokes with a total of 384 strokes. Second place was now for Appelscha with 387 strokes. Zoetermeer went down to the fifth place after a bad last round with 108 strokes. Defending champion Oirschot 1 became on the third place with 391 strokes just before the Hole Ridders with 397 strokes. Next week the third round of the Dutch league will be played in Nijmegen on the mos course (Dutch system) of �t Valkhof.