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Patrick Sheridan's blog« See all PatPenguin's blogs
On the Big(ish) Screen!
11 Jun 2018 at 15:07 | Posted in: Personal | Views: 3501 | Comments: 0
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Being filmed in 2014 When I started my minigolf journey in 2001, I had no idea where it would lead me. Since our first reviews were posted online, Mandy and I have been in numerous newspaper and magazine articles, I’ve been on the radio a few times, including PGA Tour radio, and the name “Putting Penguin", has become more recognizable in the miniature golf world than “Pat Sheridan.” About four years ago we were contacted by filmmaker Amanda Kulkoski for a documentary she was working on called Through the Windmill. Her goal was to showcase why people loved the sport of minigolf, focusing on the US, through talking to course owners who live and breathe it as a business, to those of us who have it as a driving hobby, to the professional/competitive side of putting. We spent a good chunk of a day with her team at Saybrook Point, a local course, shooting us playing and being interviewed.
We kept in touch with Amanda over the years and got excited as it looked like the film was nearing completion. In Fall 2017, it made its first film festival premier in the US. Earlier this month, the film made its New England premiere at the New Haven Documentary film festival at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut and we had a chance to attend the screening. While it wasn’t a huge red carpet event, it was still cool to be there to see the movie on the big(ish) screen and to be able to talk with some of the moviegoers. Our part was small (about 90 seconds in an 80 minute movie) but it involved having an ace on film and some of our footage from a great playoff used. It may be the only time I get to say I was in a full-length feature film and it was exciting to see a lot of the friends we’ve made over the years shown on the screen. One of the main “stars” was Autumn Sutherland who owns Matterhorn Minigolf, a local course to us and the current home of The Putting Penguin’s tournament, as it followed her journey from buying a rundown lot to opening the course.
Amanda is hoping to have the movie out publicly later in the year but for those of you still waiting to see it, here’s my review:
The movie has a good pace and weaves both a history of minigolf in with stories about how the sport has impacted individuals both professionally and personally (often with the two combined as many of the personal stories lead to opening courses). It has a good use of graphics to help tell the story of the impact across the United States and leaves you feeling pretty good about being a miniature golf enthusiast. It doesn’t touch on any of the world development and due to the shooting schedule some of the bigger USA impacts on the world stage weren’t included (or things like the Major Series of Putting) so there might be some room for a sequel! For our tastes a little more time on the professional side would have been nice, but for the average viewer there was about the right amount included.
For the avid miniature golfer who’s familiar with the competitive side as well as all of the current trends (bar minigolf, library minigolf, museum minigolf, etc) there’s not much “new” in the movie but it’s more a nice way to spend 80 minutes seeing your sport on screen. For the person who just dabbles in minigolf there’s a lot to be learned on the history of the sport as well understanding some things like the difference between “minigolf” and “putt putt.”
Overall we suggest to check it out once it becomes available (don't worry, I will make sure everyone knows when it's out) and help spread the word to friends. Media work like this is great for our sport and can only help provide positive exposure in our attempts to grow the sport!
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