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Argentina  INESfun

22 Feb 2020 at 13:37

There are about 300 recesses on one golf ball, and thanks to them, the ball flies three times farther than a smooth one. ... Balls of the same size...

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United States of America  Smitty

07 Jun 2023 at 04:45

Jason and team make this place beautiful and the tournament is fun and well run.

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United Kingdom Steve Lovell's blog« See all Sheila's blogs

We Missed Spring - The Story Of The British Masters
23 Apr 2018 at 22:35 | Posted in: Competition | Views: 2922 | Comments: 0
'>We Missed Spring - The Story Of The British Masters
Steve Lovell meets Pat Sheridan. It's Minigolfnews squared. (credit Steve Lovell)

Saturday: For the first time this year, I am sleeping above my covers. Parts of Britain have been gripped by a heatwave, hitting 29 degrees on the Thursday, which meant the nation’s usual adjustment period to this ‘PHEW! WOT A SCORCHER newspaper headline of a day’ hadn’t happened. On top of four beers in the evening and my mum being back in hospital, this was the perfect storm for me to be restless. I’m 43, why go changing now. Today, I’m heading south of the river to Sidcup for the British Masters. It’s an event I hold dear as I made my debut in 2013 during the halcyon Worthing era and although I’m missing the chance to have a crack at ‘the old mistress’, playing at Sidcup will ensure a close contest.


I reach Sidcup around 9am to be greeted by Martin Greenhead. I have a gift for him (and the rest of the British team heading to the Czech Republic). As many know, I have too much time on my hands so I’ve made the squad a booklet of putt maps and line for Horni Bezdekov. “You lose that, you’re on your own,” I say with menace. With Sidcup being around twenty degrees hotter than we’re used to and for once, sunny, it will provide a different challenge. The one ball restriction rule of the Kent Open is lifted so time to experiment, if you choose to. I’ve plotted to stick with the Kent Tomato for the straight shots and find something for the few rebound shots and pipe hole. Since I’ve last played in Nottingham, I have at last got the solid grip I’ve been strangling my mind with for months. It isn’t as uncomfortable as it looks. I was supple. Once.


During the day, I’m joined by four of my team mates, which keeps my training fresh. I’ve figured that six balls will do the job for me with almost no change to shot selection. Just the 16th needs a reworking to get a great ace chance. I’m asked to help out with the live draw, a new innovation from the EC. It has been done before but maybe, this will be more regular. My role is to film and look at Mark’s bacon sandwiches. Despite the glorious weather, the course isn’t overly busy. Londoners normally take the chance to head to the nearest beach when they can and with the marathon route passing about six miles away, maybe less people take the chance to play. At mid-afternoon, the course is at its peak attendance and temperature. It’s certainly playing differently than a damp November day. By 6pm, only about ten of the entrants had taken advantage of the very generous day rate of £5 at Sidcup. I felt I needed a day putting for many reasons. Putting makes you forget who you are. Putter, ball, hole. It’s simple really.


With Bob and Ed having arrived late afternoon for a short knock about, we head off to base camp for the night in Dartford. Pulling up to the hotel smack in the centre of a business park, I state that “we won’t be pub crawling tonight”. Unless Nissan and Skoda had opened up bars. After a shower, we have a meal and what can be as close to a Sussex Wasps AGM as possible. The evening takes a bizarre turn as I introduce Derek and Bob to the ‘English village or West Indian cricketer’ game. Ed is already aware that I played this on long car journeys through East Anglia. Incredibly, Ed googles this and find twelve quizzes based on this. Whoever wrote these is my new hero. Up there with the funniest moment of the year so far. Today has been what I needed. I’m surrounded by good people.


Sunday: Despite telling Derek about the other two potentially sleeping until the last possible moment, I’m shocked when I give them the 7am alarm call to find they are both ready. Ed is wished the best of luck for the day when he goes to the vending machine as some of the guests believe he is running the marathon. I prefer the notion that the word of the British Masters has spread and the course are erecting the grandstands around the greens. The sun is out, there may have been the briefest of showers overnight but any moisture will burn off fast. I’m still getting used to my new grip so I find myself talking about how to putt in my head. It’s a cyclical action, complicated by analysis.


My partner for the first three rounds and two of the more senior members of the tour, David Hartley and Brian Gould. David comments that it is a while since we had played together, maybe as long ago as the 2016 Star City Open. I don’t make the best of starts, horse shoeing a two foot putt. You can’t afford to make errors at Sidcup as it is so hard to earn them back. With aces at 12 and 18 and a disastrous roll from the pipe hole, I end up level for the round. Even par at Sidcup, you are not out of it. We are joined by MInigolfnews’s very own Pat Sheridan, over from Connecticut on business. Although we have messaged many times online, this was the first time we have met. I spend time with Pat between rounds, talking minigolf, naturally. What pleases me is that so many people welcome him and make him feel at home. I’m sure he was itching to play.


My second round starts with a drop, a rotten bounce off a crack, which left a putt from the unknown. I pull that back at the fifth hole, have a wild putt from the top of the snake for a save at the 10th but lose one at the 11th. A fellow competitor celebrated nearby as I’m over the putt. I should have reset myself so my fault for not doing so. Even though I hit a 37, I’m surprisingly only four shots back. No one is making that charge. My score doesn’t reflect my performance. This is the best I’ve putted since the World Crazies back in June and for once, I am playing anxiety free. I can’t put finger on why the shroud of anxiety comes and goes but today, I didn’t pack it in the bag.


The third round is remarkable. All three of us have probably the largest proportion of putts I have seen in my five years of competitive minigolf which sit on the lip or get within three inches. I don’t have the stats but if I was to say it happened every hole, I wouldn’t be far wrong. Once again, I am not doing much wrong. Another day, I’d be bossing this. Another level par outing and still four back. If I can just get on a roll, I can still take home the jacket. As I predicted, this would be close. Sixteen players are within six shots of the lead. We’re so used to tournaments being as good as settled going into the last round so this was a joy. In all honesty, the whole day had been one of the best I can remember. There wasn’t an undercurrent sweeping through the field of negativity that has blighted some of the recent tournaments. The good feeling was all around and it was a pleasure simply to be involved. The BMGA was the winner today.


On the final lap and the field reordered, I’m now with the Midlands pair of Will Donnelly and Chris Smith. My tactic in these situations is to win the group and everything else takes care of itself. I make a steady start before slam dunking the 7th. This is code for I hit the tee shot too hard and it smacked the back of the cup and fell in. I make my move at the turn, bagging the 10th and 11th. I’m dragging Chris with me too, which is helping both of our games. I’ve got my groove back and whatever happens from now on, I will walk away happy. I hit my best round of the day, a 33. It’s enough to move me to fourth on the ladder. I could reflect on what did and didn’t happen but don’t we all. I find Pat on the course following the final group around. Although Andy Wilde needs a two at the last for his first win, he is surprisingly talkative. Maybe this is his mechanism of dealing with the pressure. I could never do that.


We crown a new champion on the tour in Andy, who quite clearly is at a loss for words. He’s had a great start to the year and I feel this isn’t a big surprise. The one day competitions give a large number of the tour their best opportunity to snag a title. The happy tide washes over the closing ceremony, people are smiling. Truthfully, I haven’t enjoyed a day’s minigolf like that for a few years, probably since I won the British Doubles in 2016. The trick is now to carry that on, keeping a cordial aura and helping the fledging new regime to reproduce this time and time again. I stay on for a round with Pat, who kindly presents me with a Putting Penguin golf ball. It now sits in my television cabinet, along with other merchandise. I’m now wishing the next event, the British Championships, was the following weekend rather than three weeks away.

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