British Championship 2010

5th/6th June 2010

Wroxham Barns, Norfolk



The first Major of the year took place at last year's English Open venue, where I came 9th.

Saturday was the hottest day of minigolf I have yet to experience, and it affected my performance and concentration quite a bit. But somehow I was still up the top of the leaderboard overnight.

Sunday was a much better performance finishing with two 33's with no dropped shots on the last round. I finished in 6th place overall, my best finish in a Major tournament so far and I retained my British No.2 status in the Order of Merit. Not too bad for my worst feeling performance this season.

Rank Start no Name R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 Average Diff Tot
1 123 Tim DAVIES 32 34 35 33 34 33 30 33.0 5 231
2 125 Nick CHITTY 35 38 30 35 35 30 29* 33.1 9 232
3 101 Michael SMITH 36 32 31 38 35 33 33 34.0 7 238
4 115 Sean HOMER 35 32 36 35 35 33 32 34.0 4 238
5 113 Chris HARDING 35 34 32 35 35 34 34 34.1 3 239
6 129 Marc 'The Force' CHAPMAN 33 36 35 38 36 33 33 34.9 5 244
7 108 Adam KELLY (junior) 34 35 37 37 32 35 35 35.0 5 245
8 120 Alan NORMAN 38 33 36 31 32 35 40 35.0 9 245

Scottish Open 2010

16th May 2010

Aberdeen



After a long train journey to Aberdeen and practice on the Saturday, four rounds took place with a high quality field of players including the British No.1 and the current World Crazy Golf Champion Keith Kellard!

I played well on the whole, with a a bit more luck on the 'lucky' holes I would have been very close to sealing the victory.

A 4th place finish and lots more ranking points with this being one of the highest rated events outside of the Majors. £100 added to my Career Earnings: £250.

Rank Start no Name R1 R2 R3 R4 Average Diff Tot
1 111 Chris HARDING 30 30 31 34 31.3 4 125
2 127 Jouni VALKJARVI 33 31 33 30 31.8 3 127
3 109 Michael SMITH 33 29 29 36 31.8 7 127
4 123 Marc 'The Force' CHAPMAN 33 30 33 33 32.3 3 129
5 108 Keith KELLARD 34 33 31 34 33.0 3 132
6 125 Sean HOMER 36 35 32 32 33.8 4 135
7 131 John MCIVER 39 34 32 31 34.0 8 136
8 128 Richard GOTTFRIED 38 33 35 32 34.5 6 138

British Doubles 2010

25th April 2010



The team 'May The Force be with Who' was created for this event in absence of Chris Harding's regular partner John Moore.

Having finished the previous day's Midlands Open as No.1 and 2 the favorites tag was immediately bestowed upon us! We didn't let them down with a few stunning victories culminating in the demise of the infamous 'Nutters with Putters' Team in the Final with an 18th hole victory!

A fine victory from the two top-ranked minigolfers in the country and £50 more onto my career earnings: £200.

1 - MAY THE FORCE BE WITH WHO (Chris Harding/Marc Chapman) (£100)
2 - NUTTERS WITH PUTTERS (Ted McIver/Tim Davies)(£75)
3 - SQUIRE TRELAWNEY (Richard Gottfried/Kevin Moseley) (£50)
4 - THE SCORPIONS (Emily Gottfried/Cindy Kukielka)(£25)

Midlands Open 2010

24th April 2010



A new course that I hadn't had much practice on - very enjoyable though!

An ok first two rounds put me in contention as my good form and confidence continued. A new course record of 28 (8 Aces, no dropped shots) left Chris Harding needing to Ace the final hole to avoid a play-off...which he did!

A fine event with a decent amount of ranking points gained, including 50 points for a new course record. This propelled me from 7th place in the Order of Merit to 3rd in Britain! £50 won taking my Career Earnings to £150!

Rank Start no Name R1 R2 R3 Average Diff Tot
1 110 Chris HARDING 32 32 30 31.3 2 94
2 121 Marc 'The Force' CHAPMAN 33 34 28 31.7 6 95
3 122 John MCIVER 34 33 32 33.0 2 99
4 128 Richard GOTTFRIED 33 34 34 33.7 1 101
5 129 Seve KUKIELKA 34 35 32 33.7 3 101
6 137 Tony KELLY 32 35 35 34.0 3 102
7 125 Tim DAVIES 33 37 32 34.0 5 102
8 140 Nick CHITTY 33 37 33 34.3 4 103

Easter Eggstravaganza 2010

14th April 2010

I was on a roll at Hither Green and this year's Easter event was taking place there.

Another two sub-40 rounds secured the title with a storming second round 34, two shots off my record of 32.

Three wins on the trot - Next up...the Stratford Double-Header!



Rank Start no Name R1 R2 Average Diff Tot
1 109 Marc 'The Force' CHAPMAN 38 34 36.0 4 72
2 111 Sean 'Freebird' HOMER 33 42 37.5 9 75
3 107 Michael 'Hole In One Kenobi' SMITH 42 42 42.0 0 84
4 103 Andy 'Mr X' EXALL 44 42 43.0 2 86
5 115 Scott 'Donkey Gringo' LANCLEY 39 47 43.0 8 86
6 113 Trevor 'Pumbah' EXALL (guest) 44 52 48.0 8 96
7 101 Nick 'Top Hole' CHITTY (guest) 48 51 49.5 3 99
8 105 Marion 'Double Trouble' HOMER 57 68 62.5 11 125

Duel on the Felt 2010

5th April 2010

Clambers, Hastings

The first Duel on the Felt took place in celebration of my 24th birthday, consisting of 2 rounds followed by a 9-Hole Play-off between the top two players.

With two rounds of 35 putting me clear into 1st place, Andy Exall won through with scores of 40 and 35 to come 2nd and make the Duel!



After a close 5 holes 'The Force' took a comfortable lead to the final hole with a nervy 3 to win the Duel!

Spring Classic 2010

27th March 2010

Hither Green, London

After an average performance at the Masters, a gathering was arranged in Hither Green to play the Spring Classic 2010.

I was very relaxed just looking for an enjoyable day out and not trying to play for the result.



The competition was played over two rounds and saw 17 players take part. The Force won with scores of 37(+1) and 32(-4) for a total of 69(-3)!

My round of 32 was also a new course record and won me a bottle of champagne from course owner Nick Sandqvist as the first player to shoot a sub-36(par) score since the course opened in January 2010.

I was pleased with the new record but even more pleased with the consistent sub-40 scores on one of the most challenging miniature golf systems in the world. The practice on this type of course at Hither Green will help improve my all-round game, aiming to compete for major UK titles and a place in the British Team for the European Championships this August in Italy.

I would encourage all players to make use of this excellent new indoor facility as it can only assist in raising the standard of UK minigolf.

The next ranking tournaments on the BMGA Tour are the Midlands Open and BMGA British Doubles Championships in Stratford upon Avon in April, with the BMGA Scottish Open in Aberdeen in May.

Rank Player Club Country Round 1 Round 2 Total
1 Marc 'The Force' Chapman KMGC GBR 37 32* 69
2 Richard Gottfried MMGC GBR 43 44 87
3 Sean Homer KMGC GBR 40 48 88
4 Tony Kelly KMGC GBR 45 48 93
5 Bill Bullin LMGC GBR 49 52 101
6 Peter Parr LMGC GBR 54 49 103
7 Paul Johnson MMGC GBR 56 50 106
8 Emily Gottfried MMGC GBR 49 60 109

British Masters 2010

21st March 2010

Jurassic Encounter Adventure Golf, New Malden

Determined to bounce back straight away, I turned my attention to this year's Masters which had changed location from Southend to New Malden.

I'm not a fan of the Southend course, too random, too cramped and impossible to get any practice done beforehand due to the busyness of the site. So things were already looking up in my books!



I went for some practice the week beforehand to work on the most aceable holes and the holes where potential disaster could be avoided with a sound line. Hole 16 was identified as both, a straight volcano hole but quite steep and a long second shot if gone for and misses, but I just couldn't find a line I felt 100% confident with...I decided to play for a safe 2 on the day.

I had looked to get some friends involved seeing as this event was now near the centre of London. I sent a rallying call out to the honorable members of the PGA (Pukka Golf Association). This was met with a mixed response (and mild abuse from one...) but four brave souls stepped up to the challenge with the temptation of being crowned Top Novice too much to resist. These were PGA multiple Major winner and current P-Tour Masters champ Matthew Humphrey, Rhys Grant, Nicholas Brown and Ou Rong. They had decided on a night out on the tiles the night before our 8am pick-up time...

After successful deployment of the group on the morning of the event, I managed a good few practice holes and felt like two rounds of sub-36 were achievable.

The course with it's anamatronic dinosaurs and gurgling fountains was actually quite hard to get many aces each round - I set a target of a 33 average to have a chance of winning.

Away we went...safe 2's, a dropped shot and two aces to salvage a 35 in Round One - the leader's got 33. Rhys was leading the others on 38 (tied 3rd Novice), Matt 39, Ou 42 and Nick 44 - all to play for.



Round Two - another solid round with two dropped shots and three aces this time, with two clutch putts on the 17th and 18th to finish on another 35 - Tied 5th place with UK No.1 Chris 'Who' Harding. Andy Exall won the event with rounds of 34 & 32 (new course record). If only I had tried for the Ace on the 16th Volcano like Andy, if successful I would have possibly scored an average of 34 - Tied 2nd. Yet another lesson learnt - look for the aces and go for it! That's the difference between a good player and a top player. So you know what to expect from me in future!



Rhys fell away from the Novice prize with a 39 - 20th Place (5th Novice).
Matt with a 39 as well - 22nd Place (6th Novice).
Ou with a 39 too - 26th Place (7th Novice).
Nick with a better 43 - 33rd Place (12th Novice).

The cash prizes were handed out and the guys missed out on the top three Novice places but Matt managed 7 Aces winning him the Masters Aces Prize of £25! Git...



Rank Name R1 R2 Average Diff Tot
1 Andy EXALL 34 32* 33.0 2 66
2 Nick CHITTY 33 35 34.0 2 68
3 Michael SMITH (novice) 33 36 34.5 3 69
4 Brad SHEPHERD 36 33 34.5 3 69
5 Marc 'The Force' CHAPMAN 35 35 35.0 0 70
5 Chris HARDING 35 35 35.0 0 70
5 Richard SKEGGS (novice) 35 35 35.0 0 70
8 Scott LANCLEY 37 34 35.5 3 71
8 Steve GOW 35 36 35.5 1 71
8 Jo WILLIAMSON 35 36 35.5 1 71

English Open 2010

28th February 2010

Jungle Rumble, Bristol

After a good day's practice I felt confident of another strong showing at the English Open this year.

The first round was on the easier of the two courses at Cabot Circus but I started with a terrible run of three 3's with nothing seeming to drop. Finishing with a 40 ended any chances of being in contention - a massive blow.

With nothing to lose I tackled the harder course with a 31 & 32 to finish...still without the 50/50's dropping. A lot was learnt and I was pleased with my composure over the final two rounds to finish a very respectable 10th place.

Rank Start no Name R1 R2 R3 Average Diff Tot

1 134 Chris HARDING 28 29 31 29.3 3 88
2 105 Michael SMITH (Novice) 34 32 31 32.3 3 97
3 128 John MOORE 35 33 29 32.3 6 97
4 109 Sean HOMER 31 34 32 32.3 3 97
5 135 Kevin MOSELEY 35 31 31 32.3 4 97
6 110 Nick CHITTY 29 36 34 33.0 7 99
7 120 Richard SKEGGS (Novice) 34 33 34 33.7 1 101
8 138 Seve KUKIELKA 35 33 33 33.7 2 101
10 102 Marc 'The Force' CHAPMAN 40 31 32 34.3 9 103

KMGC Swedish Felt Championship 2010

21st February 2010

Hither Green, London



A brand new Swedish Felt course designed, built and run by Nick Sandqvist was the venue of the first KMGC gathering in 2010.

The format was three rounds, one on easy mode and the other two on the hard mode - best score on each mode wins with the aim being - to set a KMGC & Course record.

This is the only indoor Swedish Felt course in the UK. These types of courses are most commonly found in Scandanavian countries and are used in major WMF events (World / European Championships). So this makes it a very welcome addition to the circuit for the players looking to compete abroad at some point.

The course is the most technically demanding that I have ever played and the scores reflect this.

Easy:

Tony - 39
Scott - 40
Marc - 43
Adam - 49
Andy - 49
Sean - 51
Marion - 57

Hard:

Marion - 66
Scott - 53
Adam - 52
Tony - 48
Marc - 46
Andy - 44

And the winner, with a new course record:

Sean - 39