British Open 2009

19th/20th September 2009

The British Open held at Strokes Adventure Golf, Margate was the second major of the year. Another two day event - My aim was to qualify for the seventh round by making the top 18 players.
After six rounds I needed an Ace on the last hole to make the cut, which I made!
A strong finish left me as the 6th Placed British player.



Rank Start no Name R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 Average Diff Tot Par
1 125 Torgny Kjellström 35 32 32 32 31 36 34 33.1 5 232 -20
2 141 Johan Ahlander 36 34 33 35 39 31 31 34.1 8 239 -13
3 110 Björn Dinau 37 34 33 32 35 33 35 34.1 5 239 -13
4 118 Carl-Johan Spetz 32 39 34 32 34 35 34 34.3 7 240 -12
5 135 Tim Davies 35 36 34 34 33 32 36 34.3 4 240 -12
6 146 Peter Emmerson 33 35 34 36 33 37 36 34.9 4 244 -8
7 128 Pasi Aho 34 41 37 33 35 32 32 34.9 9 244 -8
8 112 Chris Harding 36 36 36 36 33 35 33 35.0 3 245 -7
17 127 Marc Chapman 39 38 36 35 40 39 35 37.4 5 262 +10

British Championship 2009

4th/5th July 2009

My first major in minigolf took place at the world famous Hastings Mini Course over an entire weekend. 4 rounds on Saturday and 3 on the Sunday. With 1000 ranking points on offer for the winner of each major, all the top players were present to test my skills against.

Rounds of 37, 38, 40 and 35 set me up for an assault up the leaderboard the following day. Sunday started well with another good 35 and 36. A final round of 39 put me in 7th Place on a score of 260 (+8). A morale boosting display which gave me confidence that I was not too far behind the leading minigolfers in the UK. More practice required...

Rank Start no Name R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 Average Diff Total
1 103 Keith Kellard 35 32 35 33 34 36 36 34.4 4 241
2 126 Tim Davies 37 34 36 36 35 34 35 35.3 3 247
3 116 Peter Emmerson 40 36 38 32 33 37 34 35.7 8 250
4 121 Jo Williamson 35 36 38 35 37 34 38 36.1 4 253
5 120 Nick Chitty 37 35 38 32 38 38 37 36.4 6 255
6 114 Brad Shepherd 40 38 35 35 40 35 34 36.7 6 257
7 107 Marc Chapman 37 38 40 35 35 36 39 37.1 5 260
8 102 Sean Homer 36 36 36 41 37 38 38 37.4 5 262

British Doubles 2009

14th June 2009



I teamed up with Anna to form 'The Stabbing Pains' in this Doubles event held at Boscombe. We came 4th after a 3rd place play-off loss and a truely epic quarter-final win on the 11th sudden death hole against TNT (Terry Exall & Tony Hughes) - Revenge so soon after the Smeeth Cup was sweet!

FINAL PLACINGS

1) JAM TEDAY (Jam Trubridge & Ted McIver) - £100
2) CASUAL FORCE (Sean Homer & Marion Homer) - £50
3) THE NORMAN CONQUESTS (Alan Norman & Gareth Holmes) - £30
4) THE STABBING PAINS (Marc Chapman & Anna Green) - £20

The Smeeth Cup 2009

17th May 2009



After being selected for the KMGC Team, battle commenced in Margate for the first Smeeth Cup against Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club (PHCGC).
I was paired for both the Fourballs and the Foursomes with Dave 'Four Strings' Forrest against Terry & Trevor Exall and we won both matches - 5&4 / 3&2.
In my singles match I was drawn against Terry Exall yet again and promptly lost 6&4! I lost the first few holes and then couldn't find enough aces to pull the match back in my favor.
KMGC eventually lost to PHCGC 6-11. A very sad day for all associated with Team Kent with all the players left scratching their heads and wondering what exactly went wrong?
Personally, I played very well on the whole but still needed to find some new ways to play a few of the Margate holes.

English Open 2009

10th May 2009

Having played at Wroxham Barns whilst on holiday in Norfolk the year before, I felt quietly confident of getting over my blip of mid-20 finishes.
Two good rounds put me in the top 8. Round 3 started well. All I had to do was get through the hardest hole on the course, I got a 7! With an Ace on 17 & 18 I minimised the damage with a 39 for 9th Place.



Pos Name R1 R2 R3 Average Diff Tot
1 Nick CHITTY 29 33 33 31.7 4 95
2 Chris HARDING 30 34 33 32.3 4 97
3 Brad SHEPHERD 34 33 37 34.7 4 104
4 Jon ANGEL 36 38 30 34.7 8 104
5 Peter EMMERSON 38 30 38 35.3 8 106
6 James TRUBRIDGE 37 39 30 35.3 9 106
7 Bill BULLIN 36 38 36 36.7 2 110
8 Jo WILLIAMSON 43 36 32 37 11 111
9 Marc CHAPMAN 38 35 39 37.3 4 112

BMGA Masters 2009

25th May 2009

My first event in Southend..didn't go very well! But this was the low point of my season - I had to get worse in order to get better...

POS NAME R1 R2 R3 R4 TOT AVE
1 JONES, Chris 17 17 18 20 72 18.00
2 EXALL, Andy 19 21 19 17 76 19.00
3 ANGEL, Jon 19 17 20 21 77 19.25
4 SHEPHERD, Brad 19 20 18 20 77 19.25
5 MOSELEY, Kevin 21 19 18 19 77 19.25
6 GOW, Steve 19 18 21 20 78 19.50
7 HARDING, Chris 18 18 20 22 78 19.50
8 HOMER, Sean 20 19 20 20 79 19.75
26 CHAPMAN, Marc 22 21 25 25 93 23.25

Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club Open 2009

28th March 2009

After a fairly long break the next event was in Hastings. It was the first time I had played at the Planet Hastings course but the damage was done on the mini course. I vowed to get the course learnt by the British Championships to be held there as it will be my last chance to play a competitive event there before the World Crazies.

Totals Adv Crazy Mini PH Total

1 Andy Exall 35 38 35 35 143
2 Peter Emmerson 36 32 36 45 149
3 Sean Homer 39 33 41 38 151
4 Olivia Prokopova 39 33 43 36 151
5= Brad Shepherd 43 34 37 39 153
5= Nick Chitty 39 37 39 38 153
7 Trevor Exall 43 35 40 36 154
8 Chris Harding 39 35 45 37 156
25 Marc Chapman 40 40 49 47 176

Star City Open 2009

18th January 2009


After hours of practice it was time for the first official BMGA event of the season on 18th January 2009. Two good rounds put me 5th going into the final round...a disappointing 39 left my in 13th overall but winning the Top Novice prize of a ball bag and some balls!

Results:

Rank Start no Name R1 R2 R3 Ave Diff Tot
1 128 Chris 'Who' HARDING 25 31 33 29.7 8 89
2 115 James 'Jam' TRUBRIDGE 32 34 32 32.7 2 98
3 134 Peter 'Empton' EMMERSON 27 35 38 33.3 11 100
4 103 Kevin MOSELEY 39 32 29 33.3 10 100
5 117 Ruth 'Plate Thrower' BULLIN 34 34 33 33.7 1 101
6 120 Jo 'Cupcake' WILLIAMSON 33 35 33 33.7 2 101
7 122 Rocky 'Harry Putter' BULLIN 32 36 33 33.7 4 101
8 129 Brad 'The Fist' SHEPHERD 35 33 34 34.0 2 102
13 139 Marc 'The Force' CHAPMAN 34 33 39 35.3 6 106

Full details here

Cup Cake Classic 2008

I was invited to join a group of Kent and Hastings minigolfers at the Hastings seafront courses for a post-Christmas friendly. Finally, my chance to test my skills against some seasoned Tour members!

Results:

1 Sean 'Freebird' Homer 36 38 37.00 74
2 Jo 'Cup Cake' Williamson * 38 37 37.50 75
3 Ted 'Bigtop' McIver 38 37 37.50 75
4 Nick 'Top Hole' Chitty ** 42 38 40.00 80
5 Dave '4 Strings' Forrest 39 41 40.00 80
6 Marc 'The Force' Chapman 37 48 42.50 85
7 Sue 'Duffy Moon' Forrest 39 47 43.00 86
8 Marion 'Double Trouble' Homer 45 44 44.50 89
9 Jennifer 'Twinkeltoes' Forrest 57 56 56.50 113

Getting started

So now I had set a goal for the year I started planning how I could achieve it..one problem though. The season had now ended and the weather closed in for the winter. This meant that most crazy golf courses had now closed and wouldn't be re-opening till the Easter holidays - a major problem. So I needed some help. I found the miniaturegolfer.com forum and posted a few messages introducing myself and trying to gain any information I could about open courses and practice over the off-season, with little hope of any positive response.

What a friendly bunch the forumites were! Not only was I informed that the Hastings seafront courses were open over the winter but also I had some offers of some practice on them - result! Through the forum I was also directed to contact Sean Homer at the Kent Minigolf Club about becoming a member, seeing as I was in Canterbury.

I also received some advice with equipment - what I'll need and where to buy from. I decided to order a specialist 'Ryner' minigolf putter and a starter set of balls from a Swedish firm called Nifo. A nice 'gift to self' in time for Christmas!