Talk:Miniature golf

Abbreviation	WMF
Formation	1993
Type	Sports federation
Headquarters	Bern, Switzerland
Membership	40 to 63 (March 2025)
Website	http://www.minigolfsport.com/

Types

https://gov.minigolfsport.com/about-minigolf/basics

There are four types of tournament Minigolf courses recognised by the WMF:

   Miniaturegolf
   Feltgolf
   Concrete
   Minigolf Open Standard (MOS).

History of WMF

The sport of miniature golf is governed internationally by the World Minigolf Sport Federation (WMF), headquartered in Göteborg, Sweden. The WMF was a member of Global Association of International Sports Federations,^[1] before its dissolution, and within it, of the Alliance of Independent Recognized Members of Sport (AIMS).^[2] WMF is also member of The Association for International Sport for All (TAFISA).^[3]

Track golf developed, at a competitive level, quite rapidly in the countries of central and northern Europe starting from the mid-fifties: the costs were low and the game was played with only a golf ball (European Championship of 1959). Then, in the European Championship of 1961, an Italian team signed up (Miglietti was there and there was no obligation to join any Federation) and showed up with two balls that were not "golf balls", but lacquered balls that were later used as an experiment by Willy Korn who built a machine in 1963 to lacquer the rough balls arriving from Japan. Later (1965) the balls treated with acetone and the "plastics" arrived. With the manufacture of soft balls by N. Wagner of Ingolstadt there was a notable leap in quality and "bounce". Demand increased rapidly and supply improved all sports equipment by providing new clubs (putter in English and schläger in German), ball bags and increasingly sophisticated balls that continued to diversify in terms of weight, hardness and bounce, making more than 20,000 different models available to players that progressively improved performance on the course.

In the meantime, at the federal level, 2 different international federations had been established: one for minigolf and one for miniaturgolf. With the unification of the two federations, cobigolf, sterngolf and filzgolf also entered the specialties of the International European federation I.B.G.V. (Internationale Bahnen Golf Verband).

Minigolf courses flourished in Austria in the 1950s. In 1962, the Austrian Minigolf Association (ÖMSV) was founded, followed the following year by the Miniature Golf Sports Federation. The first miniature golf tournaments were also held that year.

In 1976, the Austrian Minigolf Association (ÖBGV) governed the sport, but since 1980, a parallel federation, the International Minigolf Federation (IBVG), has existed.

In 1993, the IBGV became the World Minigolf Federation (WMF). Since then, new representatives from the continent, such as the United States and Japan, have been integrated into the WMF.

It organizes World Championships for youth and elite players, and Continental Championships in Europe, Asia and the United States, held in alternate years.

The WMF organizes World Championships, which take place every two years, and World Junior/European Open Championships, each held annually.

Minigolf was a demonstration sport at the 1989 World Games in Karlsruhe.

fr

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration_mondiale_de_minigolf

Types de parcours

Quatre types de parcours de minigolf[3], tous de dix-huit ou vingt-huit trous, sont reconnus par la WMF :

   Golf miniature : les parcours de minigolf les plus courants au monde sont les terrains de mini-golf homologués. Ces cours sont principalement construits en utilisant du fibrociment. Ces parcours nécessitent moins d’espace - un parcours complet de 18 trous pourrait être construit sur 600 à 800 m2.
   Feltgolf[4] : très présent en Suède et en Finlande, la surface est en feutre et les bordures sont en bois. Ce type de parcours peut être assez difficile car certains trous sont beaucoup plus longs que les trous de minigolf.
   Béton : ce type se trouve principalement en Suisse, en Autriche et dans le sud de l'Allemagne. Il n'y a que 18 types d'obstacles et ceux-ci ont le même numéro sur chaque parcours.
   Minigolf Open Standard : les parcours Minigolf Open Standard sont ceux construits avec une surface de gazon artificiel et sont les plus communs en Amérique du Nord et en Grande-Bretagne. Les cours sont également connus sous le nom de Adventure Golf et Crazy Golf.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ollia322 (talk • contribs) 04:56, 28 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

it

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minigolf

Da gioco a sport

Il Golf su Pista si sviluppò, a livello agonistico, abbastanza rapidamente nei paesi del centro nord Europa a partire dalla metà degli anni cinquanta: i costi erano ridotti e si giocava con la sola pallina da golf (Campionato Europeo del 1959). Poi, nel Campionato Europeo del 1961,[5] si iscrisse una squadra italiana (c'era Miglietti e non c'era l'obbligo di tesseramento ad alcuna Federazione) che si presentò con due palline che non erano "da golf", ma palline laccate che in seguito furono usate come esperimento da Willy Korn che costruì nel 1963 una macchina per laccare le palline ruvide arrivate dal Giappone. In seguito (1965) arrivarono le palline trattate con l'acetone e le "plastiche". Con la fabbricazione delle palle morbide da parte di N. Wagner di Ingolstadt ci fu un notevole salto di qualità e di "rimbalzo". Aumentò rapidamente la richiesta e l'offerta migliorò tutte le attrezzature sportive fornendo nuovi bastoni (putter in inglese e schläger in tedesco), le borse per le palline e le sempre più sofisticate palline che continuavano a diversificarsi in fatto di peso, durezza e rimbalzo, mettendo a disposizione dei giocatori più di 20.000 diversi esemplari che migliorarono progressivamente le prestazioni sul campo.

Intanto a livello federale erano state costituite 2 differenti federazioni internazionali: una per il minigolf e una per il miniaturgolf. Con l'unificazione delle due federazioni, anche cobigolf, sterngolf e filzgolf entrarono tra le specialità della federazione europea internazionale I.B.G.V. (Internationale Bahnen Golf Verband):

   Minigolf (specialità n. 1), conosciuto a livello federale come Sistema Bongni: 17 buche standard in cemento armato lunghe 12,00 m e larghe 1,25 m e piazzole del diametro di 2,00 m, mentre una sola (la 7) è lunga 18,00 m avente piazzola della buca del diametro di 5,00 m;
   Miniaturgolf (specialità n. 2), sistema creato in Germania composto da 27 piste omologate della lunghezza di 6,25 m, larghe 0,90 m e piazzole del diametro di 1,40 m costituite da una impalcatura prefabbricata non calpestabile su cui sono montati gli ostacoli. I percorsi sono composti da 18 buche con la possibilità di scegliere l'ordine delle piste (cosa non possibile col sistema bongni) e scartare 9 piste delle 27 disponibili;
   Cobigolf (specialità n. 3), 18 piste in cemento armato di dimensioni ridotte rispetto al "Bongni" (l'80%) molto comuni in Germania;
   Sterngolf (specialità n. 4), 18 piste in cemento armato di dimensioni ridotte rispetto al "Bongni" (l'80%) il cui disegno richiama in alcuni casi quelle della specialità 1, con le debite varianti. Caratteristica peculiare, da cui deriva il nome della specialità, è la diciottesima buca che ha la piazzuola di arrivo a forma di stella ("stern" in tedesco) e la buca, posta al centro alla sommità di un vulcano.
   Filzgolf (specialità n. 5), comunemente conosciuto in Germania col nome Kleingolf (dal tedesco klein, piccolo), 18 piste con una base in cemento e impalcatura in legno massiccio coperto da un tipo di moquette in feltro molto rasa ma di notevole attrito, non calpestabile, sono molto comuni in Scandinavia.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ollia322 (talk • contribs) 04:48, 28 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Track golf developed, at a competitive level, quite rapidly in the countries of central and northern Europe starting from the mid-fifties: the costs were low and the game was played with only a golf ball (European Championship of 1959). Then, in the European Championship of 1961,[5] an Italian team signed up (Miglietti was there and there was no obligation to join any Federation) and showed up with two balls that were not "golf balls", but lacquered balls that were later used as an experiment by Willy Korn who built a machine in 1963 to lacquer the rough balls arriving from Japan. Later (1965) the balls treated with acetone and the "plastics" arrived. With the manufacture of soft balls by N. Wagner of Ingolstadt there was a notable leap in quality and "bounce". Demand increased rapidly and supply improved all sports equipment by providing new clubs (putter in English and schläger in German), ball bags and increasingly sophisticated balls that continued to diversify in terms of weight, hardness and bounce, making more than 20,000 different models available to players that progressively improved performance on the course.

In the meantime, at the federal level, 2 different international federations had been established: one for minigolf and one for miniaturgolf. With the unification of the two federations, cobigolf, sterngolf and filzgolf also entered the specialties of the international European federation I.B.G.V. (Internationale Bahnen Golf Verband):

Useful Links

A Couple of Putts - Miniature Golf Course review site, including a number of temporary and artist-designed courses
World records in minigolf
WMF - World Minigolfsport Federation (WMF)
EMF - European Minigolfsport Federation (EMF)
Minigolfnews - The world's leading Minigolf Related News site
Champions and Hall of Fame Members of the Pro Putters Association and Amateur Putters Association
The Artistic History of Miniature Golf
History of miniature golf
The Putting Penguin - Miniature Golf Course review site, with courses from around the world
British Minigolf Association - British Minigolf Association
World adventure golf masters 2012 result — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ollia322 (talk • contribs) 14:50, 27 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Other:

https://wc2019.minigolfsport.com/

https://gov.minigolfsport.com/calendar/i-2-26jiurlptentg0q9ccc6gpcm51_20250419 - 58. Internationale Osterturnier - 38. Ernst Strauß-Gedächtnisturnier

https://newsarchiv.minigolfsport.com/

http://minigolfcompany.com/archiv/2006/rotgold-waldkloster-mc-1.html

https://gov.minigolfsport.com/bulletin/other-minigolf-news

http://www.minigolfnews.com/

https://gov.minigolfsport.com/

https://gov.minigolfsport.com/images/news/WMF%20Social%20Media%20Protection%20Guidelines.pdf

https://wc2019.minigolfsport.com/world-championships-2019/news-world-championships

https://wc2019.minigolfsport.com/results-world-championships

https://www.olympic.ir/en/news/31770/Minigolf-Media-Cup-Held

http://www.europeanminigolfsport.com/

https://gov.minigolfsport.com/events/international-championships — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ollia322 (talk • contribs) 15:01, 27 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Comments

Officially recognized by whom? -Etoile 13:14, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Indeed. Also the article reads as U.S.-centric. (For all I know the history of miniature golf may be U.S.-centric, but the point is that the way it's currently written you can't tell whether this is an objective fact or just author bias.) —Blotwell 07:27, 8 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Miniature golf is much more competitive in Europe, and focuses more on golf-like hazards, while American miniature golf tends to be more family-oriented with kookier obstacles. European miniature golf is an area this article could easily elaborate on. Kahar5 02:41, 23 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There are lots of miniature golfs in Canada as well, and fairly important sports TV coverage. Hugo Dufort 03:35, 24 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Putt-Putt

It should really have it's own article. It is not the exact same as mini golf, since putt putt has all par 2 holes and does not have "trick elements" like windmills. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.18.243.181 (talk • contribs)

Varieties

Five varieties of mini-golf are mentioned, but only two are named. What are the other three? I would tell you but my last edit was removed. Cobi, Stern & Star golf. And what of Swedish Felt Run Crazygolfer 06:59, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

US bias

Some years ago I did some editing on this page, goodness knows what my user name was. Then, most of the information was from MARGOLIES, John (Photographer), GARFINKEL, Nina, REIDELBACH, Maria. Miniature Golf (October 1987 Abbeville Press.) It doesn't seem to be cited any longer, I can only assume she wrote the original contribution. It did have other UK/European content. Now the page seems to entirely focus on the US, with ads for Putt-Putt and the USPMGA. The information on the WMF is inaccurate. My website http://www.miniaturegolfer.com has for some reason been removed. I today tried to add it back in and was accused of 'vandalism'. Today, I've also added the British Minigolf Association website, being an Executive Committee member perhaps I'll be accused of 'vandalism' once more. I'm very disappointed with the North American bias, I can only hope this isn't true of the whole of Wikipedia.Crazygolfer 09:09, 2 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

There is a World Crazy Golf Championship held in England (2003-2006) it is sanctioned by the British MiniGolf Association and the World Minigolf Sport Federation. This is held on an Arnold Palmer type course and another course which could be classed as an adventure style course.

Terminology

Perhaps some mention could be made of this? Here in the UK "crazy golf" is by some distance the most usual term, whereas it seems that "miniature golf" or "mini-golf" predominates in the US. It might also be worth noting that those who in the UK call it "miniature golf" tend to be terribly unhappy when people call it "crazy golf" on the grounds that it somehow demeans a serious sport. Why this matters in the least I have no idea, but that's somewhat POV... :P 86.132.142.81 00:32, 12 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed - this article does not address the "crazy golf" terminology at all.

What I always believed was that, whereas "mini golf" merely includes a miniature playing field with various barriers, "crazy golf" includes interesting and amusing features, such as windmills and loop-the-loops. This article does not mention these things at present. EuroSong ^talk 14:25, 30 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Links

I have a website with a large Mini Golf section. If you think it's appropriate to add to the list, it's here: http://www.agilitynut.com/minigolf/1.html

2008 updates British Open 2008 Mattias Ståhl of Sweden http://www.miniaturegolfer.com/bmga_bo_report_2008.html

Irish Open: Not played in 2008

Castle Golf World Crazy Golf Championships 2008 Tim ‘Ace Man’ Davies of Wales. http://www.miniaturegolfer.com/world_crazy_golf_championships_2008_results.html

Nutters with Putters, a book exclusively about crazy golf. http://www.nutterswithputters.com The tale of Tim ‘Ace Man’ Davies and John ‘Big Top Ted’ McIver’s rise to the top of the British Minigolf Association rankings. And a very interesting chapter on the history of crazy golf. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gentlemanminigolfer (talk • contribs) 11:37, 14 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

ADA compliance

I heard on the news that proposed amendments to the Americans with Disabilities Act may affect miniature golf courses. this needs to be researched. --24.218.8.95 (talk) 02:32, 30 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Could someone add a list of unique aspects to miniature golf that normal golf doesn't have?

Sometimes, mini-golf can actually be harder than normal golf. If nothing else, obstacles like extra holes exist in miniature golf courses that normal courses would do without. I would also like the section on the types of courses to be expanded to either link to the types of materials or describe each type right there. Will (Talk - contribs) 08:11, 2 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hybridized golf variants?

Where I grew up, there was a hybridized form of Football and Wrestling we called Flashball (basically the ball had to be down till the count of ten, or else it was "in motion" and was fair game, and could be wrestled for. Players didn't line up for a 'hike' until the football was down till the count of ten. (That's why the game had to have a referee.)

Is there, or has there ever been, a similar variant of golf, where players could run with the ball, and not just hit it with a club? And has there been a version that permitted wrestling? It may sound like I am just kidding, but there really is a version of Football called Flashball (complete with dogpiles and mass wrestling), so maybe there is something similar for Golf? 216.99.198.139 (talk) 08:15, 2 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Well, there is golf with body-checking in a Peanuts cartoon. 91.107.164.75 (talk) 22:15, 2 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This is starting to sound like a Rodney Dangerfield movie. – AndyFielding (talk) 14:24, 20 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Rules

There doesn't seem to be much here about the rules of miniature golf. For instance, what happens if the ball flies off the green, or even lands in a hole other than the one being played? (The latter once happened to me.) 91.107.164.75 (talk) 22:31, 2 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Rules vary from course to course. Most that I've seen specify a one-stroke penalty for replacing a ball that goes out of bounds. Powers ^T 01:08, 4 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Who's the editor of this page?

This page seems to have got progressively worse. It is totally out of date. Who's doing the research? Thank You Crazygolfer (talk) 07:33, 23 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

This is a wiki. If you see an error, please fix it. Powers ^T 20:11, 24 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's Wikipedia. The editors are... Anybody and Everybody. 192.54.250.11 (talk) 23:11, 20 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

The last sentence of the lead

"Miniature golf retains many of these characteristics but without the use of any props or obstacles, it is purely a mini version of its parent game."

As it stands, this makes no sense. Perhaps it was once worded differently, and a part was changed, rendering it meaningless? I'd simply delete it, but it does seem to be about something, just what that is I cannot tell. Huw Powell (talk) 14:57, 22 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 3 external links on Miniature golf. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add

Golf C‑class Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Golf, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Golf-related articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.GolfWikipedia:WikiProject GolfTemplate:WikiProject GolfGolf
C	This article has been given a rating which conflicts with the project-independent quality rating in the banner shell. Please resolve this conflict if possible.
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

{{cbignore}} after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add {{nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:

Attempted to fix sourcing for http://www.minigolfpics.com/html/courses_italy_vergiate.html
Attempted to fix sourcing for http://www.minigolfpics.com/html/courses_luxembourg_luxembourg.html
Added archive https://web.archive.org/20070620150016/http://www.minigolftraining.com/Results%20documents/2006%20USPMGA%20Master.doc to http://www.minigolftraining.com/Results%20documents/2006%20USPMGA%20Master.doc

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 07:40, 7 January 2016 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 2 external links on Miniature golf. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add {{cbignore}} after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add {{nobots|deny=InternetArchiveBot}} to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:

Attempted to fix sourcing for http://www.minigolfpics.com/html/courses_sweden_ornskoldsvik.html
Added archive https://web.archive.org/20111111100150/http://www.puttingedge.com/locations.htm to http://www.puttingedge.com/locations.htm

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—^{cyberbot II}_{Talk to my owner:Online} 18:57, 9 February 2016 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 6 external links on Miniature golf. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 03:21, 5 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 3 external links on Miniature golf. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 14:03, 14 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

^ btcom. "GAISF » Members". Retrieved April 25, 2023.
^ "Members – AIMS". Retrieved April 25, 2023.
^ "International Members | TAFISA". tafisa.org. Retrieved April 25, 2023.

[1] tcom. "GAISF » Members". Retrieved April 25, 2023.

[2] "Members – AIMS". Retrieved April 25, 2023.

[3] "International Members | TAFISA". tafisa.org. Retrieved April 25, 2023.

[1]

[2]

[3]