This week we came across a nice little quiz on clickondetroit.com that tested our knowledge of minigolf’s history and organisations. We got 9 out of 10 but we blog about this all the time so maybe it wasn’t fair. Why not head over to take the quiz and come back for a walk through the 10 questions? Here’s the original quiz.
How did you do? Tell us on Twitter. If you got 10/10, read no further. You are awesome. Go forth and play crazy golf. 9/10 and under, read on (or go forth and play crazy golf – the weather is great today!) Answers are at the bottom – no cheating!
https://youtu.be/0N1IZX3S_e8
Interestingly, somebody has tracked down the course used in the film and as far as we know it is still there (correct us if that’s wrong.)
If you got 8 or more right, you are a minigolf anorak and can be proud.
9 or 10 … we are not worthy.
6 or 7 … Not quite an anorak. More of a kagoule.
Less than 5 … have you been paying attention at all? If it’s because you’ve been out putting, we’re fine with that.
Answers
- In the Macaulay Culkin/Ted Danson film Getting Even With Dad, what is the prize if Danson’s character wins? Why, the location of the stolen coins, of course. Here’s a grainy clip from the film.
- The World Minigolf Federation is headquartered in which city? Why, Gothenburg, of course.
- In 2008, David Pfefferle entered the Guinness Book of World Records for the most mini golf holes played in 24 hours. How many did he play? An astonishing 4,729. That’s a rate of play of 3.28 holes per minute! Pfefferle walked 55 miles in his 24 hour marathon in Ohio and raised £6,000 for charity.
- The WMF has how many registered members? We picked 40,000 which turned out to be right. One possible answer was 1,000,000. Maybe one day there will be that many.
- The US has 2 organisations that hold national tournaments: true or false? True! They are the Professional Putters Association and the US Pro Mini-Golf Association.
- By the late 1920s, there were 150 rooftop minigolf courses in this city. Easy: New York. When Thomas McCulloch Fairbairn invented a playing surface specially for mini golf – a mixture of cottonseed hulls, said, oil and dye – it became possible to apply a puttable surface almost anywhere. Smooth when trodden down, good for putting and colourful, the new surface was enthusiastically applied to rooftops across the city during the crazy golf boom of the 1920s.
- Which former Beatle played mini golf in the 1973 film That’ll Be The Day? It was of course Ringo Starr (To our eternal shame this is the one we got wrong! We thought it was George Harrison for some reason.) And here’s proof (see below): Ringo and David Essex mooching around next to the crazy golf course in a clip from the film.
- The first documented minigolf competition took place in 1930 at which location? Why, Chattanooga, Tennessee of course. It was at Garnet Carter’s Fairyland Inn on Lookout Mountain and was the foundation for his 1920s Tom Thumb Golf empire.
- In the 2017 world player rankings, every female and male player ranked in their respective top-50 lists was from this continent. Why, Europe of course. Here are the 2017 rankings.
- True or false: Joseph and Robert Taylor of Binghamton, New York are credited for building the first set of minigolf courses with obstacles. It’s … true. The brothers were responsible for introducing the windmill to miniature golf. Before their castles, wishing wells and windmills, mini golf courses had banks, curves and hillocks, but not these kitschy objects.
