The Putterfingers mini golf team are feeling inspired for our next tournament, the BMGA British Championship & Singles Matchplay 2021 at Strokes Adventure Golf in Margate. But why, you might ask, after our less-than-inspiring performance at the World Crazies in Hastings? The reason is our potential secret weapon: Jon Clarke. John’s mild-mannered exterior hides a sharp and deadly mini golf brain, and he is making progress with his putting that could pave the way for future success in the game.
The mini golf world does not have talent scouts as they do in football. Rarely if ever do you see men in trench coats loitering by mini golf courses, observing players through binoculars and taking down notes. Or if you do there is always an explanation that has nothing to do with mini golf and should probably be reported to the local constabulary.
But if there were talent scouts in mini golf, they would all have had their optics firmly focused on a certain Jon Clarke as he made his way round the Arnold Palmer course at Hastings three weekends ago. Because here was a man who had never before wielded a putter in anger, yet was cheerfully knocking in threes, twos and ones as if he had always been doing it. The rest of the team were pootling round the tournament with 4s, 5s and 7s wearing embarrassed looks, as complete novices do. But not Jon. He had the knack.
By our calculations, if this rate of progress was to continue then Jon would reach World Champion standard by about lunchtime next Tuesday. So, with our hopes pinned on our one and only mini golf prodigy we will soon be packing our putters and boarding the Putterfingers.com van for a trip to Margate for our third tournament.
BMGA British Championship & Singles Matchplay 2021 will be played at Strokes Adventure Golf. Established in 2005, Strokes is an outdoor mini golf course situated at the beautiful Westbrook Bay in Margate. With no team competition and all of us playing as individuals, we will thrust Jon into the limelight as our only real hope of a Putterfingers.com player getting past the halfway mark on the leader board.
In other news, team member David Hill is delighted to have bought a club-mounted ball picker upper. “After multiple 18-hole rounds, bending down to get your ball out of the hole plays merry hell with your back if you are of a portly disposition like myself”, said Hill. “If you are not very bendy in the middle or over 45 or just lazy, or all three of those things, then I do recommend getting one of these.” (Putterfingers stock the Golf Butler at £3.30 including VAT)
With excitement mounting over Team Putterfingers.com’s third foray into the world of major mini golf tournaments, it is gems of wisdom like Hill’s that the team need to gather as many of as they can in order to become better players.
