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Cameron Couper's blog« See all blogsnew in the world of mini golf competition, but fully commited ever since, trying to share the to the world the New Zealand mini golf world
2018 WAGM the year of the pirate 09 Jul 2018 at 11:23 | Posted in: General | Views: 2058 | Comments: 0
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So its taken me a while to get back in the groove of being home and finally having a moment to write down about the WAGM in the Czech Republic.
As with any of our ventures to a world mini golf tournament it began with a massive journey from the otherwise of the world. I met up with Bobby Hart at Auckland airport around midday to start the 17 hour flight to Doha and then on to Prague. This boring and normally uneventful trip almost had a sudden detour only 3 and a half hours into the flight. A Lady 2 rows behind us collapsed and the flight attendants spent a while trying to bring her around. Bobby and myself both through that we were about to be redirected to a close airport and stop the trip before it began. Thankfully her condition improved and trip continued.
We arrived into Prague around 7.30am on the Sunday and were picked up by Jitka one of the awesome hosts of the tournament. We spent no time really getting settled in, we dropped the bags at the....
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NZ Open weekend 15 Mar 2018 at 09:36 | Posted in: General | Views: 2213 | Comments: 0
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Its the week of the 2nd NZ mini golf Open, I’ve managed to hold on to my 3 days off from work even though we are a couple of people down and lots to do. I’ve got a couple of days practice planned for Wednesday and Thursday. I’m feeling confident on the safari course as we just played it the weekend before in the final Pro League event. The T-Rex Course is the one I want to nail down, you can get hot and score low but just as easily blow out like I did in the last round of the Trans Tasman team qualifying.
I decide to just play a couple of chilled practice rounds on Wednesday as there would be a lot of Mini golf coming in the next few days. Lucky for me the one and only Putter King, Mr Putt Putt down under Allan Cox is already in town practicing and I get to finally meet face to face and get a couple of rounds in with him. Later that night I do an airport run to pick up my now good friend David Maiolo from Australia who I got to spend all my time with while in Croatia at the....
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the end of the season. 06 Mar 2018 at 22:50 | Posted in: General | Views: 2221 | Comments: 0
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First blog of the year, we have had a few months off since November, and I missed our first event in February so I’ve been a little slow on the motivation to get the year started.
So one event left in our first season of the NZ Mini Golf pro league, its a great warm up to the following weekend which is our 2nd ever NZ mini Golf open, being on the same course (or at least one of them) any competitive putting on the course will be a great lead in.
The plan for the day is shaping up to be a massive day, the last event isn’t starting until 2.30pm however first before we get into it we are having a qualifying for a pre NZ open Trans Tasman Cup against the Australians. The Trans Was cup will only be a team of 4 to go up against the big brother and local enemy Australia in a Ryder Cup type format that will include singles, best ball and 4 ball matches.
9 of us line up around 10.30 to play for these 4 spots. We will play 4 rounds (2 rounds on each course) to....
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the last round of the year 19 Nov 2017 at 07:40 | Posted in: General | Views: 2566 | Comments: 0
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So its time for the last round of the NZMGF pro league for the year, we have no events for December and January as it is summer here in New Zealand and a lot of people get away to the beach over the Christmas and New year period. Its a time to finish the year on a strong note. With this round being at a local course I’ve had a chance to get out and play a few practice rounds. These are needed as the course is a mix of easy lanes for aces and lanes that you either get a lucky break and kick for an ace all the way to lane 16 that is impossible to ace, even the great Allan Cox of puttputtdownunder fame hasn’t been able master.
I aim to get down to the course around 11am to be able to a little practice in and set up the laptop for scoring. I’m going to have a little play with the Bangolf Arena software for the scoring, just another way to make it easier for people to see where they sit after each round. The weather isn’t looking great and its supposed to rain in the....
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local conditions, familiar faces 23 Oct 2017 at 01:34 | Posted in: General | Views: 2421 | Comments: 0
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Its time for round seven of the NZ mini golf pro league, time to get back into a little competition play 3 weeks after getting back from Croatia. this seven round is in Mt Maunganui which is a 2 hour drive out of Auckland, I actually had a free weekend the week after I got back into New Zealand just to get a feel for the course. Its a small scale version of a proper Adventure course, some short holes and a feel longer curved holes where at times you have to just tap a short put to put yourself in position to be able to have a line to the hole.
I got up Saturday morning early with the intent to leave the house around 6.30am, but with a few drinks the night before with flatmates and a hybrid game of beer pong that was a little more like whiskey pong I was a little slower this morning.
I hit the road just after 7 and with a short stop for gas, a snack and a much needed coffee I was on my way. Being a long weekend in New Zealand I was hoping to avoid any traffic....
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my world champs, Croatia 2017 29 Sep 2017 at 06:52 | Posted in: General | Views: 2267 | Comments: 0
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So its Wednesday the 13th of September, the day after the adventure masters, the morning after the closing ceremony. Its now time to change my focus from the adventure golf which I am used to, to the unknown world of felt and eternit.
This is what I’ve been preparing for with all the youtube videos and research I’ve been doing for the last 3 months.
I venture out on the felt for the first time and after a couple of putts I’m surprised on the speed of the surface, but also feel a little comfortable as it reminds me a of a regular golf green that I’m used to, good weight and slight breaks from right to left. The ball selection I brought with me is okay but it know I’m going to need more (which I end up spending a couple hundred euro on by the time the tournament is complete). Luckily I don’t have to work blind, Will Donnelly from the Great Britain team has stayed on from the adventure masters and has also played on these surfaces before, we work through some....
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World Adventure Water golf masters 16 Sep 2017 at 11:17 | Posted in: General | Views: 2267 | Comments: 0
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Wednesday morning 11am, the uber was booked and suitcase and putter ready to go, this was the start of my 27 hour journey to the other side of the world. I really wasn’t looking for to the longest commercial flight between Auckland and Doha, and being one that does not sleep well on planes this was going to be a nightmare. I found they had all 8 fast and the furious movies in the entertainment system and decided that I would work my way through them all. By the time I landed in Doha I’d had 5 hours sleep and watched 7 and a half movies of Vin Diesel mumbling away. The next leg to Zagreb was a 5 hour flight which after 17 hours seemed like a short bus ride. Once on the ground in Croatia I still had a 3 hour drive ahead of me.
I made it to Croatia, my suitcase made it, however my putter missed the connection in Doha. My plans for hitting the course once in Zaton were now in the air, but thanks to Jon Drexler the USA team coach who had a spare putter on had that was....
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into the unknown - Croatia 2017 03 Sep 2017 at 07:15 | Posted in: General | Views: 3987 | Comments: 2
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So its Sunday afternoon the 3rd of September and only 3 days until i start the 24 hours of flying and a 3 hour drive journey to get me from Auckland, New Zealand to Zaton, Croatia, possibly the exact opposite side of the world.
i have no idea what to expect once I arrive in Croatia, this is by far the biggest adventure that I think I am embarking on. It has been a whirlwind few months and its now as real as it gets. I managed to get out for one last practice session yesterday afternoon and in typical Auckland fashion there were 4 seasons in one day, 3 rounds in the warm sun and the last in cold rain which made me really look forward to the warmth of the Croatian late summer.
I feel that I’m as prepared as I can be considering we don’t have the types of courses that we will be playing on in Croatia especially for the general class world champs. The WAGM hopefully will be a little more like home. The practice sessions have been spread over just playing....
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Round 5 - Hamilton the city of the future 13 Aug 2017 at 08:19 | Posted in: General | Views: 2473 | Comments: 0
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This weekend was round 5 of the NZ minigolf Pro League in Hamilton. Hamilton for a while had a slogan of “the city of the future”. its a nice place but maybe not the city of the future nice, but being from Auckland just an hour up the road we like to give them a little dig once in a while.
After a long Friday at work Saturday couldn’t come around fast enough, and seeing a live Facebook update during Friday from Bobby Hart while he was down in Hamilton logging in the practice rounds made me a little jealous.
Saturday started early’ish for a Saturday, but being that its just an hour drive to Hamilton I did have a small sleep in. I Hit the road just after 8.30am, but with out breakfast or a coffee so that was going to be my first stop once arriving in Hamilton.
After finding a half decent coffee and some berry pancakes it was time to hit the course at pro drive and log a few practice rounds of my own and master some of the lines and shots that I....
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