Top 10 nations on four playing systems
22 Oct 2007 at 22:54 | Published by: JJM | Views: 8185 | News search
Playing system makes a difference in international competitions:
each country performs best on course types that are most
common in the country.
Sweden plays awe-inspiring scores on felt courses,
while Germany has been controlling beton competitions.
On eternite the competition has been tight between several
countries.
Eternite and Open System courses create very small score differences
between players, while the greatest score differences are seen on
felt courses. Quite good players may lose 10 points per round to the winner
of a felt competition.
Below are listed the ten best countries on each playing system.
The statistics are based on the results of men’s team competition
in Canegrate 2007, Geldrop 2006, Bad Münder 2003 and Vaasa 2001.
Eternite (2006-07):
01. 21.54 SWE
02. 21.67 GER
03. 22.23 SUI
04. 22.46 AUT
05. 22.65 ITA
06. 23.17 CZE
07. 23.33 NED
08. 23.33 FIN
09. 23.88 BEL
10. 25.63 DEN
|
Beton (2006-07):
01. 27.63 GER
02. 28.02 SWE
03. 28.29 AUT
04. 28.40 ITA
05. 28.52 SUI
06. 29.19 NED
07. 30.73 FIN
08. 31.04 BEL
09. 31.29 CZE
10. 31.42 HUN
|
Felt (2001-03):
01. 29.25 SWE
02. 31.31 GER
03. 31.92 AUT
04. 33.03 SUI
05. 34.03 FIN
06. 34.53 CZE
07. 35.08 NED
08. 36.22 DEN
09. 37.61 BEL
10. 37.72 ITA
|
Open System (*):
01. 32.49 USA
02. 32.55 SWE
03. 32.88 GER
04. 33.14 AUT
05. 33.40 SUI
06. 33.95 NED
07. 34.05 FIN
08. 34.26 CZE
09. 34.32 ITA
10. 34.71 DEN
|
* The statistics for Open System are more fiction than fact,
as these countries have never played against each
other on Open System courses. United States was ranked on
top position because of strong performances in
US Masters and US Open competitions. The data of other countries
is a scaled average of felt and beton scores.
These statistics only include countries that had a full men’s
team in the years covered by the statistics.
The secret superpower of minigolf: USA
In World Championships on eternite and beton, players of United States have been
inside top 100 of men’s competition only once in history — in Studen 1997, when the competition
had less than 100 players. Elmer Lawson reached 92th rank among the 96 competitors.
Americans have done a bit better on combination of felt and eternite: in Vaasa 2001
United States had 5 players inside top 100, Bobby Ward leading the crew with
his 65th placing, the best rank of all time for an American player in World Championships.
However, don’t let these statistics mislead you to believe that Americans are
easy to beat in minigolf. They are not, when the competition is played on Open System courses.
European players are in big trouble against Americans in yearly tournaments
like US Open or US Masters. The only European players to ever win
these competitions are Anders Olsson and Hans Olofsson of Sweden — both of them are
medalists also in WMF major tournaments. The very best talents of European minigolf
have a hard time when competing against top-class Americans on Open System courses.
Germany and Sweden are usually the two biggest favourites in competitions played on eternite,
beton or felt. But on Open System courses there is a third superpower, quite unknown to
many minigolf fans: United States.
These guys may not know much about special balls warmed in socks: they play with
authentic golf balls only. Most of them use a steel putter without a rubber in the club-head.
No chalked walls to play from — there’s just the man, the putter, and the ball
rolling into the hole with perfect force, dead center.
» Daniel McCaslin, US Masters winner 2007, 2003 & 2001
» Rainey Statum, 2nd in US Masters 2007
» Jay Klapper, 3rd in US Masters and US Open 2007
» Greg Newport, US Open winner 2007
|