...is very different from what we "professional" minigolfers are used to. About the picture, my mistake, it is from Laughlin in Nevada, not Sedona.
I have always wanted to play through a windmill, now I am only looking for the Clown's mought also. Could be that I am in the right place. Right now sitting in a hotel room in Orlando, USA. I have about 15 Adventure golf courses around the corner. For example the Hawaiian Rumble, Orlando edition, with a 40 feet high volcano that spews out steam over the course.
Back to Laughlin, which I will not be going soon, and their tournament. The casino sets up a minigolf course with 9 holes in and out of the casino twice a year. About 150 people show up to play, scorekeepers on every hole, no practice allowed (security checks that nobody plays) changed course (more difficult) for day 2. They play a total of 18 holes, 9 + 9 over two days, you get unlimited food and drinks. People are dead drunk during the tourney, as I said, a bit different....
Some of the holes are really cool, one is a ramp into the hotel pool, where you should land the floating golf balls at the right place for an ace!
I have to share the story for the windmill.
There is a fairly strong break to the right (after all it is a parking lot....), the cards move all the time and when they pass at the bottom, the ball cannot go through. Behind on the "green" there are 3-5 wooden shoes around the hole (feels Dutch...).
First year, I really calculated, aimed and waited, and ended up hitting two aces, on the cards of the windmill unfortunately..... That hole cost me the win first year.
Back next year, same strategy, really take aim and perfect timing, no!!! that damned Ace of Hearts took the ball again. I took a 5 but got lucky on the last holes and also gambled away two shots on Black Jack and Craps (possible to deduct 1 shot per gamble on those two, takes place between hole 4 & 5). That gave med the lead by 4 or 5 shots after the first round and a really low score.
Second round started out horrible, I got stuck in the roulette wheel, jammed behind a rock (no relief, just putt it...) and also harrassed by 20 drunken and fat ugly Americans who didn't want me to win the tourney and all the cash.
After 4 holes my whole lead and some more was gone with the wind(mill....), but then it came, the most extreme ace I have ever made in minigolf. I didn't gamble on the BJ or Craps, losing even more was not an option, especially since I didn't really feel lucky that day. Came to the windmill and decided upon a new strategy, fuck the cards! I took my aim for the direction, then I closed my eyes, waited for like 10 seconds, glanced at my aim and just hit the shot furiously, and then closed my eyes again. After some time I realized I went through the windmill, but from the cheering (not all happy though...) I became aware that one of the first aces ever on the windmill was a fact. The ball had hit a wooden shoe and bounced of the wall and straight into the wall. Yeah baby!!
Anyway, real fun, but I broke the bank with this shot in 2007 (i.e. won too easy...) so I am not welcome back. Hmmmm, banned from minigolf for being too good, maybe we should discuss this with WMF now when CJ Ryner is back in the game for Denmark and WC 2009....;-)
With any luck moving pictures from Laughlin and the US Masters will be available later this year in an interesting format.
Cheers