01 Oct 2008 at 11:20 | Published by: JJM | Views: 9111 | News search

While Europeans are playing minigolf tournaments mainly among themselves, and Americans among themselves, there is minigolf also on other continents... including Africa.

Sea Lodge Hotel in Diani Beach, southern Kenya, offers a replica of official eternite courses, made of beton and spiced up with some fresh local ideas. Such as a mirror-image of the Flash lane.

photo by Richard Penfound

Golfitek park in downtown Tel Aviv, Israel, offers two minigolf courses: a felt course with fantasy obstacles, and an official eternite course — covered with felt carpet. (Also in Europe some eternite courses are covered with felt carpet, perhaps seeking a more pleasant and smooth roll for the ball, or then trying to hide cracks in broken plates of old lanes.)

photo by miniaturegolfer.com

Swedish City-Golf company has sold several felt courses to Egyptian tourist resorts. But the most serious efforts to promote minigolf as a sport in this part of the world are probably made in Nigeria at the moment. Moses Gilala of Nigeria would have become the first African of all time in WMF or EMF competitions, had he not cancelled his trip to Tampere 2008 at last minute.

Nigeria is blessed with some minigolf courses of good quality, including official eternite courses — but most of them are reserved for exclusive use of hotel guests, family members or other limited groups. For majority of the 148 million people of Nigeria, minigolf still remains an unknown and inaccessible game.

photos by Moses Gilala

While the economical resources of minigolf are concentrated in Europe and America, no one knows how great talents the other continents could possibly offer to the sport. Until now, European and American minigolf federations have not had the money or motivation to face even each other in serious competition, with the best possible teams.

Minigolf will certainly be growing in Africa, with or without active cooperation with Europeans or Americans. Will the game be developed in European style, American style, or perhaps a unique African style, remains yet to be seen...

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