Puttcast: Mini Golf, Holey Moley & All Things Putting

We are live (or we were at least)! Tom and Pat took to the virtual airwaves of Facebook live for this episode to chat about a slew of major events happening in June. They were joined by Team USA's own (and World Champion) Vanette Block who just landed from her trip to the World Adventure Golf Masters (WAGM) in Austria. They spent a lot of time discussing that tournament, the style of play and the comraderie these international events have. Vanette stays on to also chat with Tom about his trip to the World Crazy Golf Championship (Crazies), which we had previewed in the last episode with our guest Seve.

They take a short interlude to talk about the recent Odetah Mini Golf (OMG) Classic in Connecticut along with a special appearance by Pat as a whale. Then the team wraps the episode up talking about the World Putting League's third event happening in Myrtle Beach on June 26th. Finally, Tom fires his way through a bunch of other events, most of which he will be playing, in late June and early July including the AMA events the M.C. Mini Masters and Putter League Championship.

It's a long episode but with so many wonderful tournaments to talk about it is hard not to be excited and chatty about the summer in the minigolf world!

Key Points from the episode:

Find visuals and context for our conversations on social media on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Check out the American Minigolf Alliance (AMA) over on their website including the event page. Don't forget to become a member or renew for 2023!

You can find out more about the World Adventure Golf Masters (WAGM) - including results - on the tournament website or the WMF website. The WMF WAG Tour also has it's own website to follow along with the action.

Find the result from the World Crazy Golf Championships here.

To find out more information about the World Putting League and to watch the live stream of the event, visit their website.

For more information on the American Minigolf Partnership not-for-profit that Vanette mentioned, join their Facebook group.

Podcast Sponsors

Episode Guest: Vanette Block - you can hear more from her on her 54 Problems episode.

Episode Hosts: Tom (aka Mr. Tee) of A Couple of Putts I Pat of The Putting Penguin

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Our hosts get the episode rolling talking about the recent AMA tournament, the Looniest Open, which was organized by Tom's Couple of Putts and saw Pat with the pro division with the other half of A Couple of Putts Robin Schwartzman winning the amateur division. They linger on Minnesota minigolf for a bit before covering the World Adventure Golf Masters and the Finnish Adventure Golf Masters, which is the first stop on the WMF World Adventure Golf Tour.

The interupt their rundown of mini golf tournaments to have a chat with Seve Kukielka about the upcoming World Crazy Golf Championship in the UK in June. Then it's back to the states to talk Swedish dominance (again) at Popstroke, another year of the Odetah Mini Golf Classic and a quick plug for a chairty event Pat is involved with along with a reminder about the M.C. Mini Masters.

Key Points from the episode:

Find visuals and context for our conversations on social media on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Check out the American Minigolf Alliance (AMA) over on their website including the event page. Don't forget to become a member or renew for 2023!

You can find out more about the World Adventure Golf Masters (WAGM) on the tournament website or the WMF website. The WMF WAG Tour also has it's own website to follow along with the action.

You can find out more about the Odetah Mini Golf Classic and plenty other competitive and charity minigolfs events at The Squeaky Bagel.

Not to be forgotten, check out Pingvin for plenty of miniature golf needs over at their website.

Podcast Sponsors

Episode Guest: Seve Kukielka - you can find out more about Seve in his 54 Problems episode.

Episode Hosts: Tom (aka Mr. Tee) of A Couple of Putts I Pat of The Putting Penguin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is jam-packed with tournament talk from the jump! They kick it off with some 4/20 putting and digging into the 2nd World Putting League event which they teased on the previous episode. They stayed in Myrtle Beach to talk about the U.S. Open but then slid over to Texas to discuss the newest AMA event, the Texas Minigolf Championship. Pat then listened on with a little bit of minigolf jealousy as Tom talked about his recent trip to Sweden which concluded with him playing the first event of the 2023 CityGolf tour. Back in the States the guys previewed the upcoming Looniest Open, which they would both be playing in, and the next Popstroke event which they won't be in. It was a final look at a big money Putting World event before closing out the episode with some other odds and ends. Lots of variety in location and courses this time around!

Key Points from the episode:

Find visuals and context for our conversations on social media on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Check out the American Minigolf Alliance (AMA) over on their website including the event page. Don't forget to become a member or renew for 2023!

You can find information around the Southwest Putting Tour on their website.

You can find information on the World Putting League on their website as well as live scoring.

More information on the CityGolf Tour is on their website and there are some English sections.

Not to be forgotten, check out Pingvin for plenty of miniature golf needs over at their website.

Finally, if you want to support Team USA for the World Adventure Golf Masters in 2023, drop us a line at [email protected]

Podcast Sponsors

Episode Hosts: Tom (aka Mr. Tee) of A Couple of Putts I Pat of The Putting Penguin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Before talking about organizing, the guys recap many moving parts in the competitive putting world. They chatted briefly about the new WMF World Adventure Golf Tour, which you can find more about in their recent live broadcast. Sticking with some worldwide putting, they looked at the make-up of Team USA and threw down a fundraising challenge to the USPMGA. Later in the episode they'd talk about what they know, or don't know, about the upcoming World Putting League event on April 20th but before that it was some AMA talk with changing dates of one tournament and adding the Texas Minigolf Championship at Longview Greens to the slate for April.

With all the formalities out of the way, Tom & Pat opened up the floor to discuss many of the factors to consider when you're developing a miniature golf tournament. From picking the right course and format, to considerations around cost to play and prizes to pay out, to rules, registration and score keeping, they hit eveything they can think of that they have worked through over years of tournament organization.

Key Points from the episode:

Find visuals and context for our conversations on social media on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

You can check out our live conversation with Andrew Edmonds around the WMF World Adventure Golf Tour over on Facebook.

Check out the American Minigolf Alliance (AMA) over on their website including the event page for the 2023 schedule including the newly added Texas Minigolf Championships. Don't forget to become a member or renew for 2023!

You can find information around the Southwest Putting Tour on their website.

Finally, if you want to support Team USA for the World Adventure Golf Masters in 2023, drop us a line at [email protected]

Podcast Sponsors

Episode Hosts: Tom (aka Mr. Tee) of A Couple of Putts I Pat of The Putting Penguin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tom & Pat dive into some recent events to kick off the episode, looking at the World Putting League, the O-Street Winter Classic (an American Mini Golf Alliance event) and the Hastings Open. Then they are joined by Brock Gillespie to talk about the Major Series of Putting, the National Putting Tour and Putting World events. The discussion also covers PopStroke as well as the World Putting League, and touches on the entire ecosystem of major putting events and the future of that style of miniature golf tournaments. The discussion ends with some questions on where we might see Brock in a competitive miniature golf tournament in the future.

Key Points from the episode:

Find visuals and context for our conversations on social media on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Check out the American Minigolf Alliance (AMA) over on their website including the event page for the 2023 schedule. Don't forget to become a member or renew for 2023!

Podcast Sponsors

Episode Hosts: Tom (aka Mr. Tee) of A Couple of Putts I Pat of The Putting Penguin

Episode Guest

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our hosts kick start the episode by recapping the the AMA's Coziest Open and admiring the fortunate scheduling that had the winner, Matt Roalstad, on our previous episode. They then spend some time talking about the most recent Popstroke event and where that schedule of events is heading before celebrating some putting from Down Under and friends of the pod achievements in the Oceania Minigolf Open. It's a quick look ahead after that as they try to dive as deep as they can into the planned World Putting League event at the end of February. The episode wraps up with Pat reading a letter he received from the USPMGA and the guys giving their opinions about that, the impact to members and the overall state of the organization.

Key Points from the episode:

Find visuals and context for our conversations on social media on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Check out the American Minigolf Alliance (AMA) over on their website including the event page for the 2023 schedule. Don't forget to become a member or renew for 2023!

Podcast Sponsors

Walkabout Mini Golf - the biggest and best virtual reality miniature golf game

Episode Hosts: Tom (aka Mr. Tee) of A Couple of Putts I Pat of The Putting Penguin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our hosts kick start the episode by recapping the two virtual AMA events held in January that got the season underway. They look at who conquered the virtual battlefields to earn some AMA bonus points and who put in some exciting and fun efforts. Then it was onto discussing the 16 planned AMA events for 2023 which run from February to October. They break down the tier system and how that is developed and talk how the schedule works for AMA members to maximize their points. Then it's onto a chat with Matt Roalstad to break down the course at Golf Zone in Minnesota which features in the Coziest Mini Golf Open - the AMA's first in person event of the year. His familiarity, from living in the area and winning on that course before, helps sets the table for this event (which is ongoing if you are listening to this straightaway).

Key Points from the episode:

Find visuals and context for our conversations on social media on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Check out the American Minigolf Alliance (AMA) over on their website including the event page for the 2023 schedule. Don't forget to become a member or renew for 2023!

Podcast Sponsors

Walkabout Mini Golf - the biggest and best virtual reality miniature golf game

Episode Hosts: Tom (aka Mr. Tee) of A Couple of Putts I Pat of The Putting Penguin

Episode Guest: Matt Roalstad

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode Warning: Going into this interview, we were not aware that there would be discussion of abuse and mistreatment. We are honored that Olivia was willing to share such a sensitive topic with us but understand that this may be triggering for some listeners. We do provide a warning within the episode as well prior to the discussion.

Our hosts kick off the episode chatting about the ongoing (at the time) virtual AMA tournaments on the Putt18 mat and in Walkabout Mini Golf then pivot a bit to the PopStroke tournament season kicking of in Orlando and AMA members winning a team event. Then it is onto our discussion with Olivia Prokopová, one of the greats of the US putting world. The last time they had chatted with her was right after her winning the USPMGA Master's for the 4th time, tying her for the most Master's tournaments won. When you combine that with 5 US Opens and no one has a better winning percentage in the 25+ years of USPMGA major tournaments. We talk about a variety of topics with her, from her favorite courses to play, how she approaches minigolf when "off the clock", things she'd like to see for professional miniature golf in the future and some of her remaining goals for tournaments. We also end up with some serious talk about a period in her career that presented some challenges and having to overcome them.

Find visuals and context for our conversations on social media on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Check out the American Minigolf Alliance (AMA) over on their website including the event page where our line up of tournaments for 2023 has been growing.

Podcast Sponsors

Walkabout Mini Golf - the biggest and best virtual reality miniature golf game

Putt 18 - internationally played putting mat game with virtual leagues

Episode Hosts: Tom (aka Mr. Tee) of A Couple of Putts I Pat of The Putting Penguin

Episode Guest: Olivia Prokopová

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To wrap up 2022 our hosts wanted to chat with someone having a career year on the mini-links. It just so happened that friend of the pod Jeremy Inabinet was one such person having played in many big tournaments (U.S. Open, Masters, Popstroke) and representing Team USA for the first time in Finland at the World Adventure Golf Masters (WAGM). They chat about how he got introduced to the sport, who helped him along the way and some great stories from his years playing. They also deep dive into the Team USA experience, his career finish at the Masters and the allure of the PopStroke events.

Mr. Tee shared that he'll be doing some year end recaps of competitive tournaments he played in and providing a list of favorites of the 60+ courses he playesd for the first time over the past year over at acoupleofputts.com

Find visuals and context for our conversations on social media on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Check out the American Minigolf Alliance (AMA) over on their website including the event page where the virtual tournaments are listed.

WAGM 2022 results

Podcast Sponsors

Walkabout Mini Golf - the biggest and best virtual reality miniature golf game

Putt 18 - internationally played putting mat game with virtual leagues

Episode Hosts: Tom (aka Mr. Tee) of A Couple of Putts I Pat of The Putting Penguin

Episode Guest: Jeremy Inabinet

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

With 2023 only a few days away, our hosts give a first peek into what the American Minigolf Alliance (AMA) season is going to look like after a quick rundown of some recent tournaments and their big Team USA win in the Putt18 Nations Cup. They chat briefly about the updated scoring system and the additional new tournament tiers including virtual tournaments.

Then it's time to dive into the first two of those virtual tournaments happening in January 2023 as Pat breaksdown the Putt18 tournament and Tom walks through the Walkabout Minigolf tournament. As a bonus, Tom talks some about an upcoming tournament at Can Can Wonderland that Couple of Putts is helping with and for which he has high hopes for his ringer of a team!

Find visuals and context for our conversations on social media on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Check out the American Minigolf Alliance (AMA) over on their website including the event page where the virtual tournaments are listed.

Example Putt18 round from The Putting Penguin

Details for the Can Can Cup at Can Can Wonderland at https://acoupleofputts.com/cancancup

Podcast Sponsors

Walkabout Mini Golf - the biggest and best virtual reality miniature golf game

Putt 18 - internationally played putting mat game with virtual leagues

Episode Hosts: Tom (aka Mr. Tee) of A Couple of Putts I Pat of The Putting Penguin

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices