Within the World Crazy Golf Championship when 162 players compete for title

The historic majesty of the old race in St. Andrews, the lush, rolling greens of Georgia’s Augusta National. . .

And last but not least, the windy, drizzly grandeur of the Pelham Place of Hastings, the home of demonstrably the biggest competition in the global sports calendar – the 22nd World Crazy Golf Championship.

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Standing on the coastal gray coast, just past the miniature railway and the Swan Lake Pedalos, has the difficult 18-hole course host of some of the most fascinating confrontations in golf history.

And while the rain picks up the painted windmill on hole five, it is my turn to go to the tee.

A silence falls over the Cagoule-bearing crowd in the east Sussex While I felt a poop of the damp, I felt green and I am preparing to conquer the tournament.

Nick “The Hack” McGrath – Your time is now.

Feet shoulder width apart, straight on, putter ready, me heart attack My WCGC monogramed ball effortlessly along the windmill to the par two holes.

My opponents in the starting league-Dee “The Retailer” Relf, ​​a 49-year-old Pound country Shop manager of HasAnd retired local aromatherapist “fragrant” Sue Goodhand, 74 – lift their eyebrows surprised, clearly intimidated by my impressive presence.

Seventeen holes, 55 spreading shots and zero holes-in-one later, I made myself disgrace and almost loose from the wooden water mill on hole nine of his hinges.

“You were doing really well,” is charming. “Most first timers on average six or seven a hole, so well done.”

“Quite fiercely”

Just like Sue, it is Dee’s second year in the championship, but she has no confidence in the ladies’ crown that she took home last year.

“Too many mistakes this year,” she sighs before she reveals how she will spend her price money If she surpasses the leadboard again.

“Probably in the pub with a Nice Jack Daniels and Cola. “

Sue and Dee are only two of the estimated 11 million Britons who regularly play crazy or mini golf. The first British course opened in Skegness in 1926 and today there are more than 1,200 in Great Britain.

“There is definitely an element of crazy in Crazy Golf,” admits Simon Tompkins Events.

“We started with 24 participants in 2003, and there are 162 competitors this year, as far as far Hungary” America And New -Zeeland.

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“It is a nice pastime for the whole family and all generations. But if you come with the elite players in the final round, all the balls are at the same time in the game and they can eliminate each other. The rivalry can become pretty fierce.”

The Titans of the Modern Game are two-time champion Adam “AK 47” Kelly and reigning, four times winner Marc “The Force” Chapman, who will be the most successful player of all time when he takes home the £ 1,250 first prize in the pro match.

When you come with the elite players in the final round, all balls play in the game at the same time and they can eliminate each other. The rivalry can be quite fierce

Event organizer Simon Tompkins

A screens coach from Canterbury, the 39-year-old father of one Marc believes that crazy wave has nothing to do with happiness and has everything to do with mental strength.

“If you only played a shooting with one round, someone can be lucky and win,” says Marc, who fought for the 15th time.

“But during a weekend of six or seven rounds you need focus, consistency and presence of spirit. Without that you are gone.”

And far from crumbling under the pressure, he enjoys positively in his rivalry with Adam Kelly and colleague Elite -Veteran and former winner Michael Smithwhich is unfortunately absent this year.

‘We are just like the Rafael Nadal” Novak Djokovic And Roger Federer of the crazy golf world, “says Marc, who is planning to spend his prize money on maintaining his Audi Q3.

Double winner Adam, who fought for the 16th time in 2022 and 2023, is desperate to regain the title of his arch rival.

“Last year, if I am honest, I was just surpassed. Marc Chapman had a great year and I was not completely at my best.

“I would like to get the title back and win five championships and be talked about the greats of the tournaments of all time. Of course I would do that.”

But Adam is also a realist. He is aware that he and other elite artists do not stand out Tiger forests” Rory Mcilroy And the professional golf community.

‘Rude Awakening’

“You must have a sense of perspective,” admits Adam in Lincoln.

“It’s great to be able to call yourself a world champion and not many people can do that. But I also have enough perspective to realize that it is a bit stupid.”

Flamboyant Texan Rainey “Rainman” Statum has traveled 5,000 miles from Houston to compete for the first time in the competition and he is struggling with the circumstances.

“This has been on my bucket list for years,” says the self-assured 63-year-old.

My ex-wife was rid of me because I played too much crazy wave, so yes, it cost me a bit of my wedding

Rainey ‘Rainman’ Statum

“But it was a rude awake. I am Texas-In and raised and it is usually 95 degrees there, so I freeze.

“I am wearing five layers and I still shit it, but I still have faith in it. And if I don’t succeed this year, I will come back next year. “

Rainey, who works in building maintenance on the Deerwood Country Club Golf Course in the US, shown in the 1996 comedy Movie Tin Cup and has won $ 200,000 and countless American crazy wave titles.

He believes that the preparation is crucial and 25 rounds played on the Hastings course before the event itself.

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“I also got this Bible,” he says, holding a notebook full of complicated line drawings of the waves, corners and eccentricities of each hole. “This certainly helps, but you still have to touch them.”

Obsession, however, has its pitfalls, Rainey reveals.

“My ex-wife was rid of me because I played too much crazy wave, so yes, it cost me a bit of my wedding. But my new girlfriend thinks it’s great. “While the competition closes on Sunday afternoon, AK 47 slips the rankings.

“But my new female friend likes it.” While the competition closes on Sunday afternoon, AK 47 glides the rankings.

Sprogging him in second place, because the final round is approaching, Snow Welshman Seve “The Dragon” Kukielka, currently top seeds in the rankings of the British Minigolf Association.

He comes in a single shot from Marc Chapman but the Canterbury The two holes-in-one of the competitor in the last three holes gives him a record-breaking fifth title and enough prize money to serve his Audi.

He is clearly jubilant after he joined Tim Davies to the top of the World World Crazy Golf Championship Table, and local player Murray Thompson Pips finally to second place.

Marc is already thinking about passing on the baton to his crazy-golf-Mad son Ambrose, three.

And how will Marc celebrate his triumph? “Probably with a restless night kicked in the back by the little one when he gets into the big bed.”