The Glenmuir guide to crazy golf - The Glenmuir Journal

With plans for a new designer crazy golf course in central London, we take a closer look at this whimsical offshoot of the great game…

Name Ordinary Architecture's Pigeon hole. Image courtesy of London Design Festival

There’s an argument that anyone who goes out in all weather to trek around the British countryside chasing a tiny ball is crazy. But crazy - or miniature - golf is a whole different ball game. Literally.

Often seen as a kids’ version of the pure game, crazy golf actually requires a lot of skill with a putter and has a number of followers across the globe. The various obstacles - from windmills to tunnels - provide unique challenges you won’t face at St Andrews.

And it’s because of this popularity that plans for a London-based version are in the offing.

Designs on London

For those who say crazy golf is small time and just a game as opposed to a sport, the London Design Festival disagrees.

It has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new crazy golf course in the prime location of Trafalgar Square. The project has already received support from some of the biggest names in the design world, including fashion guru Paul Smith and the late, great architect Zaha Hadid.

The course will only be available to play for one week, but will be “futuristic, functional, fun and free for the public to play”.

Paul Smith’s stripy hole. Image courtesy of London Design Festival

Paul Smith, curator and ambassador for the project, has his sights set on the steps from the National Gallery. Going with his trademark look, the steps will become vertical stripes. At the top will be a neo-classical clubhouse with a turf roof and putters for columns.

Zaha Hadid’s design provides an undulating course over two levels, tracing the shadow of Nelson’s Column.

Other designers have also contributed. Tom Dixon has come up with an idea to install pneumatic tubes through which golf balls will hurtle; Mark Wallinger has created a golfing maze, while a netted driving range has been imagined by the Japanese studio Atelier Bow-Wow.

All in all, it’ll be a crazy golf course the like of which has never been seen in this country.

The hole design by NEON. Image courtesy of London Design Festival.

History of crazy golf

Like golf, it’s hard to pinpoint the exact moment the modern version of crazy golf came to being - maybe because it’s such a simple idea. Hit a ball into a hole avoiding obstacles along the way. There are apparently versions going back as far as ancient China in 945AD. In fact, this early version is thought by some to be the first version of the modern game.

But the modern version of miniature golf, which is an adaption of the original game, came about early in the 20^th century. And, as with most novelty inventions, it was the Americans who got there first.

Depending on who you ask, it was either James Barber of Pinehurst, North Carolina in 1916, who had a mini golf course on his estate; or Garnet Carter in 1927, who was the first person to patent a game called "Tom Thumb Golf".

Carter used the course, which was designed by his wife Frieda and had a fairyland theme, to help advertise his hotel. It had it all - themed holes based around various fairy tales, animal heads that made noises if you got the ball into the mouths, and statues of famous princesses.

It also hosted the very first National Tom Thumb Championship, with a pretty impressive prize of $2,000 for both the Gentlemen’s and Ladies’ tournaments.

These days, the sport is run by the World Minigolf Federation and holds various competitions around the world. Or you could just play for the fun of it.