Minigolf

In 1952, the Swiss garden architect Paul Bongni built the first miniature golf course in Ascona, two years later a second course followed near Locarno. The first miniature golf course in Germany was built in Traben-Trabach in 1955, after which miniature golf spread quite quickly.

As a rule, only one club is used in mini golf. Club players in particular usually have a large number of balls with a wide variety of properties. The balls differ in size, weight, hardness, surface and especially in the bounce height. The size is between 37 and 43 mm in diameter, the weight is between 30 and 150 grams. Last but not least, the color and pattern help to keep track of several hundred balls.

Minigolf is played on courses with 18 holes, each 2m long and 1.25m wide. The lanes are made of concrete and are limited by flat iron or pipe bands. The aim of the game is to get the ball into the hole in as few strokes as possible using the bat. The individual tracks differ in their degree of difficulty due to different obstacles.

Minigolf World Championships have been held every 2 years since 1991. The first individual world champions were Miranda Graf for women and Raffael Nösberger for men, both of whom come from Switzerland.