What follows is a peculiarly British perspective of the World Championships which will be updated as and when, for full details of the competition see the excellent official site.  The World Championships also doubled as the English Open for the British team.

A rabble purporting to be a team arrived in dribs and drabs in the beautiful little town of Bad Münder (a German spa resort with an over abundance of bars and restaurants given its population of 10,000) to represent Great Britain.  This year we were coachless - no Thomas.  What were we to do?  Fortunately Achim one of the German national team coaches had promised to help if he had the time and as always we had plenty of advice from old friends such as Heinz Weber and Christian Freilach.  However there was a massive void, particularly for the late arrivals, which proved difficult to overcome.

Our first competitive rounds took place on the Eternit and Swedish Felt runs to decide who would be the the reserve.  This was done whilst weaving in and out of various countries practising. 2.61 recurring happily accepted the result.  

The opening ceremony was started by gathering outside in the rain and listening to a short speech from the mayoress of the town.  We then paraded through the town swapping the Union Jack between players as the rain intensified and arrived at the big hall like a bunch of drowned rats, significant only in so far as we chatted with the pied piper of Hamelin most of the way, incidentally he was playing a clarinet.  Another point that should be highlighted was the insistence of the team that I should carry the flag once the thunder and lightning started.  In the big hall, the opening ceremony dragged on and I slipped out.  I returned when the food queue had disappeared, had some lovely nosh and then danced a waltz with Will who had slipped into something less comfortable.  Yes, Will for a brief moment was dressed in the Bad Münder mascots garb and very fetching he looked too.  Mr Michael Webb eat your heart out!

The most welcome help received was from Margus, the Estonian basketball referee who we met in the European Championships in Prague.  He came out with us every night and introduced us to the 'small beer', a stein I think is conceptually different.  He also improved ball selection on a number of holes; too much of the help received previously had been based on a somewhat higher skill base.  He treated us to a wonderful barbecue on our last night (Will's birthday) insisting on preparing everything himself.  'We win' was his printable catchphrase.

British players who excelled themselves - Mr Michael Webb, another stunning performance and equalling the British Eternit record (24).  Jon Angel first sight of competition Eternit scoring 25, first sight of Swedish Felt Run 40 (a British record) - Awesome!  Peter Parr for not getting worse than a 2 on 54 holes of Eternit.  Will Knight for a commendable 28 on Eternit on his birthday and for surviving the evening with the Russians and making the train next morning!

And the team goal was achieved - we were not the last team - We Won!  My own performance I summarised to the Danes as; recovering from a dislocated hip, vertabrae and brain.

E2.02 (aka F3.2 or just simply 2.61 recurring) came in for the final round to replace the out of sorts British Champion.

The bad boys - Jon Angel for time wasting and myself (two championships two warnings) for playing before my Russian opponent Boris had finished the last hole.  I thought he'd holed his first shot and moved smartly on to the labyrinth where I was just about to hit the ball when the referee shouted, needless to say I missed.  My fault entirely and humblest apologies to Boris, however the shot counted.  A note for the authorities, if you are going to stop a player playing a shot before a playing partner has finished the previous hole make sure you do otherwise let them get on with it and then book them.  Another note for those on high, on Swedish Felt Run we were encouraged to play before our partners had even started the previous hole albeit with the referee keeping score.   Incidentally Krisztián Koleszár (Hungary) and Boris Jakovlev (Russia) were my playing partners throughout the competition.  Boris has written an introduction to mini golf in Russian and was kind enough to give me a copy.  Krisztián actually swapped shirts with me! 

The best naming of a hole goes to Mr Michael Webb for the 11th on Swedish Felt Run - Örkelljunga - Awful Jumper.

British team photo (minus Ted who was still on his way).  Other photos from the Bad Münder official site: Jon scoring. Tim having lagged. Ted no doubt about to miss again.  Will Eagar with one of the many grips he tried.

A clip from the forthcoming movie by Recurring.

Next stop the 2004 European Minigolf Championships in Timişoara, Romania.

If anyone sees my Planet Hastings Crazy Golf Club black sweatshirt - the only one of two of its kind - please nab it and keep it safe for me.

The interesting part of the results table.

Individual Standings

Team Standings

2003 English Open

Unofficial British Eternit Championship

Unofficial British Swedish Felt Run Championship

* Equals BMGA record

** New BMGA record

E - Eternit   F - Swedish Felt Run

British Player hole by hole scores

From left to right: Will 'Recurring' Eagar, Peter Parr, Tim 'Ace Man' Davies, Mr. Michael Webb

Jon 'The Stance' Angel, Will 'TC' Knight, 'Big Top' Ted McIver

Jon with flag	Will Knight waits

Probably the best ball used in the tournament

Size GL, Bounce 2cm, Hardness (Shore) 57, Weight 66g

Tournament over for the Brits, the Danes grimace in the background (Cor! and Kim, the man with the bladder) - well, they weren't allowed to drink!  Thanks to our Russian friends for the piccy.