A Couple of Putts and American Mini Golf Alliance Present…

The 2nd Looniest Mini Golf Open
Saturday, May 11, 2024

Hole-by-hole scoring in Bangolf

End of the 3rd round and playoff tie-breaker between Pat Sheridan and Zack Haselius

Pro top 3 (Left to Right): Zack Haselius (2nd & pro aces only round winner), Pat Sheridan (1st place), Mark “Highlighter” Novicki (3rd)

Left to Right: Mandy Ranslow (Women’s Division Champion), Nya Neinhuis (Junior Division Champion), Ryan Walsh (Amateur 2nd place), Robin Schwartzman (Amateur 1st place), Nick Windyk (Amateur 3rd place)

Recap

No rain this year! A warm 75F sunny day resulted in the turf playing faster and fussier.

After 54 holes, the pro division came down to the 2-hole tie-breaker between Pat Sheridan and Zack Haselius. You can watch the live stream of the battle on the AMA Instagram to see how quickly the ball rolled. On the 5th hole, Pat Sheridan carded a 2 after Zack took a 3 to win the 2nd Looniest Mini Golf Open. Pat has one both years of this event. Mark “Highlighter” Novicki came in 3rd with Matt Roalstad and Kameron Haselius both 1 and 2 strokes away from Highlighter.

Robin Schwartzman repeated as the Looniest Amateur champion in a close 2 round battle with Ryan Walsh. Nick Windyk came in 3rd.

Shawn Brown took home OneShot Golf prize package for the most aces through 2 rounds with 4.

In the pro division aces-only round, Zack Haselius carded 4 aces to take home some dough.

Mandy Ranslow of The Putting Penguin took home the first women’s division title and Nya Neinhuis took home the first junior division trophy for a tournament hosted by A Couple of Putts.

We’ll be looking to set the date for the 2025 Looniest Mini Golf Open soon but just waiting on the schedules of a few major

2024 Tournament Rules and Regulations

Loon’s Nest Mini Golf at Island Lake Golf – 1000 Red Fox Rd, Shoreview, MN 55126

Pro: $40 – 3 rounds stroke play + bonus aces only round

Amateur: $30 – 2 rounds stroke play + bonus aces only round

$500 cash purse (pros only), goodies and prizes!

Registration: Via Eventbrite at https://2024-Looniest-Mini-Golf.eventbrite.com or  if you want to pay Tom direct and save on fees, you can pay via Venmo instead, send money to @tomrloftus and state which player(s) you are registering and in which division and drop a note to acoupleofputts@gmail.com if you don’t know Tom personally

If the weather on May 11th is so bad that we have to cancel the tournament, we’ll share details on A Couple of Putts and American Mini Golf Alliance (AMA) as well as the Facebook event page.

American Mini Golf Alliance (AMA) Red Scoring Event – Not an AMA member? Join for free at amaminigolf.com/membership

Pro Prizes

Champion: $200 cash + Custom Looniest Open Pro Trophy
Second Place: $150 cash + “Silver” Medal
Third Place: $100 cash  + “Bronze” Medal
4th-5th Place: Loon’s Nest, A Couple of Putts, sponsor and/or American Mini Golf Alliance (AMA) prize
Best score aces-only round: $50

Amateur Prizes

Champion:  Custom Looniest Open Amateur Trophy  + Loon’s Nest, A Couple of Putts, sponsor and/or American Mini Golf Alliance (AMA) prize
Second Place: Amateur “Silver” Medal + Loon’s Nest, A Couple of Putts, sponsor and/or American Mini Golf Alliance (AMA) prize
Third Place: Amateur “Bronze” Medal + Loon’s Nest, A Couple of Putts, sponsor and/or American Mini Golf Alliance (AMA) prize
Best score aces-only round: Loon’s Nest, A Couple of Putts, sponsor and/or American Mini Golf Alliance (AMA) prize

Other Prizes

Most Hole-in-Ones (All Players Through 2 rounds): OneShotGolf game swag pack including a hat, t-shirt, and stickers.

*Junior Division Winner: Junior Division Trophy + a Prize
**Women’s Division Winner: Women’s Division Trophy + a Prize

*For competitors 15 and under. There must be at least 3 people who meet these criteria to give out this award
**For women or women-identifying competitors. There must be at least 3 people who meet these criteria to give out this award

***Falling Knife Swag Pack – pint glass, a certificate for a Falling Knife shirt, beer tokens & a 4-pack

***Must be 21 or older to win. Competitors from both divisions will be eligible for this drawing

Pro: Open to anyone. The top-round scores are expected to be in the high 30s to low-40s. Pros will be playing for trophies, medals, prizes, AMA scoring points per the current rubric, and a cash purse.

Amateur: Players newer to the competitive putting game or who have not finished in the top 3 of local or regional mini golf/golf events in the last 2 years in the pro division. Amateur competitors will be playing for trophies, medals, prizes, and 1 AMA scoring point each.

Hole-by-Hole Scoring for 2023

2023 Looniest Mini Golf Open Recap & Event page

Pro & amateur fee includes:

Format
Saturday, May 11th. Registration and practice open at 12 pm and we’ll review the rules at 12:45 pm. Rounds will start promptly at 1 pm. See the Rules of the Tournament below for more details.

All competitors who are American Mini Golf Alliance (AMA) members will receive points toward national ranking based on the current scoring rubric. This is a Red AMA scoring tournament

Local Sponsors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rules of the Game

1. Players will start each hole at or behind the designated starting area. It will be clearly marked but if you’re going out to practice, it is the area on each hole 2 feet from the start of the turf.
2. No intentional chip shots to jump walls.
3. The ball can be moved the length of the championship scorecard (around 8.5″) or an AMA relief ruler that is provided at each hole away from any obstacle or wall for relief as long as it does not move the ball out of hazard or provides a significantly better direct line to the cup for your next putt.
4. Relief from an obstacle or wall cannot be used to give a line to the cup where it does not already exist. The player can move the ball further away from the cup to take relief to prevent creating a line that does not already exist.
5. If the ball goes off course out of bounds (OB), the ball will be placed at the place in the bounds of that hole where the ball last made contact with the green with relief with a one-stroke penalty added.
   • If the ball goes out of bounds in an area where there is not a flat space to place the ball inbounds, the ball will be placed at the nearest flat space away from the hole
6. On any putt, if the ball bounces back and exits the course out of bounds back through the tee-off area, the ball can be reset in the tee-off area by the competitor without a penalty stroke. If the ball is hit and returns to the tee-off area and stays within the tee-off area, the ball will be played from the position it stops in the tee-off area.
7. All of the holes contain inset plastic drainage divots. If the ball comes to rest on top of or within 6″ behind one of the plastic drainage pieces, the player is allowed to move the ball a putter head’s length to the left or right to avoid having to put out of or through the divot. Relief cannot be used to give a line to the cup where it does not already exist
8. For all tournament rounds, there is a 7-stroke limit. After your 6th stroke, you pick up the ball and move on to the next hole.

Rules of the Tournament

1. All holes will be played with each person completing the hole before others in their group play.
2. Pro players will start on Hole #1. Amateur competitors will start on Hole #10.
3. Each player in each group will take a single practice tee-off shot on their first hole before their group starts the tournament.
4. The ball can only advance to the hole through the use of the putter head.
5. If the math on your scorecard that you submit for your group is not correct in the pro division, a +1 stroke penalty is added each person in your group’s score for the round.
6. One valid scorecard signed by each member of the group must be turned in after each round is completed
7. The tournament rounds will start promptly at 1pm on Saturday, May 11th.
8. Players can arrive after 12pm to sign-in, register or practice until 12:45pm
9. At 12:45 pm, there will be a review of the rules, time for questions and pairings are announced
10. Groups will be paired in advance of the tournament. Family members will not be paired with each other in the pro division but can be paired with each other in the amateur division on a case-by-case basis.
11. The groupings for the 3rd round will be determined by scores. The best scores from the first two rounds will be in the last groupings.
12. All competitors in the tournament must score their rounds as well as the other competitors in their group.
13. No playing group will be less than 2 putters and no more than 4. For the first two rounds, playing groups will be either pairs or threesomes.
14. One scorecard signed by each member of the group will be turned in after each round
15. In the case of any ties for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th place, the tie will be broken by 2 hole putt-off on Holes 1-2 or by a roll of the dice if players prefer. “Honors” (aka putting first) on the first hole in the tie-breaker will be determined by a coin toss. “Honors” will alternate each hole regardless of the outcome of the previous hole. If scores remain tied after two holes, the competitors will play until one person has a lower stroke total than the other(s) on the next hole on the course.
16. If there is a tie for most hole-in-ones, those competitors will have a hole-in-one-only wins putt-off on a hole #8. Each player will have an equal number of attempts to get an ace. If multiple competitors get a hole-in-one in any given set of attempts, the playoff will continue until a winner is determined by hole-in-one.
17. All other ties for prizes will be determined by the better single round in the championship. If that doesn’t break the tie, we look at most hole-in-ones then most deuces then best differential.
18. All competitors who are American Mini Golf Alliance (AMA) members will receive points toward national ranking based on the current scoring rubric
19. All scores will be posted at acoupleofputts.com/looniest within a week of the tournament