“You won’t see a ton of holes where you just hit it and it bounces around and comes down somewhere.” There are very few gimmicks on the course, if any instead, they are replaced by rolling hills, steep slopes, and holes that, in some cases, stretch nearly 50 feet long. “We didn’t feel like we needed a pirate ship to stand out,” Kyle Cutshaw, owner of Mossy Creek, tells me.
#Prolevel mini golf pro
You might be wondering - what is it that makes a mini golf course pro level? Many of the top players have been here well in advance getting ready for the tournament, but Friday is when the stragglers like me show up for the first time. I arrive at Mossy Creek Friday morning at 9 a.m. They talk about him as if he were a god, and he might as well be one - the long white hair and matching mustache give him an air of wordless authority. Upon my arrival, everyone makes sure to tell me about Rick. There’s former Masters and US Open champ Joey Graybeal the triumvirate of old friends Tim Tally, Gary Hester, and Fred Stewart, who have been playing in tournaments together for over 50 years and a mini-golf power couple of two legends in the sport - Vanette Block, a 2018 gold medal world champ in a World Adventure Golf competition held in the Czech Republic, and her boyfriend Rick Baird, one of only five people in recorded history to score a perfect 18. The Tennessee Open attracts some of the biggest names in the mini golf community. The US Pro Mini Golf Association (USPMGA) also includes a Mini Golf Masters in Myrtle Beach, SC, with a plump $25,000 purse and, you guessed it, an honorary Green Jacket. The host course, Mossy Creek Mini Golf in Jefferson City, TN, is the upcoming site of the 2022 US Pro Mini Golf US Open, an event held annually since 1998, attracting some of the best men and women mini golfers around the globe.
#Prolevel mini golf crack
The field is divided into three distinct categories: the real pros, the first-timers, and the locals, all battling for a crack at the $2,000 purse. (My journey from New York ranks me as the furthest traveler, just barely edging out one player’s drive from Kansas City, Missouri). Twelve states are represented in the tournament. The Tennessee Open is my gateway into the obscure world of pro mini golf. I’m through 60 holes with 48 left to go in an all-day grind at the annual Tennessee Open. Meanwhile, my playing partner - a 13-year-old prodigy who’s built like an NFL linebacker - calmly sinks a hole-in-one. Once, twice, again and again, until I walk off the hole with a devastating 6. “The Mountain Hole,” they call it - marked by the signature plot of raised ground players must navigate on their approach shots. I confidently step up to the sixth tee, adrenaline-filled and ready to continue my move up the leaderboard.
#Prolevel mini golf professional
A weekend trip to The Tennessee Open in Jefferson City, TN will show you there is nothing small about the world of professional mini golf.
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