Big plans for minigolf

The courses were both built in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the WMF and with the help of sporting goods suppliers, Gymco Sports Ltd (僑泰鑫健康事業股份有限公司) and German minigolf course manufacturers, DMV. The nation's first minigolf courses are, according to one German player, "a pleasure to play."

"We built two courses, one of which, the Eternit, is portable and made of steel and the other, the Betong is permanent and made of concrete." said Gymco's Sunny Chen. "Because we wanted the courses to be of the highest quality and meet international standards, it was a lengthy and costly process. The ground needed to be made playable with a leveling system and consultants had to be brought in to ensure the work was done properly."

Not to be confused with crazy or adventure golf, which are characterized by undulating greens, landscaping, obstacles and multi-level holes, minigolf holes feature only one or two square or triangular barriers and are built to specific guidelines.

Each hole has to have a run of at least 6.25m in length and 0.9m in width and the target circle, in which the hole sits, must measure approximately 1.4m in diameter. The courses may look easy in comparison to those of crazy golf, but, according to Gerhard Zimmermann, President of the German Minigolf Federation, a lot of skill is needed to conquer a well-constructed minigolf course.

"It's a matter of angles and knowing when and how much back spin to add to the shots. Players employ certain techniques and each hole posses its own unique problems," said Zimmermann. "It looks easy, but getting a hole-in-one is very difficult and on average players finish an 18-hole course with a score of 25."

Due to its fragility, the 18-hole NT$2.5 million prefabricated steel Eternit course has been disassembled and now sits in storage. According to Chen, the association was afraid to leave the course in place because they feared it would be the target of vandalism. Taiwan's only permanent international competition-standard minigolf course, the NT$3million concrete Betong course remains in place at the park.

"The concrete course is permanent and open to the public, but there are still no club and ball rental facilities. The land belongs to the city government so we can't establish our own rental store there," said Chen. "We're hoping that one will be set up shortly as it is a waste to have built Taipei's first minigolf course and just let it sit there unused."

While players can currently use the course free of charge there are no immediate plans to establish club and ball rental facilities. Talks between the TMA and the city government are ongoing, but it is hoped that the minigolf course in the Dachia Ying Feng Sport Park will be up and running by early next year.

"It might take some time to establish a permanent base for minigolf in Taiwan, but I'm confident that given time, minigolf will take off," said TMA member and minigolfer Kuo Wei-sheng (郭威聖). "It's a fun pastime, a great sport and as people in Taiwan like to do fun things I think that there's a lot of potential for minigolf in Taiwan."