photo by Arto Borg 2008

Austrian Minigolf Federation (ÖBGV) has decided to arrange two national champion­ships separately in 2009:

• a traditional competition with total points count (to be played 24-25 July 2009)
  
• a cup competition for 32 best men and 16 best women in the traditional competition (to be played 26 July 2009)

This plan was accepted with a majority vote in ÖBGV General Assembly in November 2008, as a compromise between supporters of the traditional playing system and supporters of the new trend of cup competitions.

But soon after this decision was made, Austrian Minigolf Federation got some trouble with the national sports authorities, BSO (Bundessportorganisation). BSO has announced that minigolf players cannot have more than one official National Champion (Staatsmeister). Two different minigolf champions will not be officially recognized by the state of Austria (as was planned by ÖBGV, when it decided to arrange two championships separately, with total points system and with a cup system).

Many sports have championships with different competition systems, different running distances etc. (For example: running 100 m, 200 m and 400 m, or timed skiing and chase sprint skiing.) But Austrian sports authorities ruled that minigolf players cannot have an officially recognized National Champion (Staatsmeister) separately with a cup system and with total points system (or separately on felt, beton and eternite).

BSO explains that the state of Austria officially recognizes such championships, which are played in the same way also in other countries of the world. A cup system and a total points system are not recognized as separate official championships, because they are not typically played separately in international championships. But in the future they can be officially recognized, if EMF or WMF starts playing minigolf championships separately with a cup system and with total points system.

Now Austrian Minigolf Federation is back in square one: it must decide which competition will be regarded as the official National Championships 2009: the total points competition on 24-25 July, or the cup competition on 26 July.

news article at Bahnengolf-Info website (in German language)

Playing system of official championships in different countries (2008):

Austria Czech Republic Denmark Germany Great Britain Finland France Italy Latvia Netherlands Norway Portugal Russia Slovakia Sweden Switzerland Ukraine USA WMF EMF

1 total points, eternite 1 cup, combi (beton + eternite) 2 separately, total points: eternite, beton 4 separately: cup combi (E + F), total points B, E, Cobigolf 2 separately: cup MOS, total points MOS (*) 3 separately, total points: beton, eternite, felt 1 total points, felt 1 total points, beton 1 total points, eternite 3 separately, total points: eternite, felt, combi (beton + eternite) 2 separately, total points: beton, eternite 1 total points, combi (beton + eternite + felt) 1 total points, eternite 1 total points, combi (eternite + felt) 1 total points, combi (eternite + felt) 1 total points, 80% beton 1 total points, MOS 1 total points, MOS 1 cup, combi (typically eternite + felt or beton) 1 cup, combi (typically eternite + felt or beton)

* = Minigolf championships in Great Britain are not officially recognized by the state, because British sports authorities regard minigolf as a form of golf, not as a separate sport.