Switzerland might seem an unlikely country for standardising the laws of minigolf, but it turns out that a Swiss landscape gardener played a central role in the sport’s spread around the country – and the world. Have you ever been to the minigolf course on the Via Circonvallazione in Ascona, canton Ticino? I have – many times. It’s where we used to spend our family holidays and, as children, would throw away our clubs on one of the 18 holes when the ball didn’t go where we intended. Even if we had known back then that we were having a tantrum on a course of historical significance, we probably wouldn’t have stomped from one hole to the next any more gracefully. According to various sources, the world’s first standardised minigolf courses are located on this very course. On March 19, 1954, Paul Bongni, a landscape gardener from Ticino and Geneva, opened this mini golf course with the holes and obstacles he had developed and patented. As photos from the time show, people played in ...
