I'm In The Guinness Book Of Records For Playing 1,077 Mini Golf Courses. These Are My 5 Favourites...

Richard Gottfried knows a thing or two about mini golf. The marketing consultant is in the Guinness Book of Records for 'Most miniature golf courses visited' with his current total, along with his wife Emily, standing at a very impressive 1,077.

Over a thousand of those have come in the British Isles and, living on the outskirts of Manchester, his perfect day out would be to Prestatyn.

"It's got a really nice Arnold Palmer putting course, it's still in fantastic condition and so I could play there all day long. Last time I played there it was a fantastic, sunny Saturday and I spent a couple of hours just putting. I love going to a course that's chilled out and by the seaside so you can just have a bit of a sea breeze," he says.

"If I'm playing regular golf, I do like pitch and putt or a par 3 with just a couple of clubs. I don't mind going to the driving range but I'm not particularly good off the tee. However when it comes to the putting, when I'm on the green, it's decent enough, I would say," explains Gottfried.

We asked Gottfried to pick five of his favourites. His non-negotiables are they have to be playable and offer hole-in-one opportunities, and they have to look appealing and clean and tidy.

"The course needs to have been designed so that if you are playing the course again and again, you can learn from your previous rounds and improve each round.

"You might score 70 the first time, then you get down to 60 and then 50 and then, after you've played it a few more times, you're thinking that you can go round this in under par."

1) Lost World Adventure Golf, Hemsby

This is near Great Yarmouth and it's a relatively small adventure golf course with nine holes. But it's just so atmospheric. You wouldn't think that you were at the British seaside; there's a huge Aztec temple with a waterfall flowing down it.

As soon as you step on there, you're transported away from the day. Whatever stresses you've got, you're just in the zone and involved.

They have included some trademark and different obstacles but they haven't just gone for the theme. What they've actually thought about is how you get the from the tee to the hole and what are the obstacles in between and the humps and bumps and where the rough is.

And they've made sure that the, where there are joins in the carpet, they're clean with neat joins. So it isn't just style over substance.

They've really thought about everything. I could play that course all day long and not get bored. They've also got really good scorecards and an app. They've also got merch and I'm a big fan of mini golf merch. It's just a lovely, fun experience.

2) Splash Point Mini Golf, Worthing

This is an 18-hole outdoor course which is relatively new having been built around 15 years ago. Crazy golf began gaining popularity in the UK in the 1920s, with coastal towns starting up courses, but in America it grew alongside roadside Route 66 Americana.

Again, this is a unique course and that's another thing that I like. I want it to be easily recognisable as crazy golf when you're playing it. It has got a windmill obstacle on there, but the actual hole itself is not like a windmill on any other course.

It's another one of those courses where you've got to have precision putting with plenty of plateaus so it's not hit and hope. It has a nice look and feel to it and it's in a really nice setting right by the seafront.

It is also reasonably priced as well. There are some courses out there that go over the top on animatronics and huge dinosaurs but then the course itself is quite ordinary and it is £15 a game. Here 18 holes will cost you £5.50.

3) Eaton Park Crazy Golf, Norwich

The park is very well laid out in a great setting and it doesn't feel like they've crammed in 18 holes in a space that should only have nine.

There are a nice mix of obstacles, with rocks, wooden sleepers and plateaus and hills but it also features some good borders where you can rebound shots. It's all very well thought out and you have to think about your shots.

You can't just give your tee shot a whack and I love that about a good layout and one that makes you think. Are there hidden bumps or obstacles to consider? Is there an angle shot or can you play a rebound shot or is there a hidden tunnel or different route to the hole as well? It's a great course for strategy in another great setting.

4) Himalayas Putting, St Andrews

The St Andrews Ladies' Putting Club was invented in 1867 because the men didn't want the women playing regular golf. So their concession was the Himalayas and we first played it in 2012. This should be somewhere that everyone should play.

When you talk about mini golf, it should include grass putting courses. I've played grass putting courses that have had obstacles on them. It's really weird to have artificial loop the loops on grass.

Mini golf also covers your dinosaurs, jungle themes and glow-in-the-dark golf, as well as your traditional seaside putting, and it all stems from that decision in 1867 for the Himalayas to be set up as a putting course.

It was seen as unseemly for a lady to do a full swing. So putting was what they were deemed allowed to be able to do, but it still took around 50 years or so for more artificial courses to start popping up in seaside resorts.

5) Myrtle Beach

I haven't spent enough time in the USA but the one place that is on our list is Myrtle beach in South Carolina, which is great for regular golf but also for mini golf. I think it has the most mini golf courses, around 50-60, in one specific area. You would have to go and spend some proper time to get them all played.

So this is probably the best place to go in the States for pure concentration of mini golf courses but then a lot of the major cities are now opening up these big branded courses. Tiger Woods has opened his PopStroke courses which began in Florida and they've recently opened an outdoor one in Vegas which looks amazing.

You could ask a dozen people within the world of mini golf for their favourite courses and we'll all have a different answer. It's impossible to say one is categorically the best in the world and we'll all have our favourites for different reasons.