How Switzerland Became The 'Motherland Of Minigolf'

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) 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. This content was published on September 6, 2025 - 11:00 6 minutes

I cover topics related to the Swiss Abroad and Swiss specialities, also producing a daily briefing for the Swiss Abroad community. I studied communication sciences, then worked as a reporter and video journalist for private radio and television. I have worked for SWI swissinfo in various roles since 2002.

• More from this auth
• German Departme

• Deutsch de Die Schweiz, das ((Mutterland des Minigolf)) Original Read more: Die Schweiz, das ((Mutterland des Minigolf)
• Français fr La Suisse, berceau du minigolf Read more: La Suisse, berceau du minigol
• Italiano it La Svizzera,“patria del minigolf” Read more: La Svizzera,“patria del minigolf

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 skirts and blouses or suits and ties. This was because Bongni's courses, also known as pistes, were weatherproof and didn't get shoes or clothes dirty, which, depending on the weather, deterred many from playing on the earlier grass courses.

Ascona's minigolf course when it opened in 1954. Minigolf Ascona / Miranda Graf

Minigolf involves using a putter to hit a ball into a hole in as few strokes as possible. The ball usually has a diameter of 3.7-4.3cm.

Bongni said experienced players should be able to get the ball into the hole with a single stroke. The fewer points scored at the end, the better the result.

Anyone who has not holed the ball after six attempts records seven points and moves on to the next hole. This is because the next family is often already waiting.

In minigolf, it is also important to check that your points are recorded correctly and that nobody is cheating. Photopress-Archiv / Str

Minigolf is the perfect outdoor family game: everyone can do it, the competition is real but playful, and it usually accompanies ice cream, chips and other treats.

Thanks to its clear and simple rules, the Bongni system quickly began its triumphal march through the country: by the end of 1954, there were already 18 courses that followed its standard, which is why Switzerland is generally regarded as the“motherland of minigolf”.

Bongni was shrewd enough to patent his development under the name“minigolf”, which helped it spread around the world.

Seventeen concrete fairways are each 12 metres long and 1.25 metres wide, separated by iron tubes. The 18th hole is a 25-metre long lawn with a concrete circle at the end.

Minigolf courses are often little oases, like this one here in Brunnen on Lake Lucerne. Keystone / Urs Flueeler

Only this standardisation finally made it possible to hold international competitions. By the end of 1962 there were already 120 courses in Europe, mainly in Italy, Austria and Switzerland.

Minigolf should not be confused with miniature golf, which was created in Germany in 1956. Miniature golf uses shorter, 6.25-metre Eternit courses, which is why, unlike the concrete courses in minigolf, these may not be walked on as they could break.

Gnomes and windmills

Minigolf would probably never have been created without golf. According to various sources, golf dates back to the 15th century in Scotland.

There, gentlemen used club-like mallets and balls stuffed with feathers to compete in a field at the end of which they had dug a hole.

According to the website Minigolfing in AustriaExternal link , the first miniature golf course is also said to have been created in Scotland in 1867, the“Ladies' Putting Club” in the university town of St Andrews on the east coast.“But that was a long way from being a minigolf course as we know it today,” it says.

The inventor of the miniaturised game of golf was Old Tom Morris, one of the world's first professional golfers. At that time, however, the game was still mostly played on meadows and natural areas, as the Swiss National Museum's blogExternal link explains.

Old Tom Morris (second from left) watches women playing golf in St Andrews, 1894. Wikimedia

In the US, the Englishman James Wells Barber developed a small golf course in 1916 with an amateur architect and a landscape gardener, but it was“more reminiscent of a baroque garden than a minigolf course”.

Subsequently,“garden golf” or“miniature golf” was increasingly offered as an attraction at fairs in the US. Most of the courses were straight, some were equipped with obstacles such as garden gnomes, ramps, windmills and pipes.

There were no limits to the imagination. Numerous variations of the small-scale game of golf were created.

A kind of early minigolf: Miss May Morris and Miss Iniz Ford in bathing costumes on the beach in Atlantic City, US, around 1925. Akg-Images 'The true Swiss national sport'

These very different facilities meant there was no way for ambitious players to compete with each other across regions or countries.

It was only through Bongni's standardisation that minigolf was finally established as a sport – which brings us back to Switzerland.

In Switzerland the sport has become increasingly popular since the 1950s. According to the blog of the Swiss National Museum, Switzerland won three of the four world championship titles awarded at the first minigolf world championships in Norway in 1991.

Swiss minigolfer Michel Eggenschwiler at the World Minigolf Championships in Studen, Bern, in 1997. Keystone / Edi Engeler

Today, the Swiss Minigolf AssociationExternal link runs three national squads in the junior, senior and elite categories.

According to Swiss public broadcaster, SRF, 43 Swiss clubs that take part in national and international tournaments were registered with the association in 2024.

Throughout Switzerland, around 380 licensed players are said to play in tournaments regularly – and these players don't use the same clubs and balls as casual players. Depending on the weather, the balls are even cooled or warmed.

“Minigolf is the true Swiss national sport,” according to an essay in the Tages-AnzeigerExternal link in 2016.

“Anyone who can stand on two legs and swing their arms is already a minigolfer. [...] Even beginners can get the ball in the hole on easy pistes with just two strokes.”

Families in particular enjoy competing with each other on the courses – with the odd tantrum. And by the way: the minigolf course in Ascona is still in operation.

Edited by Balz Rigendinger. Adapted from German by Thomas Stephens

More Debate Hosted by: Zeno Zoccatelli Have you ever heard anything peculiar about Switzerland that you found interesting?

Is there anything peculiar related to Switzerland that has caught your interest? Share it with us, and we might feature it in an article!

Join the discussi Nov 13, 2024 60 Likes 60 Comments View the discussi

MENAFN06092025000210011054ID1110025764