(Photos adapted from Flickr photos/olibac & aheram)
Last Friday evening at our house; my husband held the TV remote control hostage, alternating between dozing off and channel surfing around Spanish language programming. I sat on the sofa with my laptop and our boys came in and out of the room, disappearing only long enough for me to forget that I had told them to brush their teeth over an hour ago.
At some point I caught a glimpse of a soccer ball on the screen and being a fan of fútbol, looked up. What I saw next, several men standing around with soccer balls on a golf course, confused me until I realized I wasn't watching a soccer game or a golf tournament, but an emerging hybrid sport called "FootGolf."
While the TV program, "Esto es FootGolf" (This is FootGolf), is out of Argentina, I later learned that this sport which is spreading worldwide, originated in 2009 in The Netherlands.
The game is easy enough to understand – Players kick their soccer ball around on a specially-designed golf course featuring holes large enough to accommodate the ball. The goal: get your ball into each hole in as few kicks as possible.
If it seems like a crazy passing fad, you should know that the First Official FootGolf World Cup took place earlier this month less than an hour from Budapest in Kisoroszi, Hungary, with over one hundred qualifying players, including The American FootGolf League who represented the United States. Other countries represented besides the US and the host country, Hungary, at the FootGolf World Cup included Holland, Argentina, Belgium, Italy, Greece, and Mexico.
Ready to get some friends together and play a round of FootGolf? The official rules are available online and the first official course in the United States is set to open on July 22nd at Coldwater Canyon Golf Course at the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.
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