Foot Golf

This game has gained international visibility. Clubs created in various countries in the world are now working together to develop this game. In countries like the United States and Argentina, the FootGolf sport movement has involved many thousands of players leading to the birth of a great number of grounds where this sport can be played. FootgGolf was born in the Netherlands in 2009 but it started seriously evolving in 2012 when 6 countries, including Italy, founded the IFG – Federation for International FootGolf (www.fifg.org). Today this International Federation boasts 35 member countries in 5 continents, the organisation of 2 World Cups, continental tournaments (European FootGolf Tour and US Tour) and – starting from this year – a World Tour, as well as 250 tournaments all over the world which – through World Ranking – determine the best FootGolf players in the world from over 30,000.

For the most part, this sport closely follows in the footsteps of golf and, consequently, of its rules. The golf ball is replaced by a regular football (size 5) and the holes are 50 cm in diameter. Of course, golf clubs are not used to get the ball into the hole; rather, the football is kicked along a route which winds its way through the golf course modified in length. FootGolf holes are positioned on the fairway (or semi rough) and five-a-side football shoes are used instead of normal football shoes to prevent damaging the lawn. Since 2012 the rules of FootGolf have become less and less similar to those of golf, marking its “independence” from the original game and gradually turning this sport into a game of its own.