Urban golf

"Crossgolf" redirects here. Not to be confused with Volkswagen CrossGolf or GolfCross.
An urban golfer in San Francisco, c. 2005.

Urban golf, also known as crossgolf[1][2] or street golf,[3] is a game based on the original game of golf in which individual players or teams hit a ball into a hole or at a specified target using various clubs.

Urban golf is played without a traditional golf course, instead using street furniture as obstacles and targets.[4] Instead of a standard golf ball, players may use leather balls,[5] plastic golf balls, or tennis balls.[3] It may be played on the street as well as in other locations such as industrial brownfields, sand pits,[2] parks,[6] rooftops, and river banks.[1]

Urban golf started being widely played in 1992, when German golfer Torsten Schilling started the Natural Born Golfers group in Hamburg.[1][5] It is particularly popular in Europe, where the European Urban Golf Cup has taken place annually since 2013.[7][6] It also enjoys some popularity in Portland, Oregon[8][3] as well as San Francisco[1] and some portions of Asia.[5][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Pohl, Otto (December 14, 2003). "Far Off the Course, Golf Becomes Adventure Sport".
  2. ^ a b "Was ist Crossgolf?". Crossgolf.de - Urban Golf World (in German). Retrieved April 30, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Powell, Drew (September 7, 2024). "Street Flighters". Golf Digest. Retrieved April 30, 2024.
  4. ^ Alex R. Straus (2006). Guerilla Golf. Rodale. p. 68. ISBN 9781594862809.
  5. ^ a b c "What is urban golf?". BBC. April 29, 2004. Retrieved April 30, 2024.
  6. ^ a b Grez, Matias (October 19, 2015). "Pitching into plant pots: Welcome to the world of urban golf". CNN. Retrieved April 30, 2024.
  7. ^ Mieczkowski, Colin (August 23, 2017). "The European Urban Golf Cup, a unique major championship". Pro Golf Now. Retrieved April 30, 2023.
  8. ^ Helmsworth, Jamie (July 11, 2017). "Portland Urban Golf Makes the Entire Changing City Its Ever-Evolving Personal Golf Course". Retrieved April 30, 2024.