By John Cinnamon
Two months ago, Balmoral Golf Club in Fishers took the radical step of making golf holes 21 inches in diameter – roughly the size of a laundry hamper. An effort to make putting easier? No (but that’s not a bad idea). Rather, these holes were part of the installation of nine holes of FootGolf. FootGolf, a hybrid of golf and soccer played with a soccer ball instead of a golf ball and holes that are nearly five times the size of the standard golf hole, is perhaps the fastest growing sport in America. According to the American FootGolf League, more than 180 FootGolf courses have sprung up across the country (usually integrated into existing golf courses) in just the last three years, with five here in Indiana. In addition to Balmoral in Fishers, the others are in Franklin, French Lick, Seymour, and Tipton.
Sam Foley, Balmoral’s Director of Golf, explained that FootGolf can be less intimidating than traditional golf because it doesn’t require an investment in expensive equipment and it’s much less time-consuming. While a typical 18 holes of golf can take nearly five hours, nine holes of FootGolf can be played during a lunch hour.
“I played the first round of FootGolf at Balmoral in 42 minutes,” said Foley.
Fishers’ other golf-related alternative is Disc Golf (or Frisbee Golf), with a nine-“hole” course at Cumberland Park. Unlike the relatively new FootGolf, Disc Golf started around 100 years ago with Canadian school children flinging tin plates at fence posts. The modern game, played by throwing a Frisbee into a wire basket on a pole, began in the U.S. in the early 1970s.
The course at Cumberland Park – installed in 2011 and the only one in Fishers – is one of more than 3,000 in the U.S. According to Tony Elliot, Fishers Director of Parks and Recreation, it is highly regarded in the Disc Golf community. Despite being only nine holes, “it has a unique reputation as being a tough course,” said Elliot. “It’s very challenging because it runs along Mud Creek.”
FootGolf at Balmoral is $10 for nine holes, with soccer balls available for rent. Disc Golf at Cumberland Park is free. But, BYOD (Bring Your Own Discs).
