It's a perfect summer Sunday afternoon, and you're enjoying the sun and the company of your best friends on the golf course. Maybe you have a small side wager with someone in the group, and you're all square heading to the 18th tee. Your competitor grooves one right through the heart of the fairway, but your driver fails you for the first time all day, leaving your tee shot directly behind a tree in the left rough.
So what do you do now: shape a three iron punch shot around the tree, play a bump-and-run safely into the fairway or ... pull the foot wedge out of the bag? There are a million rules in golf, and the last option is a blatant violation of some kind. But what if it wasn't?
In FootGolf, the trusty foot wedge is the only option on every shot. Founded in 2011, the American FootGolf League is one of the most rapidly growing new sports in the U.S. By combining the most popular sport in the world with the traditional game of golf, FootGolf has seen high participation rates among millennials.
According to Roberto Balestrini, founder of the AFGL, 18 to 35-year-olds enjoy the sport for its laid back, social atmosphere. Balestrini has also said that FootGolf participants generally seem more interested in popping the cork off a bottle of champagne than competing.
- About 80-percent of players are between 18 and 35.
- 35-percent of millennial footgolfers are female.
- There are FootGolf courses in 31 states.
- In addition to the U.S., there are FootGolf courses in Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
With FootGolf on the rise, how does the synergy between this hybrid sport and the traditional game affect golf's overall popularity? According to many accounts, FootGolf seems to be a gateway sport that is introducing many young people to golf.
“It is my job to get these young people to the course through FootGolf, and from there they naturally want to learn how to play golf,” Balestrini said passionately. “Once they are on the fairway, they never want to leave.”
Unlike golf, the majority of people -- at some point in their lives -- have played soccer on some level, making FootGolf a much easier sport to learn than golf. FootGolf has the potential to be golf's bunny slope equivalent to skiing, which makes the sport much more inviting to new players.
In short, millennial golf seems to be rising in popularity alongside FootGolf.
By: Chase Russell
Twitter: @ChaseMRussell
Instagram: chasemrussell