{"id":2502,"date":"2015-02-21T10:36:43","date_gmt":"2015-02-21T15:36:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/essportscouncil.org\/liberty-games\/?p=2502"},"modified":"2015-02-21T15:29:22","modified_gmt":"2015-02-21T20:29:22","slug":"footgolf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essportscouncil.org\/liberty-games\/post\/footgolf\/","title":{"rendered":"FOOTGOLF Debuts @ the Liberty Games"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WwYNpzo1ITg?rel=0\" height=\"315\" width=\"560\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Is it true?\u00a0 Is Footgolf actually a game?\u00a0 Click and play the video above to get a glimpse of this new phenomenon, and then check out some of the information below:<\/p>\n<p><b>Footgolf<\/b>\u00a0is a precision\u00a0<a title=\"Sport\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sport\">sport<\/a>\u00a0where players kick a\u00a0Soccer Ball (coined a &#8220;Football&#8221; in Europe)\u00a0into a cup in as few shots as possible. Its name is a\u00a0<a title=\"Portmanteau\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Portmanteau\">portmanteau<\/a>\u00a0of &#8220;soccer&#8221; and &#8220;<a title=\"Golf\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Golf\">golf<\/a>&#8220;.\u00a0It is closely related to golf.<\/p>\n<p>The game is played the same way as golf, except players use a soccer ball instead of a golf ball, and the ball is kicked rather than struck with a club, working towards a 21-inch &#8220;cup&#8221; in place of the usual golf hole.\u00a0The player who plays the 9 or 18 holes with the fewest shots wins.\u00a0Footgolf as a sport is played on golf courses only. The first shot has to be played from the tee box, and to reach the hole, bunkers, trees, water and hills have to be crossed or avoided. This means a powerful shot is useful, but not decisive. \u00a0Reading the course, a smart approach and accurate putting are even more important.<\/p>\n<p>The game is played with a regulation No. 5 soccer ball. \u00a0Because soccer balls travel less distance than golf balls, Footgolf is played on holes shorter than those used for golf, with one course in California averaging 157 yards. \u00a0<a title=\"Par (score)\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Par_(score)\">Pars<\/a>\u00a0are typically 5 or below.\u00a0\u00a0 Paul Collinson of the UK Footgolf Association has observed that compared to golf, Footgolf is quicker to play, more accessible to players, and does not require expensive equipment.<\/p>\n<p>Historically speaking, the origins of Footgolf are unclear as they can be attributed to many countries at the same time, as early as 2006.\u00a0 The first nine-hole Footgolf tournament on a golf course, and played as the sport as known today, was organized in the Netherlands in 2008 by Michael Jansen, and played by a mix of Dutch and Belgian professional footballers.\u00a0 \u00a0Jansen learned of the sport from Dutch footballer\u00a0<a title=\"Willem Korsten\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Willem_Korsten\">Willem Korsten<\/a>, who recalled playing a similar game during his time with British club\u00a0<a title=\"Tottenham Hotspur\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tottenham_Hotspur\">Tottenham Hotspur<\/a>, who would end training sessions by kicking the ball from the pitch back to the changing rooms in as short a time as possible.<\/p>\n<p>Later Belgium and Hungary switched from playing in parks to golf courses,\u00a0and the game was introduced to Argentina in 2010.\u00a0 The American FootGolf League was founded in 2011.\u00a0 The game was internationally publicized, and countries worldwide started collaborating on the development of the game. By October 2014, the game was offered at more than 240 courses in the United States, and was in the final stages of being recognized by\u00a0<a title=\"Sport England\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sport_England\">Sport England<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The game&#8217;s emergence coincided with the decline of the popularity of golf among young people, with 643 courses closing between 2006 and 2014 in the United States.\u00a0 The sport has financially saved many struggling golf courses, and the\u00a0<a title=\"Professional Golfers' Association of America\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Professional_Golfers%27_Association_of_America\">Professional Golfers&#8217; Association of America<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<a title=\"World Golf Foundation\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/World_Golf_Foundation\">World Golf Foundation<\/a>\u00a0have both acknowledged Footgolf&#8217;s contribution to helping golf courses generate more income, and noted that it may contribute to the growth of golf itself.\u00a0 PGA president Ted Bishop said that &#8220;I think it would be ludicrous to think there won&#8217;t be a percentage of those people that might say, &#8216;Hey, you know what? I think I&#8217;d like to try and play golf.\u00a0 One course in the United States has Footgolf holes running perpendicular to regular golf holes, so that both games can be played at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>Three countries combined to form the Federation for International Footgolf in June 2012, and the first Footgolf World Cup was held in\u00a0<a title=\"Hungary\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Hungary\">Hungary<\/a>\u00a0that month.<\/p>\n<p>In the summer of 2014, Welk Resort San Diego opened a Footgolf course, including a kickoff on local television,\u00a0and in October 2014 with Kick For The Cure to aid in the fight against breast cancer.\u00a0 In 2015, Footgolf will makes its debut at the Liberty Games!\u00a0 In addition, the Empire State Sports Council will be launching the Liberty Tour Footgolf Series.\u00a0 Stay Tuned for more information!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is it true?\u00a0 Is Footgolf actually a game?\u00a0 Click and play the video above to get a glimpse of this new phenomenon, and then check out some of the information below: Footgolf\u00a0is a precision\u00a0sport\u00a0where players kick a\u00a0Soccer Ball (coined a &#8220;Football&#8221; in Europe)\u00a0into a cup in as few shots as possible. Its name is a\u00a0portmanteau\u00a0of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2506,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essportscouncil.org\/liberty-games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2502"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essportscouncil.org\/liberty-games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essportscouncil.org\/liberty-games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essportscouncil.org\/liberty-games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essportscouncil.org\/liberty-games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2502"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/essportscouncil.org\/liberty-games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2505,"href":"https:\/\/essportscouncil.org\/liberty-games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2502\/revisions\/2505"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essportscouncil.org\/liberty-games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essportscouncil.org\/liberty-games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essportscouncil.org\/liberty-games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essportscouncil.org\/liberty-games\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}