Urban golf
Encyclopedia
Urban golf is a game
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...
, derived from the original game of golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, in which individual players or teams hit a ball into a hole or at a specified target using various clubs
Golf club (equipment)
A golf club is used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a clubhead. Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; irons, the most versatile class, are used for a variety of shots; Hybrids that combine design elements of woods and...
.
Urban golf is currently becoming popular across the world in many varying formats. Its origin is ambiguous but is believed to be started in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
in 1741 outside The White Hart
White Hart
The White Hart was the personal emblem and livery of Richard II, who derived it from the arms of his mother, Joan "The Fair Maid of Kent", heiress of Edmund of Woodstock...
Inn in the Grassmarket
Grassmarket
The Grassmarket is an historic market square in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland.In relation to the rest of the city the area is a hollow, well below surrounding ground levels.-Location:...
area of Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
by a Duncan Thomas.
There are now many organizations across the world actuating this seemingly destructive pastime.
Shoreditch Golf Club http://www.sgcgolf.com formed the first 18 hole, par 72 open tournament in London in 2004. NW Urban Sports http://nwurbansports.wordpress.com out of Portland Oregon helped start World Urban Golf Day in 2007 and urbangolf.org http://www.urbangolf.org currently in Portland, Oregon, USA. Previously out of Oakland, California, USA the Urban Golf Associations http://www.urban-golf.org Bi-Annual Charles Bukowski North Beach Invitational in San Francisco predate this by a few years with a smaller format.
Other urban golf associations are springing up from New Zealand to Russia http://www.urban-golf.ru to Argentina, and are listed below. Unlike these organizations, which use public city areas, Cross Golf, a variation on Urban Golf, exists in the form of Natural Born Golfers http://www.naturalborngolfers.com from Germany and Urban Golf Unit http://www.urbangolf.nl from The Netherlands. Cross Golf utilizes disused urban environments, building sites, rooftops, canals, hotel lobbies, school campus sites, and industrial areas as courses.
Anatomy of an Urban Golf course
The fundamental difference between Urban Golf and its verdant brother is the lack of nature and the high frequency of public houses. As in normal golf, many holes include hazards but these are natural to an urban environment and are not bunkersBunker (golf)
A hazard is an area of a golf course in the sport of golf which provides a difficult obstacle. which may be of three types: water hazards such as lakes and rivers; man-made hazards such as bunkers; and natural hazards such as dense vegetation. Special rules apply to playing balls that fall in a...
(or sand traps), but street furniture and drains. Often many unexpected situations can arise from the environment such as dogs not kept on leashes tend to chase balls, players dropping clubs down drains, traffic, etc.
The Australian Urban Golfing style consists of a set target such as "play to the beach" or "play to the pub" lowest strokes the winner with the emphasis being on freestyle elements along the way such as "who can pop over that" "around that corner by bouncing off that tree" etc.
Ethos
Urban golf is seen by many as social commentary on the nature of golf and its traditional opinions and attitudes. Considering golf pompous, dogmatic and quite often inaccessible, urban golfers worldwide have adopted many different urban environments as their new course to engage in this recreational pastime. Commonly, urban golf organisations tend toward using disused or under utilised urban areas to play golf, not just to reduce the risk of damage or injury, but also as a statement toward the development and reuse of the city. Some have found themselves being commended for this, such as the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment's (CABE)http://www.cabe.org.uk support of Shoreditch Golf Club in London.Whilst there is a seemingly inherent disregard for public safety and damage to buildings, all organisations have one common rule, safety.
Balls
Balls used in urban golf vary relative to each organization and context. Although real golf balls are used in some circumstances where risk from injury is low, other balls used are Tennis Balls, Squash Balls, almostGOLF Point3 balls (used by Urban Golf associations throughout Belgium), Air Flow Balls, Cayman Balls and many types of adapted or customized balls. Shoreditch Golf Club produces and manufactures its own design of ball specifically for this game.Golf clubs
A standard set of golf clubGolf club (equipment)
A golf club is used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a clubhead. Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; irons, the most versatile class, are used for a variety of shots; Hybrids that combine design elements of woods and...
s is used in urban golf. The three major club types; woods, irons, and putters are used to varying degrees depending on the urban golf format.
Australian Urban Golfers prefer to use a mixed bag which includes a nice high club around the S PW or 9 area a driving club which would be no lower than a 5 or 7 Iron and also a left-handed club for getting out of tight situations where you have been turned around or up against an object.
Campus Golf
Campus golf is a variant of urban golf with several adaptations for ease of play on college campuses. The almostGOLF College Tour is an on campus golf tournament with tour stops on college and university campuses across the United States such as, The LMU Open and USC Open. Players on the Tour use almostGOLF's Point3 ball which is campus safe and wayward almostGOLF balls will not damage buildings or cars. The almostGOLF College Tour includes a driving range, skills challenge including a Flop Shot Wall, and multi-hole course setup throughout a campus. The goal is to grow the game of golf with college students.The most notable change from traditional golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
is the substitution of a tennis ball
Tennis ball
A tennis ball is a ball designed for the sport of tennis,approximately 6.7 cm in diameter. Tennis balls are generally bright green, but in recreational play can be virtually any color. Tennis balls are covered in a fibrous fluffy felt which modifies their aerodynamic properties...
for the golf ball
Golf ball
A golf ball is a ball designed to be used in the game of golf.Under the Rules of Golf, a golf ball weighs no more than 1.620 oz , has a diameter not less than 1.680 in , and performs within specified velocity, distance, and symmetry limits...
with the exception of the almostGOLF tournaments which use the Patented Point3 ball. Players each select a single golf club
Golf club (equipment)
A golf club is used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a clubhead. Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; irons, the most versatile class, are used for a variety of shots; Hybrids that combine design elements of woods and...
(most games require that a player play with an iron) for use during the entire game. Rules vary from college to college, but in every game the object is to strike a pre-selected object with the tennis ball with as few strokes as possible. In many cases, alcohol is involved in college campus golf tournaments, and the event is often associated with a full day of binge drinking. While at times dangerous (and in many cases illegal), this adds a humorous and challenging touch to the game, as players become less and less coordinated as the day goes on.
Locations
Urban golf is played on almost every continent, with clubs, associations, and loose fraternities of members in dozens of countries.North America, urban golf's founding continent, has some of the more well-established clubs. Currently, the sport is played in the U.S. in the states of California http://offcoursegolfnetwork.com, http://www.urban-golf.org/, http://www.myspace.com/sdurbangolf; Florida http://www.myspace.com/pinellascacophony; Illinois http://cudgel.org/; New York http://www.uticaurbangolf.com/; Oregon http://nwurbansports.wordpress.com/; and Washington http://www.seattleurbangolf.com/; and in Canada in the province of Nova Scotia http://hfxurbangolf.wordpress.com/.
Quickly becoming the epicentre of urban golf, Europe has more associations than any other continent, with the game being played in (in alphabetical order) Belgium http://www.urban-golf.be, http://www.urbangolfkortrijk.be; Denmark http://www.swc-golf.de/; France http://www.urbangolf.fr/, http://www.19mtrou.com/, http://www.urbangolfer.fr/; Germany http://www.naturalborngolfers.com/en/news; Italy http://www.urban-golf.it/; The Netherlands http://www.urbanstreetgolf.com/, http://rotterdamstreetgolf.nl/, http://www.urbangolf.nl/; Poland http://www.offgolfers.pl/, http://www.moshgolfers.com/; Portugal http://www.myspace.com/ritagroba; Russia http://urban-golf.ru/; Switzerland http://www.urbangolf.ch; and the U.K. http://www.sgcgolf.com/.
In Oceania, urban golf is played in Australia http://www.australianurbangolf.com, http://www.myspace.com/urban_golf and New Zealand http://www.theidiotinstitute.com/blog/?p=50.
South America is a new addition to the world of urban golf, but has associations in Argentinahttp://www.urbangolfargentina.com/ and Brazilhttp://www.westcoast.com.br/urbangolf/sobre-urban-golf/.
In Media
Urban golfing was prominently featured in a popular 1994 Spike JonzeSpike Jonze
Spike Jonze is an American director, producer and actor, whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television...
-directed music video of Dinosaur Jr
Dinosaur Jr
Dinosaur Jr. is an American alternative rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1984. Originally called Dinosaur, prior to legal issues that forced the group to change their name, the band disbanded in 1997 until reuniting in 2005...
's Feel the Pain
Without a Sound
Without a Sound is the sixth studio album by alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr, released on August 23, 1994. It is the first Dinosaur Jr. album not to feature Murph on drums, who is replaced by vocalist and guitarist J. Mascis. It is also their most commercially successful album, peaking at number...
. Urban Golf has also been featured in an episode of CSI: NY
CSI: NY
CSI: NY is an American police procedural television series that premiered on September 22, 2004, on CBS. The show follows the investigations of a team of NYPD forensic scientists and police officers as they unveil the circumstances behind mysterious and unusual deaths as well as other crimes...
entitled "Necrophilia Americana". Good Magazine featured an article about urban golf in 2008. Similarly, Babelgum Metropolis has written about urban golf, including a video of golfers showcasing the sport.