Sports golf seeks a younger and more diverse audience with football golf

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The principle is simple. Instead of a club, you use your foot and the golf ball is exchanged for a soccer ball. Everything else works the same as with golf; try to get the ball into a hole with as few attempts as possible. The sport has been around for some time and there are already Dutch national championships and world cups.

According to former professional footballer Edwin Gorter, who oversees the project in Middelburg, it is not a leisure sport, but a sport where it is serious. “I didn’t know at first that it was played so professionally.” According to Gorter, the sport is also ideal for footballers who “are not so tense anymore”. By that he means, among other things, his own age. “I’m 57 now. What you could do on land twenty years ago, you can’t do anymore.”

It is also an individual sport. Another advantage, according to Gorter: “You are not dependent on your team. You are not dependent on leaving at 10 am on Sunday morning and only eight out of sixteen men show up. You don’t have that here.

With the introduction of the sport, Middelburg Golf Course also hopes to attract a younger and more diverse audience. “Absolutely. I think it’s a lot of fun for the kids,” Gorter says. And it’s a free sport. “You can also continue to play football. If you play with A1 on Saturday afternoon, you can come and play four-a-side football on Friday or Sunday,” says Gorter. “Then you have that ball feel and it’s fun for your hitting technique.”