Foot Golf is what it sounds like. It combines the game of golf with soccer.
Waukesha County Parks announced last week Monday that at the Moor Downs Golf Course has added an 18-hole foot golf course to the park. This is the first county-owned foot golf course, and the second foot golf course in the county.
Players have no heavy golf bag full of clubs; your legs are the only clubs you'll need. The hole is 21 inches in diameter, placed in the rough of the regular golf holes. The 'green' for the foot golf holes features much thicker grass than the greens on the regular holes. Also, the tee box markers are orange, as are the corresponding flags for the foot golf course.
'Foot golf is a way to encourage people to experience the golf course and enjoy a modified golf experience,' said Waukesha County Parks program specialist Ginny Bocek.
Bocek said the sport, catering to younger adults, serves all ability levels and gets groups of players together who may never otherwise set foot on a golf course. The sport easily co-exists with the traditional golf course, and within the first two days of opening June 22, 27 players had filtered through Moor Downs to play, with mostly word-of-mouth publicity.
Some footgolfers, like Dan Gonzalez, came from a golfing background.
'It is really fun; I saw it on Snapchat one day, and then last night, I looked it up online, and sure thing, it's like we're playing soccer out here on the golf course,' Gonzalez said during a round June 29. 'My friend kicked one in the pond.'
I played soccer from when I was 8 years old up until my freshmen year at Brookfield East, and to this day it is my favorite sport. I also took up regular golfing last summer with my best friend, and I still play with him whenever our busy schedules allow it. So I decided to give the new sport a try.
I began my first foot golf round on Thursday at Moor Downs, located at 438 Prospect Ave. in Waukesha. It was drizzling rain outside, but I was able to play through it. I obtained an unofficial scorecard and map from the staff at the clubhouse, who informed me that the scorecard was a draft, and the map they gave me didn't have the foot golf holes outlined on it yet.
The soccer part of this game fits perfectly with the game of golf in that your legs can actually be used as if you have three regular golf clubs with you. On the tee shot, I attempted to use the type of soccer kick where you point your foot down and give it a kick, like using your driver.
You can use a chip shot that you would get from a wedge or a high iron, but I think that would be most effective when your ball lands in the thicker grass on the course, because that way you can get your foot underneath the ball while you're kicking it, get it up in the air and still get a little bit power on it.
Lastly, putting can be done with the inside of your foot, as if the inside of your foot is the face of the putter. That way you can finesse the ball to the hole with more control.
There was a brief moment coming off of the 10th hole where I couldn't find the 11th hole out of two tee boxes that were directly next to each other, but I eventually found the correct one. Also, as I was rounding out the back nine, there were a few wildlife sighting along the way. One was on the 14th hole, where I saw a crane, and on the 17th, I saw two deer on the fairway.
According to the American Foot Golf League website, there are 16 foot golf courses in Wisconsin. Two are located in Waukesha County, including Moor Downs. The other is the Broadlands Golf Club located in North Prairie, which is in Southwestern Waukesha County. Milwaukee County, on the other hand, has four foot golf courses, including Lincoln Park, Doyne Park, Noyes Park, and Zablocki Park.
My outing took longer than expected because of how big this golf course is and trying to find some of the holes. So, if you decide to foot golf here, you may want to pay the extra money for a cart, because you will do a lot of walking. Any kind of golfing is also much better in a group, because that increases the competitiveness of the game. And who doesn't like a little friendly competition?
Foot golfing at Moor Downs costs $11 per player for 18 holes, and golf cart rentals are $7.50 per rider. You can bring your own ball or rent one from the clubhouse for $5. If you need more information call the Moor Downs clubhouse at (262) 548-7821 or visit golfwaukeshacounty.com.
Foot Golf Courses
Area courses that currently have setups established for Foot Golf include:
·Baehmanns Golf Center, Cedarburg
·Doyne Park, Milwaukee
·Lincoln Park, Milwaukee
·Noyes Park, Milwaukee
·Zablocki Park, Milwaukee
·Broadlands Golf Club, North Prairie
·Moor Downs Golf Course, Waukesha