FootGolf Gaining Popularity Across Michigan

The golf industry seeks new opportunities to attract families and young people to the game.
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Shanty Creek Resorts and other golf courses nationwide are trying to get a leg up on the competition by attracting more feet in the door with a growing phenomenon — the officially sanctioned FootGolf.

Played with a regulation soccer ball, FootGolf has its own tees and “greens” — typically shorter-cut grass off to the side of a golf course’s traditional greens. The cups are 21 inches in diameter and have a flag.

The rules of FootGolf closely correspond to regular golf and can be played at virtually the same pace and intermixed with traditional golfers going about their rounds. Many courses will set up two FootGolf holes on each par 4 and maybe squeeze in a third on par 5s. At Shanty Creek there is one FootGolf hole per regular hole on the Summit course.

In metro Detroit, Plymouth’s Fox Hills also began offering FootGolf this spring.

Brian Kautz, director of golf at Shanty Creek, said his vision was mom and dad playing golf while the kids came along and played FootGolf, maybe catching the bug to try putting a golf club in their hand down the road. But the majority of FootGolf players have been ages 18-30 and Kautz anticipates more than $10,000 in FootGolf revenue this summer.

“It’s been a huge success,” he said at a media event recently, where about 10 people played FootGolf all together. I found judging the slope of fairways, plus how much the grassy rough would or would not keep a ball from rolling back down some hills, was a key part of the strategy.

Kautz adds that there has been no backlash from traditional golfers at all. There have been thoughtful questions about what’s going on there, but nothing negative has come from the new concept. He sees a future where large groups looking for new activities that can involve everyone will turn to FootGolf.

Shanty Creek’s Summit course added 8-inch cups four years ago with special tees that created an all-par 3 course within a normal course. Now with FootGolf there are three distinctive pins and holes on or near every green. This summer the alternative 8-inch cups will be swapped out for 15-inch cups. Rounds at the Summit have never been more brisk.

“It’s all about making golf easier, making it about fun,” Kautz said, adding that he firmly believes the golf industry needs new opportunities to attract families and young people to the game.

So far the set up at Shanty Creek’s Summit course — one of 4 courses at the northern Michigan resort — is doing just that.

Tom Lang is a freelance writer who has written for the Detroit Free Press, Lansing State Journal, and GolfWeek. He is also a regular blogger for DBusiness.com.


 



Bob Krause’s Golf Tips

Smooth and Solid

It’s about rhythm:

Take the club back slowly and smoothly — allows a full body turn.

Keep a light grip pressure — allows wrist cock and release.

Keep your feet quiet — keeps the swing slower to maintain balance and enables a controlled smooth downswing.

If you try these a few times, you’ll find that you hit the ball more solid and further because the power is saved for impact, not lost in ‘jerky’ movements too early.

Bob Krause spent nine years playing numerous professional tours around the United States as well as participating in the PGA Tour Qualifying School.