In the 12 days since BREC’s City Park golf course introduced FootGolf, a new hybrid game of golf and soccer, 130 people have been out to play—representing about 25% of all players on the course over that span.
“It’s popular; more than I thought” it would have been, says City Park Manager Danny Simoneaux.
While the new game is not yet drawing as many people to City Park as traditional golf is, FootGolf—which is played with the same rules as golf, but with larger holes, feet instead of clubs, and soccer balls instead of golf balls—is bringing more young people to the course, Simoneaux says. Most of the FootGolfers he has seen so far are aged in their late teens up to late 20s.
However, FootGolf hasn’t drawn as many players to J.S. Clark Park, the only other park at which BREC has launched the new game. That park has seen about 20 players so far, says BREC Golf Director Michael Raby. He speculates that J.S. Clark, located at 2301 Thomas Road, hasn’t seen as many FootGolfers so far because it’s not as centrally situated in the parish as City Park.
Raby spearheaded the addition of FootGolf to the traditional golf courses to bring fresh people to them. He pushed for the new game after seeing it take off where he previously worked in Ohio.
“Where we have golf courses, where we have more availability, we are trying to encourage people to use the facility,” Raby says. “My focus is to make our golf courses as successful as they can be, and to get as many people as possible to use them as golf courses.”
The sport is fun and anyone can play it, Raby says, which helps get people out on the courses. BREC also is working to add more junior tees and increase junior golf programs to attract larger crowds.
Though some have wondered if friction between golfers and the new FootGolfers might emerge, Simoneaux says few of the traditional golfers have complained about the FootGolfers. He notes that the games are played the same way and that the FootGolfers don’t get in the way of the traditional golfers.
“A lot of these people have never played golf before,” Simoneaux says of the FootGolfers. “It’s more people at the facility, which is always a positive.”
FootGolf is offered at the parks between 11 a.m. and sundown daily. Tee times are not required. Green fees are $8 for juniors and seniors; $10 for adults on weekdays and $12 on weekends. BREC also is renting out soccer balls to FootGolfers who don’t have their own, at $3 per rental.
—Deanna Narveson
