The Footgolf Revolution

In the second part of this feature, our writer takes up the footgolf challenge during a recent trip to Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen and recounts the experience.

- Jeffrey Oon

Cold, wet and my shoes and socks were soaked right through, but I’ve never had so much fun. That sums up my first experience playing FootGolf, the sport which combines kicking a normal sized football on a golf course. Apart from the ball size, pretty much all else follows the conventional rules of golf – scoring and etiquette included. I played just three roles due to bad weather, but got enough of a taste to understand the game’s appeal and trickiness.

This was a sport I’d research extensively about before for Golf Vacations so I was dying to give it a go for real. In the US and Europe, particularly the UK, the introduction of footgolf at traditional courses has revitalized interest in golf and boosted revenue streams at previously golf-only clubs.

We’ve already explored that in the previous story so let’s look at the growth here in Asia, or if there is even a significant one yet.

China, along with Japan and Korea, are leading the footgolf charge. All three sent national teams to compete at this year’s World Cup in Argentina. The Chinese team even included a name that may be familiar to some Singapore football fans in the form of 33-year-old Edison Luan Chen, a former S-League player with Geylang United and Tanjong Pagar. Backed by major golf course owner and operator Mission Hills Group, the Chinese FootGolf Federation was founded in March last year.

“My belief that footgolf has the potential to become a mainstream sporting activity has not wavered,” said Tenniel Chu, vice-chairman of the Mission Hills Group, at the Chinese national team’s launch in 2015.