September 10, 2011

How it came to be…

It started off as a conversation between three cities that perhaps none believed would in the end encompass so many and has now turned into an event that over 12 countries will be involved in. Who would have thought that a bunch of urban golfers could organize such an event; we did.

At first, the cities of Caldas da Rainha Portugal, Paris France and Portland (Ore) in the United States where involved. While looking into the huge amount of people that play the sport throughout the world, it became clear that we needed to involve as many urban golfers/clubs as possible. We began to converse with urban golf groups from around the world by contacting them through the web, Facebook and MySpace, and from there it took off. Type ‘urban golf’ into any search engine and over 200 links/pages come up of groups or clubs, past tournaments and video and pictures, all revolving around the sport.

This year we are not sure how many cities will be participating in their version of Urban Golf. What is Urban Golf you ask, imagine regular ole’ golf with a twist and a tennis ball. We play on the streets of cosmopolitan areas, in neighborhoods, on college campuses, in parks and in industrial wastelands. Holes can be any inanimate object and the length might be determined by watering holes, roadside attractions, busy streets and of course the law. There are no set rules that govern the sport or standardized equipment. A few aspects that are true to the sport no matter what country it is being played in are the feel of community among players and more than anything the love of the alternative sport itself.

So where can you see or play Urban Golf… Im still sorting these out…

Australia
Several locations, Urban Golf Australia

Belgium
Brussels

Brazil
São Paulo

France
Reims, LibertySwing
Grenoble, GreGre Street Golf Open Revenge
Communauté Urban Golf Saint-Malo
Parc des Promenades, Saint-Brieuc
Lille, Urban Green

Germany
Wilhelmshaven, Urban Golf Club
Worms, Urban Golf Worms
Paris, 19emeTrou

Netherlands
Amsterdam, Crew Ugc

New Zealand
Wellington

Portugal

South Africa
Urban Golf South Africa / Urban Golf Xtreme

Spain

Switzerland
Lausanne, Urbangolf

Sweden
Stockholm, X – Golf | Crossgolf | Urban Golf i Stockholm

USA
Portland, Portland Urban Golf Crew

Canada
Halifax Urban Golf

Will update as soon as I hear…

Portlanders:

It looks like it will be one of the hottest days of the year!

Watering holes include Pyramid Brewing, The notorious Quickie Mart car wash (you know the one), a lemonade stand at the 7th hole and then a non official WUGD H2O hole (@ #11) while finishing up at Casa Diablo.

If you have any questions, please feel free to send them our way.

We will begin to add links to courses being played around the globe as they come in. If you want to join us by having your own course, please send us a link.

Map Here

Map in the next couple of days…