FOOTBAG GOLF.

[Vraidave]

So i've heard vague mentions of footbag golf in the past, but never anything concrete. I've never read any specific rules, what kind of holes or equipment you need, or anything specific like that. But it just sounds fun.

My interest basically started like this:
I was at a friends house for a small party (more of a get together) and everyone left to go pick someone up except me and my friend doug. We were kind of tired and he likes to kick around but doesnt do any freestyle, so we just kinda started playing foorbag golf on a weird whim.

The rules we made are as follows:
Choose a ground target. Can be a cement path or a manhole cover with no large holes. Smaller size increases hole difficulty.

Choose a tee off point. Place it so there are turns or obstacles between you and the hole for more interest.

Take turns kicking! See how many strokes it takes to reach the hole. We normally just take turns, but i suppose you can do turns however you please.

If it hits your foot it is a stroke. If it misses completely, then it doesnt count. Congrats, you suck so bad it helped out.

Least number of strokes at the end wins.

Come up with house rules as you please.


We like to use one of my cheap old bags because it is a high impact game when going for long drives. I assume a net bag would be pretty good for footbag golf. Its a lot of fun and is easy to gey creative with holes. For example, yesterday we teed off from the bottom of a playscape at a park and set the target on top of the playscape.

Has anyone else played footbag golf? How did you do it? I wanna hear your stories!

[Allan]

Footbag Golf is an official Footbag Sport, dating back to 1982 You might find this helpful:

http://www.footbag.org/rules/chapter/400

I don't think there's been an official Golf event at World's for a number of years now.

It's a fun-ish game They use net bags as 'drivers' and freestyle bags as 'putters' ...

[Vraidave]

Huh. Interesting. Its cool to see how well structured it is. Still i prefer my backyard rules i think. Like i said it just sort of sprung out of boredom around my friends townhouse complex.

[boyle]

Think the last golf at worlds was in Berlin. I think it can be a lot of fun, we have had some really good events going along Sydney Harbour in previous years at the Australian champs.

[Jeremy]

Yep, lots of fun. Your rules seem pretty close to the official rules. I guess the concept is pretty straight forward.

One thing I'd add is that you can increase the fun of a course by nominating particular ways you have to interact with objects. For example in the local park where we played we would have courses that would require getting the bag to touch a particular statue and then go through a hole in a sign, before ending up at the final marker. I think the rules call these "mandatories".

Having a couple of bags is a good idea too - a netbag or similar for driving and soft bag for "putting".

[Outsider]

I've played footbag golf on only a very few occasions. One rule that I was surprised to learn in the official rules of footbag golf: one must demonstrate CONTROL of your feet after a put. This is to say, when you are putting into a golf hole, a players is basically required to put their putting foot back down carefully next to their support leg. You can't just kick at the bag and drop your kicking foot down in any old way. You must kick under control, and show control by not losing your balance and putting your foot bag down where it started. I don't know exactly WHY that is a rule, but I can imagine circumstances of people putting a little wildly and stepping on the golf-hole in the process, or stepping on somebody elses bag / marker that was close the hole... I don't know.

I can't really remember at all if that "show control" business applies to a drive as well as a put.

[Jeremy]

I reckon it's to stop people from leaning out too far, especially if there's an obstacle in the way that is obscuring the shot from the true position. We've usually be a little loose rules in Australia though, although we have had golf at each Aus Champs since the late 2000s. I think the influence of Australian Rules Football where you drop a ball from your hand to kick with your foot, makes it especially appealing here.

[Asmus]

I can't really remember at all if that "show control" business applies to a drive as well as a put.

If I remember correctly it does. The line from which you drive behind, you need to plant your kicking foot behind. So you can't just run or jump into the kick and continue forward over the line.