ier this month on Saturday 11 October we saw the 8th annual iteration of World Urban Golf Day.
For those of you that haven’t heard of it yet, World Urban Golf Day is an event that is held every year in cities around the world to promote and celebrate the sport of Urban Golfing.
As its name suggests urban golf is golf played everywhere except for on a course. Players trade traditional golfing equipment for a single club and some off course approved balls to participate in a game that is limited only by your imagination, or as they put it “No rules, no boundaries”.
This year the Australian contingent of Urban Golfers took to the streets of Newcastle on the east coast of Australia around a specially adapted 7 hole street golf course. Holes featured challenges designed to test the players imagination with some having to rebound balls around corners while dodging parked cars and also pedestrians. The holes were modified garbage cans with flags in them with bonus points awarded for getting in the bin or making an unexpected shot.
This year was especially exciting as the team from Urban Golf Australia crowned their first ever Australian champion. After 7 rounds of competition the World Urban Golf Day course was the final challenge with the contest coming down to the wire, being decided by only a single stroke. Congratulations to Braden Hunter and the Red Blues Team for their win.
Later in the day prizes were also awarded for best dressed, chipping and putting competitions as local musicians took the stage to round out the day’s activities.
This year’s competition took place in 14 countries and 65 cities and will be an event to look out for in years to come. Next up on the Urban Golf calendar is the European Urban Golf Cup which is taking place in early 2015 in England. Last year’s event was hotly contested with the German’s taking out the 2014 title.
If you want to learn more about Urban Golfing both here and around the world just look up the guys from Urban Golf Australia at: www.australianurbangolf.com