“Intercropping” is the observe of rising two crops in the identical discipline concurrently like, say, sowing garlic alongside rows of tomatoes. FlingGolf works beneath considerably of the identical idea.
The sport, the place golf balls are hurled down fairways utilizing a basketed stick, is performed alongside conventional golf from the identical tees, with the identical tempo of play and with no course alterations required.
The seed for FlingGolf was planted on a farm west of Philadelphia the place Alex Van Alen grew up. A natural-born inventor, Van Alen dreamed up wacky sports activities whereas taking part in outdoors together with his brothers. These Frankensteinian amalgams tended to mash collectively sports activities—they’d tie on hockey skates and play soccer on ice, soar on grime bikes and toss round an final frisbee or trip Large Wheels down a sledding hill. So it’s becoming that, as an grownup, he dropped at market a lacrosse persist with a particular channel that holds golf balls with a putting pad on the outside for placing.
His creation began out extra as a passion than a enterprise concept. He performed lacrosse and however knew that with out main modifications to the basket finish of the stick, the ball would by no means journey far sufficient. His aim was to throw a golf ball 200 yards. Tinkering with the design of the jai-alai cesta—the hand-held wicker scoop used to propel the pelota within the sport fashionable in Spain, Latin America and Florida, and which holds the Guinness World File for the fastest-moving ball sport—did the trick. The present official document FlingGolf throw is 252 yards.
In stark distinction to the normal recreation, the educational curve may be very shallow. It takes roughly 20 minutes of instruction to be adept and round-ready. Unsurprisingly, mastering the texture wanted to excel within the brief recreation poses a higher problem.
Showtime
Austin Ebersole, 31, is the top-ranked FlingGolfer on the planet. Straddling the world of the normal recreation and FlingGolf, in his day job he’s the overall supervisor and instructing professional at American Traditional Golf, a nine-hole course in Lewes, Del.
5 years in the past, he stopped by the sales space of New Swarm, Van Alen’s firm that markets the FlingStick, the game’s single piece of kit. He wished to extend course utilization and this golf variant match the invoice.
“We wished to usher in one thing that households and other people on trip may do collectively. Generally, golf can take months and years to get adequate to the place you’re not embarrassed to play. I didn’t need Disc Golf as a result of that might require constructing a course and I didn’t need Foot Golf as a result of I didn’t wish to lower enormous holes into the greens. However this was the identical course, the identical par, utilizing the identical golf ball—you’re simply doing it a distinct method.”
The sunshine bulb went off instantly. Ebersole purchased a few FlingSticks and started introducing the sport to his clientele. He quickly realized he had a knack for it. The American Traditional GC hosted one of many sport’s first skilled tournaments in 2022. He completed fourth, incomes the nickname “Showtime” when, throughout the closing spherical, he raised his hand to his ear looking for a response from the gallery.
“I don’t know what came to visit me however, within the second, I went Hulk Hogan for 5 seconds and obtained all people to cheer earlier than my putt,” he remembers. A random spectator barked, “This man is all concerning the present!”
To cap off that spherical, Ebersole nailed a 16-foot par putt and celebrated by imitating Joyful Gilmore, placing the FlingStick between his legs and “using the horse.” That was the delivery of Showtime.
Crowd-rousing antics apart, he sensed that, if he put within the observe, he had an opportunity to possibly grow to be the Tiger Woods of FlingGolf.
“It was very eye-opening. I noticed a chance to do one thing professionally and doubtlessly grow to be the No. 1 participant on the planet whereas additionally being that unicorn that walked the road between the 2 completely different worlds of golf and FlingGolf and I had a blast doing it.”
Quick-forward to at this time. He has completed that aim with three skilled wins and has twice been named participant of the yr. There are 5 stops on the nascent World League FlingGolf Tour which simply named OnCore as its official golf ball for the 2024 season. Play has garnered protection on ESPN2 and regional grassroots leagues are bobbing up.
Whereas Van Alen gained’t reveal the gross sales quantity of FlingSticks (which retail for $124-$249), he permits that the determine is within the tens of hundreds and that the sport has been performed on roughly 4,000 programs in 33 nations. Whereas the early technique was to promote to golf equipment which might then hire them out, Van Alen has since pivoted to concentrate on the tip shopper in an effort to construct a participant group.
“We’ve transitioned from taking a look at golf programs as prospects to taking a look at gamers. We promote much more sticks to particular person gamers now and we all know that they will get on nearly any course. We virtually by no means hear of anyone getting rejected.”
