May 25, 2015 at 11:16 a.m.
A new fling
Course introducing golf/lacrosse hybrid to the Northwoods
A new fling
But what if you didn't have to hit the ball?
That's a concept being tossed around at Pinewood Country Club in Harshaw, which is bringing "FlingGolf" to the Northwoods.
The best way to describe FlingGolf is it's a golf/lacrosse hybrid. Only one club, called a FlingStick, is required to play. At first blush the stick looks like a standard club with a graphite shaft, but the clubhead more closely resembles a wiffle toss toy and is used to propel the ball down the fairway.
FlingGolf is a fledgling concept that was started by a small company in the Northeast - sales started late last year according to the company's website. Pinewood owner Chip Bromann said he stumbled upon FlingGolf during the offseason.
"I was reading some publications over the wintertime," Bromann said. "I like to catch up on my reading and I came across it. I found out that there was a fellow golf course owner over in the Green Bay area that was doing it. So I called them up and talked to them about it and got some ideas. In spring we purchased some materials for it and we're getting starting on it."
FlingGolf, according to literature on its website, is branding itself similar to the way that snowboard has with downhill skiing. Both can be played on the same course at the same time, just as skiers and snowboarders share the hill.
A small number of FlingSticks have been sitting around the clubhouse at Pinewood this spring, piqueing the curiosity of those who visit the course.
"A lot of my members are asking, 'What is this thing?' So I say, I'll grab one and we'll go out on the first tee, take some balls and let them throw it around and get used to it," Bromann said.
Jason Kral, a member at Pinewood, tried the FlingStick for the first time earlier this month. Kral said he averages about 250 yards off the tee with a driver in standard golf and, within a couple of hours, was flinging the ball in excess of 175 yards.
"It was actually a pretty good workout," Kral said. "You're jumping around and doing a crow's hop to throw it and (I) worked up a little bit of a sweat. It's fun."
While FlingGolf and standard golf can be played on the same course at the same time there are several differences in the rules of the two games.
First is the simple concept of moving the ball toward the hole. In golf, the ball is played as it lies. In FlingGolf participants can get a running start, so long as they don't throw the ball from beyond the tee blocks or where their last shot came to rest.
Hit the ball out of bounds in a standard game of golf? That's a two-stroke penalty. It's one stroke for hitting it into the water. Going OB, flinging into the drink or finding a bunker in FlingGolf will cost the golfer a stroke. But instead of re-hitting from the point of the last shot, as one would after going out of bounds or losing a ball in the woods, golfers can move back five steps from where their ball crossed into the hazard and fling away.
Even putting is somewhat different. Instead of the typical pendulum motion of striking a putt, a flinger rests the ball on a small notch on the side of the clubhead and either pushes or pulls the ball toward the hole.
The theory is that FlingGolf will be a faster, more cost-effective way to get players out on the course.
"FlingGolf should be played in a shorter period of time, so it takes less time," Bromann said. "You're playing with one club and not a set of 14 clubs and you don't need to have (a premium ball like) the Titleist Pro V1 in your bag in order to play. You can play with any golf ball.
"It's just the fact that it's something different and hopefully it will reach a different demographic of golfer - looking for a younger golfer, athletic golfer to come out and try something new and not have the huge investment in golf club and the time that it takes to play a regular game of golf."
The swing is much different, too. Two techniques described on the FlingGolf website are the baseball swing (pictured above) and the lacrosse swing, which more closely resembles an angler casting his or her bait.
"It's a lot different," Kral said. "It's just a different mentality. You're not hitting a ball, you're throwing a ball."
"It's more upper body," Bromann added, describing the muscles used during a Fling swing. "It's not (using) your core as much. It's more your shoulders that are having to turn around. The turn in golf is more in your stomach muscles. Now it's more in your shoulders."
Bromann said he's hoping the sport will catch on in the next 3-5 years and that he's planning to incorporate the FlingStick into some of the side events played during various golf outings at the course this summer.
"We're offering them free range balls. They can take a fling stick out of the pro shop," he added. "They can come out here and throw it around and kind of get it. After a while, you kind of get the technique down."
It may not look the same, but in the end the concept behind FlingGolf is very familiar.
"It's just a neat thing that somebody had an idea to go out on the golf course on a beautiful day and just do something different," Kral said.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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