The first European UrbanGolf Cup is in the bag. I’ve been hearing from all sides, but the fact is that this is the first legitimate urbangolf competition between France and Germany. Both countries went with 9 teams per 3 players at the start. It has played an individual, a team and a team competition.

Germany pulled it out for the win on all fronts. Ouch. Check out the video. Great job http://www.Crossgolf-portal.de for the video.

Here is an article from the Crossgolf girls of Wiesloch. If you have google translate it should do a good job: http://www.diekopffuessler.de/2013/04/europameister-2013/

Check out the victory photos:

This blog is authored by Jeff Tracy

The world’s number one ranked golfer can win anywhere, even in the middle of the city!  Rory McIlroy won the Urban Golf Challenge leading up to the Hong Kong Open Wednesday night.  He, along with Jose Maria Olazabal, Paul Lawrie, Matt Kuchar, and Hong Kong  native Steven Lam, competed in a hole-in-one contest in the city’s central district.  McIlroy hit the closest shot of anyone, when his ball struck the flagstick and ended only a couple of feet from the hole.  McIlroy joked with the press afterwards.  “I’ve won four tournaments this year but this was the biggest one of the lot!  I was nervous at The Ryder Cup but nothing compared to this!”  We need to get them some almostGOLF balls and let them build an entire course around the city! Then everybody could join in and have a go at it!! A link to the video can be found below:

http://www.7msport.com/video/20121116/2702.shtml

I have the give the Grenoble streetgolf crew known as http://www.golf-hors-pistes.com (aka play off course) major cuddos for their ball logos and shots from 2011.  Bravo to you all. Check out that roof shot over Grenoble-Paris? I am not actually sure, but how cool is that. I want to hit that shot.

Golf Pistes put on events in Grenoble and the ski station of Verbie….very cool. They even did a bunch of junior ‘grow the game of golf’ events as well. Bravo #2 If you want to see all their pictures, check out the complete photo set on their facebook page

This blog is authored by Jeff Tracy

Winter weather is right around the corner in many parts of the northern hemisphere, and the GolfFellas at Crossgolf Stuttgart and Winetown  Crossgolfers are gearing up for their second annual Santa Crossgolf Open in Winetown.  The event takes place on December 1st, at the Wine Town school and sports complex, and all proceeds will go to the childrens’ Adventure Playground of Wine Town. The 2011 event was a success and this year is sure to be no different. The grounds will open at 11 AM and the event will begin at 1 PM, and will take place rain or shine. There will be refreshments located at the sports hall for all participants and the entrance fee is €15 (students pay €10). There’s no word yet whether Santa Claus will make a special trip down from the North Pole to be a part of this event, but either way, children in Southwestern Germany will be very happy during the holidays.

2011 Santa Crossgolf Open Highlights:

This blog is authored by Jeff Tracy

Since 2008, the Hook and Slice Crossgolf Club of  Elster (Germany) has been hosting Crossgolf events around the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.  Their home course (see photo below) is played with real golf balls instead of almostGOLF balls, but the crossgolf spirit remains.  The Crossgolf Course Elster was built over a former gravel pit/landfill in 2007, there are 9 holes, and players feel like they are playing a combination of a golf course, a park, and a disc golf course all in one.  But beware!  Don’t miss the fairway on this course; the rough (or jungle) will swallow up any golf shot hit offline.  It’s hard to imagine how tough this course could be as an 18-hole course played with almostGOLF balls. It would be like the Cooper’s Lake Open on steroids.  Lot’s of carnage and high scores!  There is a link to their website (which includes detailed descriptions of each hole on their course) at the bottom of the page).

Their club plays numerous events on the Crossgolf Course Elster throughout the year as well as events at other venues around Central Germany.  The top 14 players at each event receive points that go toward the Central Germany Crossgolf Rankings and events held on their course receive points that go toward the Elbe Crossgolf Cup.  Last weekend, they played their final round of the year on the course and wrapped up the Crossgolf Cup race.  This year’s club champion is Stefan Hagendorf (Elster, Germany).  There is still one more event left (November 17th), which will decide the overall Central Germany Crossgolf Rankings.  The event will begin at 6:00 PM at Crossgolf Course Elster.  There is a € 10 entrance fee and the event will be played with almostGOLF NT glow balls.  The club champion will be honored at the event.  A link to their updated rankings can be found at the bottom of the page.

Here is the translation from their site:

The battle for the Gold Crown Club champion and the challenger has finished the last year – has done it, he can take the throne and overthrows the last year’s champion. Although the Club Championship with the tournament of 28 October is completed, the battle for the Central German Cross Golf Ranking continues unabated.

Over the summer, Crossgolf Portal founder Klaus Simianer of Germany, and American David Cox set a Guinness World Record for most golf balls caught over 100 meters in under a minute. They secured a location (Duisburg Landscape Park, in Duisburg, Germany)  and scheduled the date of their attempt with a Guinness World Record judge for June 6, 2012.  Klaus hit, while David, a baseball player, caught each ball in his baseball glove.  The rules were very simple; Klaus had to hit each shot at least 100 meters and David had to catch as many as he could within 1 minute.  I recently had a conversation about it with Klaus via Skype.  He told me the biggest factor was the weather; a rainstorm had just passed through the area, the ground was very wet, and sudden gusts of wind made it difficult to judge the distance.  Klaus used an 8-iron, mainly to keep the ball lower (less air time means more shots can be hit) and to prevent high spin (which makes a ball difficult to catch).  It turned out to be a wise club choice as David caught 6 out of 7 balls within the time limit. The 7th ball exceeded the 60 second time limit, so it was thrown out.  Klaus and David were anxious as they waited for the results, but were relieved when the judge announced they had set a new Guinness World Record.  Congratulations Klaus and David!  I think we could see a few others have a go at this record in the future.  Those brave enough to attempt it will need to hit the ball low, to save as much time as possible, but still get it over 100 meters.  Remember, you will need a judge to make it official.  Good luck to anyone who sees this and wants to give it a shot!         -Jeff Tracy

Unfortunately, the video is only available in German:

Here’s the story straight from Crossgolf Portal:

With a beer every now and then to get so ridiculous to think so even after a round of golf with a beer with my buddy David. David is an American baseball player and avid … “Have you ever tried to catch a golf ball?” – “No, but let us try,” was his answer. The idea was only then again a few months on ice.
Eventually the idea of Guinness World Records ™ has been created in this book I’ve always wanted anyway. Google + Home + E = recall of RTL2 – “Do you know the Guinness World Records ™ TV show?”
2 months later, the appointment was for the record attempt. We met in Duisburg Landscape Park, where our playground:

It was hit in 60 seconds as many golf balls that had to walk more than 100m, only to be caught. After several training sessions, we have opted for a loose 8 iron 120m and put safety first. The 100m staked and the hitting mat constructed and already David could try to catch as many balls.

On Saturday, October 13th, Germany’s Porn (P = Play  O = Over   R = Real   N = Nature) Golfer Club contested their second Desert Open at Fuerteventura in the beautiful Spanish Canary Islands.  25 competitors from 4 different countries played 18 holes of crossgolf along the beach outside of the town of Corralejo.  Porn Golfer HaPe “Doc” Hornig won by 13 strokes with a dazzling round of 63. the Desert Open Champion received free lessons in scuba diving and mountain biking as part of the prize. The participants spent the better half of the night partying and celebrating after a wonderful event. Golf on the beach, in paradise. Can’t get much better than that! Here’s their take on the event (translated by Google):

On Saturday, 13.10. organized the Porngolfer Fuerte their “Desert Open” in Corralejo for the 2 Time this year, was attended by 25 male and female players on the challenge of fighting for more than 18 tracks sand, wind and a bespickten with difficult targets course. The field consisted of Spanish, English, Swiss, and Porngolfer from Walldorf and Fuerteventura and Flo from the Alb and the interrupted his holiday to Lanzarote for a day.

At 12 clock meeting place was in our Factory Team Sponsors “Extreme Animals welcome and briefing the participants in which each player has his own” was presented with Desert Open “T-shirt by Helmut.

Against 13 clock, the entire entourage made their way towards the tournament site, the dunes of Corralejo. Flights 5, with 5 players distributed over the course of 9 holes and made the gun start to the trip. The course ran through the park eingeramt by a beautiful scenery with views across to the Sea, Kitesurf umbrellas in the sky in the background and the islands of Lobos and Lanzarote. The objectives eg surfboard, kayak, etc. were adjusted loving the atmosphere, but the highlight was the haircut of a ruined tower in a typical local wind force 4 to 7!

After about 2 hours the first participants have the first Rummaging round and could strengthen with cold drinks and Bocadillos for the second 9 holes.

About 18 clock then the last station wobbled after 5 hours Cross Golf Marathon in the nearby “Wind Bar” at the awards ceremony.

Apparently caught our Doc a sensational day, because he was with a score of 63 strokes, the remaining participants with an advantage of 13 proposals behind! Second was the president of the Porngolfer Fuerte, Charly with 76 strokes, followed by Flo, the Ostalb pitchers, with 78 strokes, followed by Dirk (Walldorf, Germany) with 80 and Winnie (Bolivar) with 85 strokes.

The ladies competition was won by Jana clear with 98 strokes before Helen with 120 and above Helga (no rating). The prize was not only glory, but also high-quality trainings for diving and mountain biking, as well as shopping vouchers in boutiques of Corralejo.  Following the ceremony a common Spanish barbecue and celebrations followed until late at night in the bars of Corralejo.

Original Recordings of the participants, such as hot, outstanding, hammer, class, etc. can only reflect about the impressions of this event and we thank the organizing team around Helga, Helmut, Charly and Volker for this outstanding organization and execution of a memorable tournament!

Howdy everyone, Jeff Tracy here. I just finished editing the video for this year’s Cooper’s Lake Championship and thought, ‘Why not throw in a blog about it?’ So here it is:

Over Labor Day weekend, we held the 2012 Cooper’s Lake Championship at our campground (Cooper’s Lake) in Slippery Rock, PA. This was my second year hosting the Championship, and second Crossgolf tournament of the year at the campground. The “Cooper’s Lake Major Championships” as many have started calling them, are crossgolf tournaments played exclusively with the almostGOLF ball on an 18-hole course built on the rolling fields and woods on our property.

After receiving some harsh criticism from players at the Cooper’s Lake Open in May, I wanted to make sure I built a course that was fair, forgiving and provided scoring opportunities on the closing holes. I chose to build a links course with low rough, shorter holes and hidden fairways that rewarded the player who did his homework.  The Churchfield Links – Black Course (located in the field below the local church) has a par of 71 and measures 6,430 feet from the championship tees.

On the day of the tournament, we were a little short on players, and those who were there, pressured me into playing in my own event.  I managed to put together my best round ever at the campground and it just so happened to be the same day as the Cooper’s Lake Championship.  Josh, who had won back-to-back Cooper’s Lake Opens was the favorite to win and managed to post a one-over 72 which was good enough to give him second place.  For awhile, it was a pretty tight race between us.  He birdied the par-5 8th hole to tie me, and I took back the lead with a birdie of my own at 8.  I had a one stroke lead going into the back nine, but put my foot on the gas with birdies on 10, 12, 16 and 17 and an eagle on 14.

My stepdad, Tom,  couldn’t stop hitting into the ditches and jagger bushes (thorn bushes for those of you born outside of Western Pennsylvania) which resulted in a couple of big numbers on his scorecard.  Despite his round of 87, he still took third place.  After the front nine, I thought Dusty might finish in third, but three straight triple bogeys on the back nine ended his chances.  He did, however, provide us with the shot of the day, when he holed his birdie chip on 17 from 70 feet away.  Unfortunately, we were unable to get that shot on video.

In the Intermediate division, Rich Reitmeyer, who lost in a playoff to Ellsy Johnston at the Open last May, got his revenge over Ellsy, and now takes home bragging rights.

Overall, we had a good event.  The weather was nice, the scores were much lower than they were at the Open, and we got some great footage for our video.

I’ve already started on plans for next year’s Cooper’s Lake Open.  When I get everything finished, I’ll put up a blog about that too. The updated ‘Official Cooper’s Lake Golf Rankings’ still have Josh Short as the #1 ranked player at Cooper’s Lake Campground. After winning back-to-back Cooper’s Lake Open titles in 2011 and 2012 and finishing runner-up at the 2012 Championship, Short will certainly be the favorite to win when he tees it up at the 2013 Cooper’s Lake Open, which promises to once again show why it is the toughest test in all of crossgolf.

                                     Churchfield Links (Black Course) Scorecard:

                           2012 Cooper’s Lake Championship Video:

Here are the 2012 Cooper’s Lake Championship Results:

Advanced Division

1   Jeff Tracy (Slippery Rock, PA)   64 (-7)

2   Josh Short (Green Tree, PA)   72 (+1)

3   Tom Metcalf (Bridgewater, PA)   87 (+16)

4   Matt Kaminski (Bethel Park, PA)   90 (+19)

5   Dustin Hribal (Slippery Rock, PA)   91 (+20)

6   Rob Varner (Bethel Park, PA)   101 (+30)

7   Ron Baselj (Bridgeville, PA)   104 (+33)

Intermediate Division

1   Rich Reitmeyer (Cecil, PA)   74 (+3)

2   Ellsy Johnston (Sewickly, PA)   76 (+5)

3   Ed Auth (Carnegie, PA)   85 (+14)

4   Jim Friel (Cecil, PA)   89 (+18)

5   Dan Short (Green Tree, PA)   104 (+33)

Beginner Division

1   Phil Springirth (Slippery Rock, PA)   39 (+4)

2   Robin Springirth (Slippery Rock, PA   50 (+15)

3   Kyle Auth (Carnegie, PA)   57 (+22)

4   Tony Eggert (Bridgeville, PA)   68 (+33)

Earlier this month, Crossgolfers from all over Germany gathered for the 4th edition of the Crossgolf Cup on the donkey path. They had 31 players and a demanding 12-hole course that played dry and firm. Paul Hirschmann ran away and hid from the rest of the field en route to a 7-stroke victory over Marc Sigle and Michael Weidner. The players will be gearing up for the next big event, the 2012 Cross Golf Open in Mannheim, Germany, which will take place on September 22nd. Information on both events can be found at http://www.crossgolf-portal.de/index.php. Google doesn’t provide the best translations from German to English. I might need to brush up on my German.

Crossgolfcup on the donkey path was once again a great tournament with a very challenging 12 holes. After a short briefing is distributed to participants at the tracks and it was on time by 13 clock going with a shotgun start.

On the railways, was reliable as ever, by the cephalopods Wiesloch hosted in the golf cart. Undoubtedly one of the highlights included the reduction of the clubhouse terrace. With a score of 2 because it was already way up front …

The dryness of the grass was most players some unexpected problems, because the balls were on the sloping paths are not really moving but the law of gravity always receive the lowest point. All the more remarkable that cephalopods Paul Hirschmann with 7 strokes ahead of the tournament was able to win. Made the 2nd and 3rd place in a stinging LA Cross golfer Michael Weidner (3rd) and Winetown golfer Marc Sigle (2nd) from among themselves. Congratulations to the winners!

Big thanks to all participants, to the golf course on the donkey path and nachtürlich the cephalopods Wiesloch cater for `s. Looking forward to 2013, when it again on Eslespfad resounds: “Who is an ass cheating”

Who does not want to wait until next year, which can be happy on 09.22.12 Mannheim to come to our next event – we look forward to you.

Here the total score:

This is a translated excerpt from and French magazine Adikto. A magazine about sports, marketing and social media.