This is a translated excerpt from and French magazine Adikto. A magazine about sports, marketing and social media.
This weekend took place the last stage of the championship of France Golf Street in Paris, on the roof of the French Institute of fashion and design.Organized by the association, the 19th hole , a pillar in the sport of streetgolf, we went to explore this alternative practice that is attracting more and more people.
What is the street course?
During this final stage of the championship of France, we took advantage of the presence of many participants to learn about their practice.
The Paris pro tour is a structured organization with an office and associations, bringing together the presidents of seven major associations in France, which holds the championship for two years in France consists of 7 stops. Here is a list of the best known clubs/associations.
19m hole (Paris)- Urban Green Lille (Lille)
- Los Golfos (Paris)
- Golf Street (Amiens)
- Liberty Swing (Reims)
- Lost Balls (Strasbourg)
- Empire Streetgolfing (Bordeaux)
- Golf terrain (Saint Cyr Sur Mer)
- Duffers (Rennes)
- FreeGolf Montpellier (Montpellier)
- The Lemon Crew (Nantes)
- Urban Sandwedges Crew (Saint-Brieuc)
- Golf Rider (Paris)
- Golf Tracks Off (Grenoble)
Participants compete individually or in teams, and the principle is simple: find a spot in the city and transform trash, a manhole, a tree-hole golf course. The difficulty lies in the obstacles such as stairs, benches, public, and all the furniture that you just harder. Obviously the ‘golf balls‘ are state of the art and specially designed to not break windows or dent cars, which is good because ball danger and damage have been the greatest barriers to the development of legitimate streetgolf. These balls are very close to traditional golf balls. Most of these “street golfers” also practice traditional golf but it is the freedom, fun and offbeat side of the street course that led him to create associations that are currently not recognized by the French Federation of Golf, an axis of development?
Sponsorship …
Regarding the sponsorship of the street golfers, this is where things get really interesting. We met a sponsored streetgolfer, Nicolas Verschuere from Urban Green Team Lille, one of the best in the discipline and twice champion of France, which is currently sponsored by the trademark Pitch it . Yet the potential is great, and some street style shifted golfers could make perfect brand ambassadors!
However, interest in this “new” practice originated in Germany in the 90s is real because several partners have responded to the appeal of this unusual event among them: NGF Golf , almostgolf, Nishamai, and Comozo lefigaro. en will handle media promotion.
We met with members of NGF Golf , including the Director of Golf Daily pole, who told us that even if the street is a recent golf and it is too early to comment on the future , this practice is undeniably interesting for traditional courses because it can reach a new target.
In France, there are 700 clubs and 418 000 members, making it the sixth French sport golf to rugby and despite the good result, much remains to be done in the democratization of the sport. 2 million people report having ever played golf but only 418,000 or 20.9% are dismissed.
Golf for NGF, support the development of golf street is one way “open” the sport to a new target and desecrate the image of a sport “rich.” In this sense, the brand was present this weekend to highlight its offer “Daily Golf” for urban golfers.
Given the media interest in this practice and the growing number of players, the street course represents a real opportunity …
Pending successful associations are the best representatives of the street course through the mindset, culture “urban”, open to all, team spirit … Many values cherished brands. Access to all is of course in the DNA of these unusual events aimed at promoting sport “new and quirky” so do not hesitate to take the challenge! You will find all information related to street golf on the 19th hole Facebook page .