GolfCross

After discovering Chessboxing for the first time yesterday, I got chatting to my friends and researching about Chessboxing and ended up discovering another sport that is a combination of two others.

The sport I have come across is called GolfCross. The game of GolfCross is very similar to Golf, where players on golf courses, using golf equipment aim balls at a target...but that's where the similarities stop. Replace the standard circular golf ball with one shaped like an rugby and replace the hole golfers usually aim for with a net (the goal) raised above the ground and you have GolfCross. The pictures on the left shows both the new shaped ball and the goal.

The creators believe that the shape of the ball is more controllable than the round ones used in standard golf and due to the "amazing characteristics anddesign of the course" they have created three distinct game styles for players to follow. These are 'The Stroke Play' Game, 'The Tactical or Matchplay' Game and 'The One Hour Game'. You can find the differences between the three here: http://www.golfcross.co.uk/the_game.asp

GolfCross was officially launched in 2001, although the creator a New Zealander called Burton Silver began working on the game in 1989 when he created the oval shaped ball. There are now 8 fully open GolfCross courses in the UK, whilst also being playable in New Zealand, France, Denmark, Hungary, Argentina, Asia, Australia, Canada, South Africa, South America and the USA.

The game seems pretty revolutionary as isn't just a case of putting two sports together (a la ChessBoxing) it is a case of changing a traditional sport played by millions. ChessBoxing is different in the sense that it is just a combination of both Chess and Boxing whereas GolfCross is almost a different game, OK it uses the same equipment and most of the same golf rules but by changing the actual aim of the game it's like a new sport has been created, sort of.

I guess what my indecisive rambling above is trying to say is that I am rather impressed with GolfCross and would love to give it a go. I haven't been able to find any videos of the game being played so if anybody can help me out there I'd be very appreciative!

More information can be found at http://www.golfcross.co.uk/index.asp. If anybody out there in the world wide web plays GolfCross or has played or is intending to play, please comment and let me know what it's like!