A GAME OF FEET
Foot golf gaining popularity in the U.S.
Are you ready for some foot golf? Chances are you’re not. This curiosity is played with a soccer ball on a golf course. No putters or eight-irons needed. Just a human hoof.
Yes, there exists a United States Foot Golf Association. It believes the sport originated in Holland in 2008 or 2009. It thumped its way to the U.S. in about 2013. Among the 50 American foot golf tracks are two certified courses in New Mexico. The Santa Ana Golf Club in Bernalillo and Marty Sanchez Links de Santa Fe.
“Foot golf is one of the fastest-growing sports in the U.S.,” Ron Patel says. He and Larry Espinoza are putting on the second annual foot golf tournament at Santa Ana on Sept. 10.
Patel and Espinosa are not golfers; they are soccer-lovers. They own and operate Albuquerque Sol FC, a semi-pro soccer club. Patel, 35, grew up in Liverpool, England, where soccer is a religion. Espinoza, 43, grew up in Albuquerque’s Martineztown and played for the now-defunct semipro New Mexico Chiles.
Before the two men got involved running a soccer club, Patel owned a restaurant delivery service and Espinoza was in the mortgage business.
To better market Albuquerque Sol FC, Patel and Espinoza latched onto foot golf. They organized last year’s foot golf tourney at Santa Ana, which drew 34 entrants. “We expect 100 people this year,” Patel said. “Mostly soccer players will be competing,” Espinoza said. The Santa Ana course uses one of the club’s three 18-hole layouts. The holes in foot golf are set not on greens but in roughs and fairways, and are marked by pins. Those holes, incidentally, are 21 inches in diameter and 10 inches deep. A regulation soccer ball can fit into one without difficulty. The key is to take as few kicks as possible. Watch out for the wind.