Scoreline sports team member Robbie Dowling wins “Head in the Game” FootGolf Association of Ireland Matchplay Championship
Footgolf has been around for a few years but it is still surprising that many people are not even aware of the sport and how to play it. As the name suggests, Footgolf is made by combining football and golf, but Footgolf is neither totally like football nor golf. The game involves kicking a football into a hole in as few kicks as possible.
Footgolf uses the same model as golf, with a fairway, tees, hazards, bunkers, and 9 or 18 holes of play. Every hole is the same, like the golf scorecard, where you can play in a pair, as a threesome, or as a group of four. The main differences between Footgolf and golf is the size of the holes, usually shorter fairways, and the lack of golf equipment. You only need a regular size 5 football and the course you are playing on will provide this, however, you can take your own if you have one.
Robbie won the “Head in the Game” FootGolf Association of Ireland Matchplay Championship yesterday. An incredible achievement for someone only playing FootGolf for about 18 months.
There were seventeen Irish FootGolf International Players played in the event, all of whom will be heading to Orlando in less than 5 weeks. Robbie’s sister Noelle won the female title – she beat four Irish Internationals.
Speaking to Shannon Redmond on The Way It Is, Robbie outlined what Footgolf is:
“I was lucky enough to win it in Newcastle up in Dublin, I was delighted, it was the first National title I had won, I’ve been playing Footgolf for about eighteen months or so, all stemmed from my love of soccer and Gaelic Football as I was growing up as a kid and then I just kinda got into the Footgolf cause I love golf, I love watching it on the tv as people that listen into Scoreline at the weekend will know but I was never any good at it, so then it was a combination of two sports that I love and I just got into it and it’s quite an addictive game it’s not too physically straining, I started playing competitively and from there I was very lucky yesterday that a couple of balls broke my way and I came back with the title”.
“There’s a great facility up in the Pockecok here in Kilkenny that people from across Kilkenny and Carlow can play, the owners up there are absolutely brilliant, they are so welcoming the people within the Footglof community are really welcoming, a lot of people just do it enjoy it they go for a kick about with their friends, with their families, other people like myself currently play it a bit more competitively but either way it’s an absolute ball, we spent 7-8 hours in Newcastle yesterday and it just flew, it’s addictive and you fall in love with it very very quickly.
“I have to say it wasn’t just myself that won yesterday, my sister Noelle came home with the ladies’ title and she was absolutely ecstatic, and whatever about myself I’ve been playing a long time but Noelle is only been playing a couple of months, she’s just falling in love with it and she absolutely brilliant, shes hyper-competitive unlike myself I do it more for the love of it, she just wants to win and she won yesterday and that was her first time too and shes a super player. “
Listen back to the full interview below:
