Anna DiBattista's first round of golf featured no clubs, no bag and no golf balls.
Instead, as the rising senior at Wilde Lake High School in Columbia made her way around Fairway Hills golf club on July 11, she toted only an object with which she personally was much more familiar — a soccer ball.
"I really enjoyed it, I thought it was fun," said DiBattista, who has played soccer since she was little, but prior to arriving at the course for her round had never heard of FootGolf, an up-and-coming sport that was introduced in Howard County for the first time in April.
"I think it's a great thing to have because the golf course is kind of daunting, but this is like real casual and fun. I will definitely come back again."
On that warm afternoon, DiBattista was joined by a trio of fellow Howard County varsity soccer players from last fall — Columbia's Sydney McNamara (Wilde Lake High) and Darren Ketchum (Hammond High), along with Ellicott City's Thomas Olson (Marriotts Ridge High) — that were all trying FootGolf for the first time.
Despite the uneven playing surface, the inability to wear cleats and the unfamiliarity with the sport, everyone in the group seemed to pick things up quickly.
Ketchum pointed out that he found the general skill set needed to excel at soccer and FootGolf was basically the same.
"I could honestly compare it more to soccer (than golf), kind of like a free kick aspect in that a lot of it was placing the ball where it needed to go and kind of knowing where everything else was going to be," he said.
Olson also said he was able to find some common ground.
"It definitely incorporates a lot of the skills that you normally use for soccer — lots of different sorts of passes, long and short, and then obviously the tap-ins," Olson said.
But in truth, a soccer background is hardly a prerequisite to play.
Anyone who is physically able to kick a ball can participate, which creates a very diverse target audience.
"The great thing is that it's fairly inclusive, which makes for lots of possibilities," said Don Van Deusen, who is assistant general manager at Fairway Hills. "Families can play, kids can come out after school or possibly even birthday parties. The time commitment and equipment needed are minimal so that's a big draw."
Kicking things off
FootGolf has origins that trace back to 2006 in other areas of the world, but did not officially become recognized as a sport in the United States until 2011. Currently, there are eight courses in the state of Maryland and Fairway Hills sits as the only one in Howard County.
The game itself is fairly simple. Each player — up to six in a group — has their own soccer ball and tries to kick it into a 21-inch-diameter hole dug into the rough areas of the golf course in as few shots as possible. Individuals are not allowed to wear cleats, with indoor or turf shoes recommended.
The holes vary in distance and layout. Fairway Hills, for example, features holes anywhere between 50 and 175 yards and incorporates sand traps, trees and hills for added difficulty.
"We went out and looked at what was available to us and initially just put some things in the ground and some paint down for what we thought might work," said Van Deusen. "We made some adjustments after that, but I think we settled on a pretty good course. We wanted to stay away from the golf greens, stay away from the water and then, from there, make best use of the space that we could."
When making its decision to look into adding FootGolf as a new activity, Columbia Association had several important factors to consider.
"You always want to add new things, attract new people and keep people interested so that they can keep an active lifestyle," said Dan Burns, who is director of sports and fitness for Columbia Association. "In this case, FootGolf was a way to use the course at Fairway Hills when it's not normally being used as much. It attracts another group of people who might not typically use the course. It also can introduce those people who might not normally come to Fairway Hills to the golf course.
"Some of these nontraditional uses potentially expose people to the traditional use," Burns said.
Another recent addition to Columbia Association's activity list that also makes use of existing facilities is pickle ball. The game is played on a relined tennis court, making it a smaller and faster game, and is currently big with senior players.
In both cases, the hope is to reach more people.
"Now we are engaging groups that we may have lost or never gotten, and are now using our facilities at times that we might not have as much usage," Burns said.
Moving forward
FootGolf is available to the public for play every Monday evening, taking up the front nine of the Fairway Hills golf course. Start times between 5 and 6:30 p.m. are available and typical 18-hole rounds can take as little as two hours or well over three, depending on skill and pace of play. A full round costs as little as $10 for juniors (ages 17-and-under) or as much as $17 for adults, with individuals having the option of either bringing their own ball or renting one for $3.
"We picked a night where we didn't have a league — Monday night was open — and we set aside a block of tee times very much the same way we do the other nights of the week for our leagues," Van Deusen said. "The nice thing is that we still have the back nine open should any regular golfers come in after 4 p.m. Some courses will have the two (sports) sharing the course at the same time, but we wanted to avoid that."
Even with a smooth-running operation and positive feedback thus far, business has been slower than anticipated. The FootGolf course is filling just a handful of tee times each week and, according to Van Deusen, has only had around 60 paid rounds through mid-July.
Van Deusen said the goal for the year when the course opened in April was 400.
"Marketing has definitely been our biggest challenge … simply trying to get the word out," he said. "We've put flyers out in a number of different places and we have some things in the works, but it has taken a little longer than anticipated to get consistent play."
There are some deals on the way, however, that could provide a little extra incentive for individuals to come and try things out or even return for a second or third time.
Through Aug. 31, coupons are available at ColumbiaFit.org/golf for two people to play for the price of one or for one youth to be able to play free alongside a paying adult. One coupon will be available on the website per household.
"If we can just get people out, see what it's all about, I'm confident they will have a good time and want to come back again," Van Deusen said.
If the response from that recent foursome of high school soccer players in early July is any indication, Van Deusen may be on to something.
"I'll probably come back later in the summer and bring my friends, maybe some of the rest of my team," McNamara said. "It's definitely something different, something fun."