Ever imagine playing soccer and golf at the same time?

Now you can at Diamond Lake Golf Course in Cassopolis.

Diamond Lake has opened up a Soccergolf course, which combines the characteristics of golf, miniature golf and soccer.

It is a sport, also known as FootGolf, that anyone can play and everyone can afford.

There are no expensive golf clubs to purchase. All you need is a course, feet and a soccer ball.

“I had a lady from Chicago who lives on Diamond Lake ask me to do it,” Bill Loux, Diamond Lake Golf Course superintendent, said. “She actually called me this winter and asked me to set up a FootGolf courses. I have 40 or 50 people who want to play.”

Loux agreed and began researching what it would take to create the course.

“I looked it up on the internet and it was more than I thought it was going to be,” he said. “So my buddy, Mike Kozial, I was talking to him about it and I said the holes and flags are kind of expensive. It was like $4,000 for a set up for nine holes. So he makes the holes for me.”

With the holes set to go, the course was installed.

When Diamond Lake residents came to play the new course, it was an instant hit.

“They came and they just loved it,” Loux said. “They had played two or three other courses and this was their favorite. Andy File from Cass came and kicked some balls and we kind of guess, but it turned out pretty good.”

Soccergolf follows the rules of golf. The aim is to get the soccer ball from the tee to the hole in the least number of shots. Every touch of the ball counts as a stroke just like in golf.

The course is set up just like in golf with obstacles that players must navigate and different distances in which to get the soccer ball to the hole with 21-inch diameter cups. And just like golf, each course will have a different par for each hole and total.

Soccergolf usually takes between an hour and an hour and a half to play.

Originally, Loux was only going to have the Soccergolf open on Saturday night from 7 p.m. until dark. But when people started showing up and asking about other times they could play, Loux decided to extend the hours to every night from seven until dark with the exception of Wednesdays, which is the biggest night of the week for leagues at Diamond Lake.

“It started slow, but the more people tried it and the more people heard about it the more they liked it,” Loux said. “Everyone who has played it has just loved it. It is exciting and I think next year it is going to be big for us.”

Loux said that the ages range from kids to older adults. Many people come out as entire families.

“That is the thing, we have had grandparents and grand kids,” he said. “Some of them take a cart. They will put a radio and a cooler on the cart and go around twice. I am trying to find things for families to do around here, something new to do. This is a cool thing for them.”

Loux said another drawing point is that it is not as hard to play as golf and much faster than playing golf. You can play nine holes in roughly an hour for $5.

The U.S. National FootGolf Championship will be held Oct. 3 at Sydney R. Marovitz Golf Course in Chicago.

 

Here are the rules:

• Count of the points
The points are calculated after number of shots and penalty points. The player with fewest points wins the game.

• Soccergolf course
The game of soccergolf is played in an area of land designated as a soccergolf course. A course consists of a series of holes, which consist of a teeing area, fairways, rough, hazards and the green. Because a round of golf consists of playing 18 holes, most soccergolf courses have this number of holes. Some however only have 9 and the course is played twice per round.

• The lanes
The length of the lanes amounts to 50-250 meters.
As an aim of the ball there are holes in the ground, nets, either pots or special aims like the trunk of a car.

• Soccergolf competitions
The competitions may be played as stroke play, in which the individual with the lowest number of strokes is declared the winner, or as match play with the winner determined by whichever individual or team posts the lower score on the most individual holes during a complete round.