The north German island of Usedom hosts the first ever German national championship in beach golf on Saturday when 35 golfers converge on the small coastal resort of Ahlbeck.
Despite the ongoing European heatwave, there are no plans as yet to cancel the event, which uses a matt as a tee and a 40 square metre piece of transportable artificial as the green.
”The dream is to turn it into an annual event that moves from venue to venue along the German coast between the islands of Sylt and Usedom,” says Lutz Begrow, an Usedom local and chair of the beach golf federation.
Begrow believes the new sport can help relieve stress, even in such tropical temperatures.
”What can a golfer do in 40 degrees (Celsius),” he says, before pointing out that a typical round of beach golf lasts just 45 minutes compared with five hours for the normal version of the sport.
Another apparent advantage of beach golf over its traditional counterpart is that the non-playing partners can enjoy themselves on the beach with the competitors.
”Golf can cause stress when both people in a relationship don’t play it,” says Begrow.
The newly formed beach golf federation sees its mission to ”spread the sport of beach golf to all permitted beaches in Germany — including artificial ones — with members paying particular attention to nature and the surrounding landscape”.
The federation hopes, in future, to set up regional championships as well.
”You do have to be able to play golf though,” says Bergow, adding that the normal golf etiquette applies. ”Nobody will be allowed play in a string vest.”
Bergow is currently looking at creating a special range of beach golf wear for competitors to wear in future competitions. ”The industry is considering developing fashion articles that can be worn on the beach.” – Sapa-DPA