AMESBURY – It is not just the NFL with the New England Patriots playing the Jacksonville Jaguars in London or the NBA’s EuroLeague that are taking a U.S. sport international.
FlingGolf is crossing the Pond to bring this new sport to British golf courses, including the world’s most prestigious one, St. Andrews Golf Club in Scotland.
The upstart sport played on 2,000 courses combines aspects of lacrosse, baseball and hockey but follows golf rules. Unlike traditional golf, players need only one FlingStick to hurl a golf ball down the fairway and putt it in the hole.
On Nov. 7, while on a business trip, Jonathan Bellingham, one of the sports’ best players, joined two traditional golfers and a St. Andrews’ caddy for a round on St. Andrews’ celebrated course in Scotland.
“It was surreal, to be honest,” said Bellingham, who owns the Capon Springs Resort and golf course in West Virginia. “We all know that FlingGolf and golf are so easily compatible, but that doesn’t necessarily translate right away for some traditional courses. So, to be welcomed, and honestly with really no concerns, just curiosity from my group was so cool. Very quickly we were talking about the fact that I was setting the course record for FlingGolf at St. Andrews! It was an amazing day that I won’t forget.”
Bellingham, using the 6037-yard tees, shot a 92 with his 47-inch Ballistick FlingStick, the longest Flickstick available and one most used by the top male players. The average score for traditional golfers at the Old Course is 83.2.
FlingGolf inventor Alex Van Alen was ecstatic. “This is a moment that will go down in the annals of FlingGolf’s story, and I couldn’t be happier than to see Jonathan be the player to ‘liberate’ St. Andrews.”
He called Bellingham “a ridiculously good ambassador” for FlingGolf. In addition to owning a course, Jonathan has competed well in the World League of FlingGolf (WLF) tournaments and promotes the sport throughout West Virginia.
Since FlingGolf launched itself as a new way to enjoy a golf course, its tournaments have been on ESPN multiple times, and Van Alen, CEO of New Swarm, and John Pruellage, the WFL commissioner, pitched the new sport on the TV show SharkTank, the team has received numerous inquiries from Europe about expanding.
But it was not until Pruellage fielded a call from Paul Barron that the team of sports entrepreneurs got excited about expanding to Great Briton.
Barron, who owns golf courses in Bournemouth in southern England, is the perfect partner, Pruellage said. He has the ability to promote the sport on his courses, is well known among golfers and course owners throughout Britain, and due to a neck injury, which keeps him from swinging a golf club, he plays FlingGolf.
“We are optimistic that he gets it,” Pruellage said last week from the Amesbury FlingGolf headquarters.
Barron headed a team of British FlingGolfers this year that played a match against a U.S. team in the Ryder-style Briton Cup. Of course, the more experienced U.S. team won, but plans are already underway for a competition next year.
“Our team is really excited,” Pruellage said.
Following his round at St. Andrews, Jonathan met with Barron, now the FlingGolf UK president to play FlingGolf at other courses in the area, “What a thrill it was to hear that Jonathan was playing St. Andrews,” Barran said. “I’ve managed to play some of the best courses in the UK, including the Woburn Golf Club, Marquess Course, Morton Hall in Edinburgh and Ardglass in Northern Ireland, but to know that the Old Course is on the FlingGolf map is really exciting. It bodes well for where the sport is headed over here.”
In a tribute to FlingGolf history, Bellingham left his FlingStick for the St. Andrews staff as a memento. “It was an amazing thought that since the 1500s, this course has been the beacon of golf and it’s incredible traditions,” he said. “Now, and for the entire FlingGolf community I have been fortunate to be a part of, perhaps this could be the beginning of a new tradition on the Old Course.”
