ORIGINS:
Park Golf was conceived at the Makubetsu Town Hall in Hokkaido, Japan, by a few timely coincidences.
In 1982, Mr. Tomoaki Hama was working as the Social and Physical Education Officer for the Makubetsu Town Board of Education. He was charged by Mr. Maehara, the Director of Education, to look for a sport that middle-aged and elderly people could easily enjoy. Mr. Hama had just come across a new game called Ground Golf that had recently been invented in Tomari Village. Ground Golf is a golf game played with a stick, a ball, and an iron ring in school playgrounds, which are made of hard-packed dirt and clay.
Together they decided to try this game on grass in a local park. The green space reminded them of golf courses. So, Mr. Maehara thought he could dig a hole like a golf player and bury a cup in it. Since he was the Director of Education, it was easy to promote the idea and sport.
The last coincidence is that the Nitta Veneer Industry company (now Nittax) located in Makubetsu could develop clubs that are now one of the trademarks of the sport.
Initially it was called Ground Golf, but in 1986 since it was being played in parks, the more suitable name of Park Golf was embraced – “Golf played in Parks.”
Fast forward to Park Golf in the USA.
UNITED STATES:
Dick “The Destroyer” Beyer was an avid golfer as well as a famous professional wrestler and entertainer in Japan. He played golf with his friends in Japan on a regular basis. However, one trip when Dick was about 71 years old, a golf buddy, Mr. Seo, took him to play Park Golf instead! Dick fell in love with the game and knew instinctively that Americans would, too. He came home with clubs and balls and put two holes in his front yard.
He considered the idea for about 10 years, trying to get someone to commit to building a course. In 2011, his daughter and her husband threw all caution to the wind and built him a course on his property near Buffalo, New York.
Destroyer Park Golf (DPG) opened in 2013 and was certified and sanctioned by a Japanese contingency from the Japan Park Golf Association (NPGA) who flew in for the grand opening.
Anticipating the growth and popularity, a group of professionals committed to the growth of the sport established the non-profit International Park Golf Association of America (IPGAA) to foster participation in the sport, while honoring and upholding the ideals, guidelines and standards established by the NPGA.
A second course, West Valley Park Golf, opened in Machias, New York, in 2014, but unfortunately closed after 3 years. It was a beautiful course set on a hillside in an area of Western New York known as the Southern Tier.
A gentleman who was developing his own version of golf played on grass, visited DPG to look at the clubs and see if there was interest in spreading his game. He believed, at that time, that overall Americans would not take to Park Golf. He was interested in selling equipment only and a portable version.
The biggest catalyst came from an episode in Season 3 of a YouTube program called Adventures in Golf by Eric Anders Lang. This episode, filmed at Destroyer Park Golf, was monumental in showcasing Park Golf, and the popularity of Park Golf really started to gain momentum.
In 2019, DPG was visited by the Shaw family, who owned a campground in Ohio and thought it would be a good place to build a Park Golf course. And, in 2021, Wormburner Park Golf in Logan, Ohio, opened. Wormburner is recognized as the second Park Golf course due to their continued success and commitment to the growth of Park Golf.
PRESENT DAY:
Today, Park Golf courses and similar versions are opening all over the United States. The IPGAA is currently consulting with two groups in Canada, working to develop Park Golf across Canada.
Park Golf can now be found in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Sweden, Denmark, England, Scotland, China, Thailand, Canada and Egypt.
Japan has over 1300 courses, 380 of which are certified by the NPGA. Korea has over 370 courses and is even developing a professional version of Park Golf. Brazil and Denmark are the next largest markets.
The International Park Golf Federation (IPGF) was started in 2019 to unite countries and maintain the standards of Park Golf globally.
