Boerengolf: A Game For Champions

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In some third world countries, golf is so popular that getting a membership at a golf course can be too expensive for most people. In the Netherlands, Marketplace reporter Rico Gagliano met a farmer who designed a fiscally responsible golf course. Ronald Diersen uses his land in two ways: as a farm and a golf course. He has attracted many golf enthusiasts to his Boerengolf (golf farm). Players meet all sorts of challenges at each hole from grass eating cows, to animal pies, to electrical fences. The reporter for this story collected ambient sound of each of these obstacles, as they were essential elements in this version of golf. Players use unusual golf equipment like a small ball resembling a soccer ball and a wooden stick with a shoe on the end. Natural sound of the stick can be heard beating the grassy field as players and onlookers with cold beers cheer in the background. The story clearly outlines the process of Boerengolf, and how serious this game is for European farmers. The segment ends with a local touch as the reporter asking Boerengolf inventor Peter Weenink if anyone has ever made the American money maker shot “the hole in one.” Weenink replies, “Uh, no I have not seen it yet. But it will come.”

A 4802 Web Extra:

VIDEO of Boerengolf