Photo Yann Audic                                     

Why wait for ages and pay tons of money to a become member of a golf club, when you can play golf in decayed industrial urban areas, on top of skyscrapers or in the streets of your local city?

Founded in Germany in the 1990’s, street golf (also known as urbangolf, or crossgolf) is bringing the expensive game of golf to the masses where it increases its popularity by the minute.

The sport is particular popular in Paris where you find street-golfers everywhere. They are having driving contests on the banks of the Seine (hitting into the river), and are playing in the city’s streets and parks (especially in Bercy). Last year the streets of the French capital even constituted the battleground of the Paris Pro Tour Master Classic ‘07.

                                                                                                                       Photo Matthieu Rondel                           

The game follows the basic rules of golf – just played at rather unusual locations. The holes are often outlined with chalk or can be trashcans, and the contestants have an unlimited amount of attempts to get the ball in the hole.

It sounds dangerous but street golfers are gentlemen and take safety seriously. They use a light version of the golfball (though not light enough to avoid breaking windows) and according to the strict rules they always have to make sure the area is cleared off before they hit the ball.

If you want to be up to date with, what’s happening in the streets of Paris from a street golfer’s point of view, then check out the site of local golf heroes Le 19ème Trou (nineteenth hole). Also check out the site of German street golf- pioneers Natural Born Golfers who has more than 150.000 members worldwide, and beyond their headquarters in Germany have departments in Paris, Warsaw, San Francisco and Shanghai.