Column: FlingGolf aims for San Diego limelight

Move over, pickle. Make room for the new kid in the FlingGolf block.

This newly introduced hybrid species is growing in popularity. Just as saltball combines tennis and table tennis, FlingGolf combines elements of lacrosse, jay-law and golf.

More than 30 A-list players gathered in San Diego last weekend to battle each other and the wind and rain as ESPN filmed the first West Coast FlingGolf tournament.

The game follows similar rules to golf, except that players use a single club, or FlingStick, which is made of carbon fiber and fiberglass and has a rigid cup-like basket at one end.

Instead of standing to tee, players take a few steps, like bowling, and throw the golf ball as hard and straight down the fairway as possible.

On one side of the clubhead is a flat surface called the hitting pad. Sand trap and field shots can be made with a sidearm swing that scoops the ball into the air.

Several San Diegans signed up for tournaments to play with a pro on Friday afternoon to learn the game and practice throwing techniques with the best players in the country. Due to the rain, the event was moved from the flood-prone Riverwalk Golf Club in Mission Valley to Welk Resorts Golf Course in North Escondido.

Alex Van Alen is both the founder of the game and the designer of the club, which retails between $124 and $219 depending on shaft style and length.

The idea came from his childhood days in Pennsylvania playing lacrosse in the backyard with his brothers. Sometimes they threw a golf ball. About 12 years ago, Alen began building various pieces of equipment to seriously investigate how far he could throw the golf ball.

Very quickly I realized that I could play the golf course if I could throw it 200 yards. So you can play with a golfer.

Finally, in 2014, he introduced his newly designed club and game, FlingGolf. He introduced and demonstrated the club at the Professional Golf Association show in 2015, and the FlingGolf buzz began.

Now the clubs are for sale or for rent on the website flinggolf.com and approximately 350 professional golf shops across the United States, including Riverwalk Golf Club and Welk Resorts.

Going into this past weekend’s tournament, the ninth-ranked player in the world was Jake Anderson, 34, of La Jolla, a consulting data scientist who moved here five years ago from his native Hawaii.

Anderson’s ranking is on the rise after finishing a close second to North Carolina’s Sam Scannell in the Feb. 26 tournament when Scannell birdied Andersson on the 18th hole of a playoff at Twin Oaks Golf Course in San Marcos. The team competition was held on February 25 at Welk Resorts.

Anderson first read about this innovative way to play golf with one club in a newsletter called The Futurist. Then he watched an episode of Shark Tank during which Alen and his business partner pitched the game to four Shark panelists, and soon Anderson was hooked.

He got a cane and started practicing. Anderson admits that his first shots went straight to the ground, but he soon mastered the technique.

Sixteen months later, he was ranked among the top 10 players in the World League FlingGolf organization, competing under his acronym Island Hopper. He even recruited his girlfriend, Rosie Flores, who competed in the women’s FlingGolf division on Sunday.

Golf can be a little intimidating, but FlingGolf has a short learning curve, says Anderson, who used to play golf with his friends. He says some FlingGolfarers are competitive after less than a month of practice.

After the first 10 or 20 swings, you’ll understand the mechanics, he says.

Austin Showtime Ebersole, 30, the World League’s top player entering the Feb. 26 tournament, was first seen at FlingGolf at the 2019 PGA Show, where he saw Alen launch a golf ball and asked what he was doing.

Ebersole is a former golf pro who manages his family’s golf course in Lewes, Del. The light bulb went out, he says. He thought it would be fun to offer FlingGolf on his course because it’s a game the whole family can play.

The game is now played in 32 countries by 6-year-olds and older, says Alen, who runs New Swarm FlingGolf in Amesbury, Mass. Facebookand professional players get sponsors.

ESPN filmed the tournament last year and taped it last weekend, and plans to air it this summer.

Welk Resorts PGA professional Mike Skala, a former lacrosse player, is one of the golf course managers who decided to add FlingGolf to his par-3 course for $15 Monday through Friday and $18 on weekends, plus a $5 club rental. He says it attracts a lot of people who weren’t good at golf but picked up a FlingGolf club and are good at it.

Skala published a case study report that found that in just one month, he was halfway between FlingGolf’s rental income and game fees to the full year’s projected income. In the first six months, his income was three times higher than expected.

As a holiday destination, families are always looking for something new to do, Skala said. Purists are always a bit squeamish when they first see it, but when we explain to them what it is and how it works, they usually calm down.

Anderson says he’s walked numerous golf courses with the FlingStick and never been turned away.

A deal was never reached with the Shark Tank investors. But Shark Kevin O’Learys prediction that the golf gods will beat you to death with this thing hasn’t come true, unless you count the downpours and high winds that hit FlingGolfers in San Diego last weekend.

Will the league return to San Diego for the tournament, I asked.

Absolutely, Alen says. It can’t happen twice, can it?