マレットゴルフ Mallet Golf

天気のいい週末にマレットゴルフへ行きました。マレットゴルフと聞いて、「何それ？」と思う人も多いかと思いますが、長野県では極めてポピュラーなスポーツなのです。見た目ゲートボールのようですが決してゲートボールじゃありません。でも、ちょっとお年寄りのスポーツのイメージがありますけど…。元々、長野県が発生の地らしく、誰でも自然の中で楽しめるスポーツを作ろうということで行政が考え出したものらしいです。今回はポールがぜひチャレンジしたいということで家族で行ってみました。全員初心者です。なぜなら、マレットゴルフは老人の為のスポーツだと普通思ってるのでやる機会がありませんでした。まあ、これもいい機会だと思い皆でチャレンジしてみました。簡単そうに見えますが意外と難しいですよ。さて、一番上手かったは誰でしょう？ビデオ観て確認してください。マレットゴルフについてもっと詳しく知りたいかたはこちらから
ゆき

Since coming to Nagano, I have noticed an incredible number of mallet golf courses, and became interested, since I had never heard of mallet golf, or seen courses anywhere else in Japan. In Nagano, however, nearly every large public park has a course, and there are many stand-alone courses as well. Elderly Japanese love playing gateball, and mallet golf appears very similar at first glance, using equipment resembling that of croquet. Instead of being played on an empty field, however, mallet golf courses are much like golf courses, with hills, trees and hazards. They are often built to wind right through a wooded area, but have a limited amount of artificial barriers and obstacles built in, somewhat like miniature golf. After doing some further research, Yuki found out that it was actually invented recently in Nagano, by a government agency as a way to encourage exercise. Although I had only seen elderly people playing it, I thought it looked like fun, and wanted to give it a try. We heard about a course where it is only ￥100 ($1) to play, including mallet and ball rental, so off we went (Yuki, her mum, sister, nephew and me). It consisted of eighteen holes, and the total length was one kilometre, about 1/6 the length of a regular golf course. It is a lot more complicated than it looks; it is very hard to hit the ball straight when you put any power into it, and it is extremely difficult to give the ball the right speed on short shots. This course, seemed especially designed to frustrate, as the greens were nearly all built up high, so that unless you hit the ball perfectly, it would just roll down back towards you or down the other side. I have yet to play at any other course, though, so I do not know if that is normal, or how quickly one might be able to master the "short game". I do know that we all had a great time; it delivers more enjoyment per dollar than real golf, and I found it more enjoyable than miniature golf, since you can actually hit the ball hard.
Paul