Draft:Target Bird Golf



Target bird golf is a golf variation invented by Nojima Takashige of Saaitama Prefecture, Japan in 1969. The game involves using a club, usually a pitching wedge, to launch a golf ball fixed with badminton feathers into an upward-facing net in the fewest strokes possible. There are more than 65 target bird golf courses across Japan. The All Japan Target Bird Golf Association was established in 1988 and has held annual tournaments since at least 2014, though these tournaments were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rules


The scoring for target bird golf is very similar to golf. A par value assigned to each hole and players attempt to hit the ball into the target in as few strokes as possible. However, in target bird golf there are two targets, and the hole in ended as soon as the player hits one of them. The first, called the "Advantage Hole", is the elevated net. To get the ball into this zone, golfers must launch the ball up and into the net. The second, known as the "Second Hole", is on the ground underneath the net. A player's score for the hole is the number of strokes it took them to get the ball into one of the targets, plus 1 if the ball ended in the Second Hole instead of the Advantage Hole. The player with the lowest score at the end of the game is the winner.



Course
Like in golf, a typical course in target bird golf is 9 holes, but casual courses might have any number. There are also portable holes that a player can place where they like. Courses are marked with teeing grounds and out of bounds zones. Standard equipment features an Advantage Hole with a diameter of 110 cm and a Second Hole with a diameter of 86 cm.

Compared to traditional golf, target bird golf courses take up less space and can be constructed in preexisting green spaces.