{{Short description|Form of golf invented Japan}} {{Expand Japanese|グラウンド・ゴルフ|date=December 2025}} {{Infobox sport | name = Ground golf | image = File:GroundGolf(Playing).jpg | imagesize = | caption = A ground golf player in a park who has just taken a swing | union = | nickname = | first = | firstlabel = | country/region = | registered = | clubs = | contact = | team = | mgender = | category = | equipment = | venue = | obsolete = | olympic = No | paralympic =No }} {{nihongo|'''Ground golf'''|グラウンド・ゴルフ|guraundo gorufu}} is a form of golf played in a park that was invented in the village of Tomari (now part of Yurihama) in Tottori Prefecture, Japan, in 1982.<ref name="Guidebook"/><ref name="Yurihama"/> It is similar to and a forerunner of park golf and is one of Japan's new sports.

The "ground", from the Japanese use of the word ''guraundo'' ({{lang|ja|グラウンド}}) for "school playground" or "sports ground", emphasizes anyone can play in any place at any time on nearly any surface.<ref name="Guidebook"/> Unlike golf and even park golf, ground golf does use a formal course or require holes (cups). Instead, the ball is hit into a holepost, a basket-like cage at the base of a moveable post.

Aesthetically, ground golf resembles a sport somewhere between golf and croquet. As with golf, the competitive object of the game is to hit the ball, in this case into the holeposts, in the fewest strokes.

The courses have eight holes and a standard course has holes at a distance between 15 and 50&nbsp;meters. Each player has one ball of his or her own and players take turns hitting. Players tee-off from a manufactured start mat and count the number of strokes taken. To finish a hole, a player's ball must come to rest within the bottom ring of the holepost. This is called a "tomari", named for the village where the sport was invented. There are no restrictions on the time or number of players.<ref name="Rules"/> Informally, the number of holes and their distances can vary.

The sport has grown in popularity in Japan since its invention as an alternative to gateball for younger senior citizens who may have reacted to the image of gateball as a "silver sport".<ref name="Manzenreiter"/> By 2024 there were three million participants in Japan,<ref name="Yurihama"/> with over 155,000 players registered to clubs throughout Japan,<ref name="Players"/> and players in other countries from Malaysia, to the Maldives, to Mongolia to Spain.<ref name="Yurihama"/>

Standards for the sport are set by the Japan Ground Golf Association and the Japan-based International Ground Golf Federation. The World Masters Games have recognized the sport, and it is scheduled to be played at the 2027 Summer World Masters Games in Kansai, Japan.<ref name="Guidebook"/>

<gallery> Image:GroundGolf(HolePost).jpg|A ground golf ball and a holepost Image:GroundGolf(StartMat).jpg|A ground golf start mat Image:GroundGolf(Ball).jpg|A ground golf ball with a 52&nbsp;mm camera lens cover for comparison Image:GroundGolf(Club,Ball).jpg|A ground golf ball and club </gallery>

==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name="Yurihama">[https://www.yurihama.jp/uploaded/attachment/14046.pdf Ground Golf, a Sport Born in Yurihama."] ''Yurihama'' town handbook. 2024. p. 6.</ref> <ref name="Guidebook">[https://www.groundgolf.or.jp/Portals/0/International/English/Ground%20Golf%20Guidebook.pdf Ground Golf Guidebook.] International Ground Golf Federation. 2025.</ref> <ref name="Manzenreiter">{{cite book|first=Wolfram |last=Manzenreiter |title=Sport and Body Politics in Japan |location=New York |publisher=Routledge |date=2014 |page=[https://www.google.com/books/edition/Sport_and_Body_Politics_in_Japan/HliLAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=PT154&printsec=frontcover 154] |isbn=9781135022341 }}</ref> <ref name="Players">{{cite web |title=Registered Player Figures |url=http://www.groundgolf.or.jp/profile/tabid/103/Default.aspx |website=Japan Ground Golf Association |access-date=10 December 2025 |lang=ja}}</ref> <ref name="Rules">[https://www.groundgolf.or.jp/Portals/0/International/English/The%20Rules%20of%20Ground%20Golf%202025.pdf The Rules of Ground Golf.] International Ground Golf Federation. 2025.</ref> }}

==External links== {{commonscat|Ground golf}} * [https://www.groundgolf.or.jp/International/tabid/243/Default.aspx International Ground Golf Federation] official website * [http://www.groundgolf.or.jp/ Japan Ground Golf Association] official website {{inlang|ja}}

{{sport-stub}}

{{Golf}}

Category:Park golf Category:Sports originating in Japan Category:Sport in Tottori Prefecture Category:Games and sports introduced in 1982 Category:Yurihama, Tottori