GolfCross
New Zealand is a country where challenging circles – from atom splitting to an egg-shaped pig’s bladder – have been iconic through the boom and bust, the up and unders of its history. As well we can claim the only left-hander to win a major golfing tournament, Bob Charles.
With equal disrespect for the sphere and inspired by the edge imperative to look at things sideways comes a new game that is threatening to send the sporting world into a spin. Invented by Burton Silver (best-selling author of Why Cats Paint, 650 000 copies sold) New Zealand GolfCross combines the best of two national sports – the distinctive and aerodynamic oval shape of the rugby ball and the clubs, discipline, concentration and skill of golf. After more then a decade of research, from the lab to the links, comes the game of New Zealand GolfCross. Thinking outside the round. Smart balls. Straight story.
"The game that lets you play like a pro and demands that you think like one too."
New Zealand GolfCross is golf with goals instead of holes and it’s played with an oval ball instead of a round one. You use the same rules as golf (with a few exceptions and additions) and the same clubs — though you won’t need your putter. Essentially you’re still playing golf, it’s simply that the target is now suspended in mid-air and every shot is pretty much going where you want it to.
Reviews:
"It’s brilliant, I’m hooked!"
Mal Tongue, National Director of Coaching, New Zealand Golf Association. 60 Minutes
"GolfCross is the same game but with a less physical element and a much greater thinking element than golf itself. It employs most of the same skills, it just tweaks more than anything the degree of each of those skills. I can't see why anybody who played golf at all, who could hit a ball at all, wouldn't come out here and have a lot of fun."
Greg Turner, Four times winner on the European Tour
'Kiwis Move the Goalposts'
"Golf with a rugby ball, are you serious? Well the New Zealanders are and the unusual sport of GolfCross has started to create interest in other parts of the world -- including the British Isles."
Golf Monthly (UK), December 2001:
"Tired of whacking up huge divots in frustration at your golfers slice? Then you’re the kind of person New Zealand inventor Burton Silver has designed an oval golf ball for."
LA Times, May 22nd, 2001
"They do go straight even if you put a big slice or hook on the ball. The most startling thing is the noise. They hum in the air as though they are singing."
Nick Bayly, Golf Monthly Equipment Editor, Golf Monthly (UK) December 2001
"We looked at it fairly skeptically for a start but we played with the ball, which has been in great secrecy for many years, and found how adaptable it was and how forgiving it was for a golfer who is not a three handicapper. It’s going to be a great diversion for golfers."
Duncan Mackenzie. GolfCross Course Owner.
The Evening Post, May 22nd
Burton Silver
Burton Silver, writer, inventor, cartoonist, author of the international bestseller Why Cats Paint, is no stranger to innovation in sport. As the founder of the International Fringe Games he had the Times of London wondering whether he is "simply mad or a great sports visionary." He lives, works, and walks the links in New Zealand, on the edge.
"Being a New Zealander also helps because living in a ‘new’ country means you’re not so bound by convention and being isolated means we have a real ‘do-it-yourself’ mentality."
