(Photo by Mike Springer/The Daily News of Newburyport)
Alex Van Alen, who developed the version of golf played with a modified lacrosse stick, will appear on the ABC show on Friday, May 14th at 8 p.m., to make a pitch for financial backing to help FlingGolf break through to a wider audience. “I’ve literally been asked thousands of times, ‘Are you going to take this on ‘Shark Tank’?” Van Alen says. The biggest barrier to having the sport take hold, he adds, is people thinking golf courses won’t let it be played. “But we’ve seen that 99% of the courses will let you,” he says. “They’re happy to take your money, and you’re doing less damage to the course than in traditional golf.”
Growing up, Alex Van Alen loved coming up with his own spin on popular sports, The Daily News of Newburyport (Mass.) reported. He and his friends would frequently invent new games, and one that proved particularly popular among the group was a version of golf played with a lacrosse stick.
“I’d throw it over the pond, over the trees, play with my brothers and some friends, and around 10 years ago I started thinking, how can you improve on that and how far can you actually throw a golf ball?” Van Alen told The Dailiy News.
Years of brainstorming, testing and prototyping eventually led to the creation of FlingGolf (https://clubandresortbusiness.com/?s=FlingGolf) as a sport that can be played on existing golf courses alongside traditional players.
Now, Van Alen and his company are ready to bring their big idea to a national audience, The Daily Newsreported. The Amesbury, Mass.-based entrepreneur and his company will be featured on ABC’s “Shark Tank” on Friday, May 14th at 8 p.m., giving FlingGolf the opportunity to break through to a wider audience.
Played using a single, specialized FlingStick, FlingGolf is played like traditional golf, with the player tossing the ball instead of striking it. The game has already been played by thousands of golfers across the country, Van Alen told The Daily News, and his hope is that the sport—and the exposure and possible financial backing gained through “SharkTank”—ultimately drives new interest and new players to the golf course.
“The best way to think about it in a broad sense is it’s similar to what snowboarding did for ski resorts in the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s,” Van Alen said. “It’s a new sport [that] brings in a whole new generation [and] a whole new kind of player out onto the golf course, but you’re playing in a slightly different way than you are in traditional golf. Instead of hitting a golf ball with one of 14 or 15 different clubs, you’re throwing the ball, and all you need is the one stick.”
“You can do every shot with that, you do shots you can’t do in golf, you can do long shots, flop shots, bump and run, and even putt with it. It’s a new way to get around the course and it solves a bunch of problems that golf has had,” Van Alen continued. “It’s easy to learn but still a challenge to master. It’s a little bit faster-paced but you can play at the same time as golfers, in the same foursome, and a lot of golfers just have one in their bag, it’s that seamless. But it’s a casual and fun way to get out on the course.”
Originally from the Philadelphia area, Van Alen followed an unusual path to sports entrepreneurship, The Daily News reported. He received his Bachelor’s in Environmental Conservation from the University of Colorado and his Master’s in Ecology from Colorado State and then moved to New England when he took a job with the Trustees of Reservations in Ipswich, Mass.
Throughout his career in conservation and outdoor recreation he continued to nurture the idea of FlingGolf, The Daily News reported, and eventually he decided to try and make it a reality. He established New Swarm Sports in Amesbury in 2012 and has spent the last nine years developing the FlingStick, introducing the sport to players and courses and working to grow the game.
Eventually, The Daily News reported, he felt the time was right to try and take the idea on to “Shark Tank.”
“It was interesting—it’s always been on my mind [and] it just seems like a natural thing,” Van Alen said. “I’ve literally been asked thousands of times, ‘Are you going to take this on ‘Shark Tank’? And I thought when the time is right, we might just do it.”
While Van Alen isn’t allowed to talk about the process of being on “Shark Tank” or the outcome of his episode before it airs, he told The Daily News he’s excited for what the future holds and encourages any prospective players to give it a try.
“I think our biggest barrier or challenge has been people think golf courses won’t let you play, because they think of golf courses as sort of traditional, stuffy places with rules and traditions,” Van Alen said. “But we’ve seen that 99% of the golf courses will let you play. They’re happy to take your money, they’re happy to take your greens fees, and you’re doing less damage to the course than you are in traditional golf.”
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