What it's like to play golf without grass

Across the country and around the world, you can find golf experiences that provide unique challenges. Even in places like the desert of Arizona though, the game typically has one main surface it’s played on: grass.

 

But what would it be like to play on a golf course that didn’t have any grass? Say, in a remote part of the Outback of Australia?

 

Well, that’s just what Erik Anders Lang did on his recent episode of Adventures in Golf.

 

If you’re not familiar with the series, Lang has one of the coolest jobs in golf. He travels the globe finding unique, crazy, wild, fun and adventurous ways the game is played.

 

Located near old opal fields, Coober Pedy Golf Club doesn’t have an officially listed par or yardage. It costs $10 to play and often you play with random other golfers also looking to play a round.

 

It has artificial turf to tee off and you carry around a 6-inch square of turf to hit your ball off of to help protect your clubs. And instead of greens, they have scrapes. It's a composite dirt made of quarry dust and waste oil that you rake to smooth out between your ball and the hole.

 

And what truly makes being a member at this club so special? It’s the only course in the world that has reciprocal rights to St. Andrew’s. 

 

Check out the full episode and how the St. Andrew’s agreement came to be below: