Crossage - Belgium Street Golf
Crossage, (or Jeu de crosse, choule or chole), is a traditional medieval Belgian golf-like sport played on the streets. A game involves several targets, but there is no fixed route to follow. The players decide on a target, and try to reach it in an agreed number of strokes.
The game is played between two teams of two, using an elliptical wooden ball called the 'choulette', hit with an iron-headed club.
Once a target has been decided upon, one team (the 'chouleurs'), tries to reach this target in the agreed number of strokes. The other team (the 'déchouleurs'), will try to prevent the first team from achieving their goal by hitting, in turn, the ball away from the goal or put it in a difficult position for the next shot.
crossage player aiming for the targetIf the chouleurs achieve their objective they win, if not, the déchouleurs team is the winner. The team that has won the most challenges at the end of the match is declared the winner.
There is an annual crossage event in the city of Chièvres which takes place annually on Ash Wednesday, where wooden mallets are used to hit the ball towards the targets - which are metal beer kegs set up around town.
Similar Sports
- Kolven — a medieval sport from the Netherlands where the aim is to hit a ball to a target in the minimum number of strokes - a precursor to golf
- Krolf — a sporting mix of croquet and golf from Denmark, where players use a mallet to hit the ball into a hole.
- Pall Mall — a lawn game that was a precursor to croquet, which was played between the 1500's and the 1600's.
- Kolf — an indoor sport from the Netherlands, the aim is to get a ball as close to a pole as possible with rings marked on the ground around the target used to determine the score.
- Trucco — an Italian lawn game where heavy balls are hit with large-headed cues through rings on the ground.
- Irish Road Bowling — competitors attempt to take the fewest throws to propel a metal ball along a predetermined course of country roads.
- Urban Golf — golf played anywhere that there's free space and not too many people about.
Related Pages
- About the history of golf
- About Extinct and Ancient Sports
- List of Extinct Sports
- Complete list of sports
- About sport in Belgium
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