My name is Garry Callis Jr., and I have been a professional FlingGolf athlete for three years now. I have been ranked as high as 13th in the world. A couple of years ago I got featured on ESPN after winning MVP at the 2024 FlingGolf All-Star Skills Challenge. I have spent the last three years as a Global Ambassador for the sport, which has taken me to the PGA Show for the last two years and put me in a room with more incredible people than I can count.

I am not new to golf, either. I spent about a year as a golf fitter and sales lead manager at Dick’s Sporting Goods, two years in secondhand golf sales with Next Round Golf in Richmond, Virginia, and three years across multiple roles at Topgolf. Counting all of that plus the content I have made on my own, I have been in and around this industry for close to eight years. FlingGolf is still the best thing that has happened to me in it.

None of what I have listed above happens without FlingGolf. This sport has been some of the most fun I have had in my life, and I do not think I would be where I am without it. So I want to give the guys at FlingGolf their flowers, and I want to make the case for why this game deserves a lot more credit than it gets.

The Snobbery Is Real, and It’s Missing the Point

Traditionalists see FlingGolf and write it off immediately. Bad apple. Not “savory” for the golf course. Different, and different is bad. I get it, but I do not think most of the people saying that have actually thought about who this game is for.

My dad is 62. He is an Air Force veteran, and he does not have the same range of motion he used to. I can still get on the course with my dad and be competitive, have a great time, whether we are playing traditional golf or FlingGolf that day. That is the whole point. There are a lot of people who do not jive with the traditional golf world. It can be snooty. It can be exclusionary. It can be uptight, and honestly, it can be flat-out cost-ineffective for a lot of families.

FlingGolf gets people on the course, having a great time, at a price point that is actually realistic. Our highest-end model runs $200, you get a bag, something to hold water, a couple of balls, and that is it. You will lose way fewer balls than you will playing traditional golf, and you learn the actual essence of the game without half the hassle or the expense.

“You’ll Never Play This on a Real Course”

I hear this one constantly, and it is just not true anymore. I was honored to run a tournament at Magnolia Greens Golf Club last year, a Troon property. We have taken FlingGolf to over 3,000 golf courses at this point, including Pebble Beach and St. Andrews. We have played the same stops tour players have played, and plenty of courses most people will never get to set foot on in their lifetime. If FlingGolf can tee it up at St. Andrews, “you will never play this on a real course” is not an argument anymore. People typically shun what they don't understand. Traditionalists quake in their boots when they see me. Black guy, 30s, long dreadlocks, and doing a thing they have never seen before on their "precious golf course." I'll tell you a story. I remember being at The Hollows Golf Club in Hanover, Virginia. The starter walks up to me, looks me up and down, spots the FlingStick in my hand and asks, "what in the hell is that?" I give him my 30 second elevator pitch explaining what the game is all about, and then he hits me with the "let's see it bud" look. I proceed to launch a ball about 215 down the middle of the fairway and he was in sheer shock. I proceeded to shoot a 75 that day and that starter never gave me crap again.

You’re Painting an Entire Canvas With One Piece of Equipment

The vitriol we get online is honestly kind of funny, because I do not think most of the people dishing it out could do what we do. In traditional golf, you are standing over a 150-yard par 3 with water in front, and you have got a bag full of clubs to solve that problem. In FlingGolf, you have got one piece of equipment, and you are the one who has to figure out how to get it there.

FlingGolf teaches course management in a way I have not seen matched by any other sport, including golf itself. I shot a 66 at Hunting Hawk Golf Club in Glen Allen, Virginia, with a maximum distance of about 220 yards, roughly what a 4-iron would give you. That is not something a lot of people can pull off, and it should tell you something about what this game actually demands.

This Sport Includes People the Traditional Game Leaves Behind

Do not get me started on how this game brings in women and kids. In the World League FlingGolf Professional Tour, our women are absolute killers. And our Masters division, 55 and up, is not to be underestimated. I was at the No Bunkers No Bogeys No Score Scramble in Atlanta last weekend, and watched one of our Masters guys throw a ball from 120 yards and stick it to three feet. You would not have known that ball was thrown instead of hit with a wedge. You would have no idea.

And honestly, that should not even be the distinction people care about. At the end of the day, we are all still trying to get a ball into a hole from hundreds of yards away. That is the game. Thrown or struck should not change how much it counts.

There’s a Real Business Case for FlingGolf

If I were running a golf course, I would want a rack of FingSticks on hand. You are bringing in a type of golfer who normally would not set foot on your course, and you can rent sticks out for $20 to $30 a pop. Massanutten Resort has been living proof of this since 2015. Brett Mowbray, their PGA Director of Golf Operations, has said FlingGolf has been worth about $40,000 a year in revenue for them ever since they added it, from an extra 1,400 to 1,500 rounds annually. If a course sitting on empty tee times can pull numbers like that, it is hard to see a reason not to try it.

FlingGolf does offer packages for golf course operators to start increasing their inventory at a lower price, and you can also contact an ambassador like myself for event activations. Prime example, Independence Golf Club in Midlothian, VA actually offers FlingGolf for their Par 3 course known as the Bear. I did the 100 Hole Hike out there in partnership with Youth On Course, and it was some of the most fun I've had. Exhausting, but fun. Hunting Hawk also gives special rates for FlingGolfers after 3pm. So if you're in the area, check it out.

How I Actually Got Here

In 2023, my now doubles partner Joe Jenkins, better known on tour as “Hollywood,” walked into my store at Dick’s Sporting Goods and asked if I wanted to film some content for him in Massachusetts for this sport he was into. I asked what it was. He said FlingGolf. I was in before he finished the sentence.

We drove twelve straight hours to Amesbury, Massachusetts, where FlingGolf is headquartered. I got to take pictures, talk to the pros, and eventually sat down with Alex Van Alen, the creator and CEO of New Swarm, FlingGolf’s parent company, and John Pruellage, President of FlingGolf and Commissioner of the New Swarm FlingGolf Tour. I asked if I could help market the sport. Without hesitating, they brought in Steve Bloom, who needs no introduction as the brains of the operation and Vice President, handed me my first FlingStick, a Stinger, and told me to do them proud.

Three years later, here I am. I watched these guys on Shark Tank, throwing a set of clubs on the ground and pitching the Sharks, long before I ever imagined working alongside them as an Ambassador. It still feels surreal some days.

Round-Up

I am grateful. Grateful to Alex Van Alen and John Pruellage for building something worth believing in, grateful for the people this game has put in my life, grateful for the ecosystem I get to be part of. This sport does not get the respect it has earned yet, but every round I play with my dad, every Masters-division player sticking one from 120 out, every kid who picks up a FlingStick because a full set of irons was never in the cards for their family, or someone who just doesn't jive with the traditionalist notions of golf makes this worth it.

If you want to get into FlingGolf yourself, head to flinggolf.com and check the “Where to Play” tab. You will find an ambassador in your area who can show you the ropes. And if you're in the Richmond or surrounding Virginia, come find me. I'll be more than willing to give you a hand.


And if you want to see my other articles, check out the one I wrote on Piss Missile Golf

I'm building True Path Golf to not only be a hub for folks to learn about themselves from a fitting standpoint, but I'm building a community where we can give tips, keep up with training, and if you fling or swing, it doesn't matter. You're welcome here. Welcome to True Path Golf.