Funicular railways, bridges and cobbled streets are not typical features on a golf course but they form the backdrop to a new course in Fribourg, a Swiss city hoping to attract fresh tourists.

"Urban golf" is the brainchild of Celine Curty, a former business studies student who hit upon the idea while working as an intern in the tourist office of Fribourg, a pretty university town that marks the frontier between French- and German-speaking Switzerland.

The plan formed the basis of her final year degree project, and impressed her bosses at Fribourg so much that they decided to turn it into a reality.

"I'm very pleased with how it turned out," Curty told AFP — though she admitted she hasn't played the whole course yet.

The 18 "holes" are dotted around the medieval Old Town, many offering fantastic views of the Gothic cathedral, the old city walls and the Sarine river.

It's more than just a stroll — doing the full round involves crossing the town for a good four hours, even if you do take advantage of Fribourg's funicular railway to get down from the first hole to the riverbank.

"It's the perfect way to discover the town"

And if there's no clubhouse for the traditional "19th hole" relaxing over a gin and tonic, there are plenty of cafes and bars dotted around the city for thirsty players to take a break.

"It's the perfect way to discover the town" Nicolas Zapf, Fribourg's tourism director said.

Urban golf exists in many forms, proving particularly popular in the late 1990s in London's trendy Shoreditch district, where golfers tired of the sport's stuffy, conservative image literally took their clubs to the streets and set up impromptu contests, improvising the holes as they went.

The Fribourg approach is slightly different as the location of the holes is fixed, with the aim of giving players the best possible views across the town. But budding Tiger Woods or Nick Faldos hoping to perfect their swing will be disappointed, as "urban golf" differs greatly from the traditional variant.

For a start, you have only one club for both swinging and putting — a relief no doubt to any potential caddies who would otherwise have to scale Fribourg's cobbled, winding and hilly streets.

The ball is also much lighter and made of squeezable rubber, which is probably just as well given the number of pedestrians passing by seemingly unaware of the course in their midst.

"We're not aiming it at golfers, just ordinary tourists"

Each 'hole' consists of one small patch of astroturf from where you tee off, aiming for a separate piece of turf no more than a few metres away. The hole is not marked by a traditional flag (too tempting for light-fingered passers-by) but a fixed red marker.

The aim is to sink the ball within seven shots, though of course there are no fixed rules and indeed you're not forced to play every single hole.

"We're not aiming it at golfers, just ordinary tourists," Zapf said.

Urban golf has been up and running since April 1 and has already attracted a lot of interest in Switzerland as well as neighbouring France and Germany, but is not yet targeting golf-mad Asian tourists.

And what does the public actually make of it? Well, the holes are surprisingly discreet and not heavily signed — so you need to keep your map with you at all times.

But hurrying after two eager young boys with clubs in hand, one local grandmother said she was all in favour.

"I'm from Fribourg but the kids are from France — it's a great way for them to get to know the place," she said.

AFP