'World First' in jeu de crosse

On the 9th and 10th August 2009, golf historians from all over the world met in Belgium to experience, after reading the book CHOULE – The Non-Royal but most Ancient Game of Crosse, the real thing on the crosse fields of the Society' Les Amis du Pic et du Plat' at Baudour, near the beautiful city of Mons (Bergen) in Belgium.

For the first time in the almost thousand years' history of 'choule' (for the Anglo-Saxons) or 'jeu de crosse' or 'crossage' (for the Francophones), golf players from Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Scotland came to the Belgian crosse fields. Here, they got to know this remarkable, very ancient continental golf game in practice.

The historical golf societies of Australia, Britain and Europe were well represented by their respective captains: Michael Sheret, David Hamilton and Christoph Meister. 

Michael Sheret, captain of the Australian Golf Heritage Society,

overjoyed at hitting the planchette.

   

Under the guidance of Marius Hallez, president of the Baudour crosse society, the very proud and friendly crosseurs showed the participants with infinite patience:

• how to play the game
• how to handle the crosse clubs (reversed baseball grip)
• how and when to choose one of the many different ellipsoid balls, from small, heavy and extremely rigid nylon balls to large, light cork balls 
• when and how to 'chouler' and 'déchouler', etc.  

The players make the crosse clubs and choulettes themselves. There are no pro-shops or Nevada Bob's where you can buy choule equipment.

One of the crosseurs teaches Christoph Meister, captain of the European Association of Golf Historians and Collectors, and Geert Nijs how to proceed from this planchette to the next one.

There is no coordinating 'Saint Andrews’-like organisation to set generally accepted rules. Contrary to the French crosseurs who have fixed rules, the Belgians are free to produce equipment as they like. Hence, you see golf drivers with reinforced (5 mm) strike faces, original crosse clubs with metal shafts, and grips made of insulation tapes. Balls are hand-made from nylon, pressed wood, cork, willow and boxwood.

There are just a few basic rules for the game. Players decide among themselves on how to go about special situations in the field.

The difference between the 'progressive' Belgian game and the 'traditional' French game has become so big that it is hardly possible to hold cross-border tournaments.

The foreign players were stunned by the ingenuity of the sport and the surprising likeness between the royal game of golf and the crosse game.

David Hamilton and Geert Nijs are discussing the ingenious design of the double-purpose club head of the crosse.

Between the teaching and the playing, there were breaks for Belgian beers, traditional crosseur meals, medieval music played on ancient 'cornemuses' (bagpipes) and an accordion, and by singing the old St Anthony's song, since more than 600 years the patron saint of all crosseurs (and of all golfers).

Sara Kieboom-Nijs, the co-author of 'CHOULE The Non-Royal but most Ancient Game of Crosse' and organiser of this unforgettable event, offered in the name of all golfers a statue of St Anthony to the Pic et Plat society, with the plea that the patron saint may help to preserve this fantastic game for many years to come.