Who said you need to use clubs to play golf? A South Carolina man is changing the game.
After suffering a work-related accident in 2003, Niko Manou developed a case of chronic wrist pain. Unable to swing the club like he used to, he created a new version of golf by kicking the ball called “Shloffing”.
This is not your typical foot-wedge. The State has the story:
“I was a little angry with the world, and I kicked the ball, and my head just went crazy with my idea,” Manou said.
Manou resides in North Myrtle Beach but lived in New York when this brainchild was born. He said he put together a sketch for the special shoes that would allow him to play golf with his feet instead of his hands and sent it to be engineered by some “great guys” in New York.
A company called Dynet came up with the first couple of prototypes, Manou said. He’s now in the process of bringing it out to the world, with help from the people making the special equipment, he said.
Manou uses two different small metal plates that he snaps onto the front of his golf shoe before kicking the ball toward the hole – one is used as a multi-driver, the other for putting.
“It’s all in the manipulation of the leg and the swing and how far you are from the tee,” he said of his technique which he calls “shloffing.”
Manou tees up his ball and lines “it up like an old field goal stance” then gives it a solid kick using one of metal plates he calls “shlubs.”
He’s been teaching this method to others and soon hopes to create more “Shloffers” and “Shloffettes” and is trying to form the PSA – Professional Shloffers Association – as he continues to showcase playing golf with special shoes rather than traditional clubs, he said.
“I want people from every country, province and state to start a new sport,” he said. “It’s just an alternate way of running down a golf course. It’s exercise therapy.”
Talk about innovation! In a world where growing the game seems to be the top of golf’s priority list, this guy gets it.
Well done, Niko. We salute you!
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