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Anders Otness, 11, of Rosemount, teed off in a game of footgolf at Inver Wood Golf Course in Inver Grove Heights. “You don’t need to be a soccer player to kick the ball,” he said. Julie Watrud, co-owner and manager of the Apple Valley Golf Course, said they installed their nine-hole foot golf course early this season after receiving calls from people who had played at other courses. “It’s been so many families,” she said, adding that in some groups of players some will golf while others play footgolf alongside them. The sport originated about 10 years ago in Europe, and according to Gralinski, the inventor is up for debate. Word has it that aretired soccer player went to golf courses and kicked the ball to the greens. “As long as the ball touched the flag, that was in the hole,” he said. “It kind of took off all over.” When, in 2012, the first official footgolf world cup was held in Hungary, there were five or six courses in the United States. At last count, he said, there are 421 footgolf courses nationwide. The sport is good news for golf courses that have struggled to attract players in recent years. According to Warren Ryan, communicationsdirector of the Minnesota Golf Association, numbers of golfers have been down for years. In 2005, he said, there were 30 million golfers, and in 2013, he said, that had plummeted to 24.7 million golfers. Ryan and club managers attribute the decline to theeconomy, a generational shift in interests and dual-income families having less time. Ryan said the common saying in the industry is that golf “takes too long, costs too much, and it’s too hard.” Anders Otness, 11, of Rosemount, kicked his ball into the cup during a round of footgolf at Inver Wood Golf Course in Inver Grove Heights.