Smyrna footgolf milestone makes Tennessee state history

Smyrna claimed Tennessee’s original footgolf footprint when WKRN News 2 spotlighted the town in a segment titled “Making state history with footgolf in Smyrna.” The story centered on Smyrna Golf Course, where footgolf first took root in the state in 2014 and where the sport still carries the distinction of being Tennessee’s first certified AFGL site.

WKRN had already told viewers in May 2026 that “Smyrna is home to the very first foot golf course,” and Kendall Lanier was on the green at Smyrna Golf Course to introduce the game to a wider audience. Lanier told viewers, “if you like soccer and you like golf, this is the game for you,” a simple pitch that captured why the format has stayed alive: it is easy to explain, easy to try and built around a course that already exists rather than a one-off setup.

Smyrna Golf Course says it was the first certified AFGL course in Tennessee and that footgolf made its Tennessee debut there. That certification gives the sport more than novelty value. It ties footgolf to a recognized governing structure, gives local players a reliable place to play, and gives organizers a fixed venue around which leagues, instruction and tournaments can be built in Middle Tennessee.

The course’s place in the state timeline reaches back more than a decade. A Daily News Journal account dated Aug. 2, 2014 described a first round of footgolf at Smyrna Golf Course in late July 2014, showing the game was already active there long before the latest television spotlight. That kind of continuity matters for a niche sport: it is harder to dismiss a one-time attraction when the same course has been hosting the format for years.

The timing also fits Smyrna’s broader growth. In May 2026, WKRN said the town had grown from just under 40,000 people in 2010 to just more than 53,000 in 2020, in one of the fastest-growing counties in Tennessee. With that kind of expansion, Smyrna’s first-certified footgolf course is positioned to do more than preserve a local first. It gives Tennessee a legitimate launch point for a sport that can now build deeper into the state’s tournament pipeline.