Golf

For other uses, see the sport.

Golf is a sport in which individual players or teams of players strike a ball into a hole using several types of clubs. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not use a fixed, standardised playing field or area; defined in the Rules of Golf as "playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules."

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews

The first game of golf for which records survive was played at Bruntsfield Links, in Edinburgh, Scotland, in A.D. 1456, recorded in the archives of the Edinburgh Burgess Golfing Society, now The Royal Burgess Golfing Society.

Etymology

The word golf was first mentioned in writing in 1457 on a Scottish statute on forbidden games as gouf, possibly derived from the Scots word goulf (variously spelled) meaning "to strike or cuff". This word may, in turn, be derived from the Dutch word kolf, meaning "bat," or "club," and the Dutch sport of the same name. But there is an even earlier reference to the game of golf and it is believed to have happened in 1452 when King James II banned the game because it kept his subjects from their archery practice.

History

Main article: History of golf

Golf is a very old game of which the exact origins are unclear. The origin of golf is open to debate as to being Chinese, Dutch or Scottish. However, the most accepted golf history theory is that this sport originated from Scotland in the 1100s.

A game somewhat similar to golf was first mentioned in Dōngxuān Records (Chinese: 東軒錄), a Chinese book of 11th Century. It was also mentioned in February 26 in the year 1297 in the Netherlands in a city called Loenen aan de Vecht. Here the Dutch played a game with a stick and leather ball. Whoever hit the ball into a target several hundreds of meters away the most number of times, won.

However, modern golf is considered to be a Scottish invention, as the game was mentioned in two 15th century laws prohibiting the playing of the game of gowf. Some scholars have suggested that this refers to another game which is more akin to modern shinty, hurling or field hockey than golf. A game of putting a small ball in a hole in the ground using clubs was played in 17th century Netherlands. The word golf derives from the Dutch kolf meaning stick, club or bat (see: Kolven). Flourishing trade over the North Sea during the Middle Ages and early Modern Period led to much language interaction between Scots, Dutch, Flemish and other languages. There are reports of even earlier accounts of golf from continental Europe.

The oldest playing golf course in the world is The Old Links at Musselburgh Racecourse. Evidence has shown that golf was played on Musselburgh Links in 1672 although Mary, Queen of Scots reputedly played there in 1567.

Golf courses have not always had eighteen holes. The St Andrews Links occupy a narrow strip of land along the sea. As early as the 15th century, golfers at St Andrews, in Fife, established a customary route through the undulating terrain, playing to holes whose locations were dictated by topography. The course that emerged featured eleven holes, laid out end to end from the clubhouse to the far end of the property. One played the holes out, turned around, and played the holes in, for a total of 22 holes. In 1764, several of the holes were deemed too short, and were therefore combined. The number was thereby reduced from 11 to nine, so that a complete round of the links comprised 18 holes.

The major changes in equipment since the 19th century have been better mowers, especially for the greens, better golf ball designs, using rubber and man-made materials since about 1900, and the introduction of the metal shaft beginning in the 1930s. Also in the 1930s the wooden golf tee was invented. In the 1970s the use of metal to replace wood heads began, and shafts made of graphite composite materials were introduced in the 1980s.

World popularity

In 2005 Golf Digest calculated that there were nearly 32,000 golf courses in the world, approximately half of them in the United States. The countries with most golf courses in relation to population, starting with the best endowed were: Scotland, New Zealand, Australia, Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Canada, Wales, United States, Sweden, and England (countries with fewer than 500,000 people were excluded). Apart from Sweden, all of these countries have English as the majority language, but the number of courses in new territories is increasing rapidly. For example the first golf course in the People's Republic of China opened in the mid-1980s, but by 2005 there were 200 courses in that country.

The professional sport was initially dominated by Scottish then English golfers, but since World War I, America has produced the greatest quantity of leading professionals. Other Commonwealth countries such as Australia and South Africa are also traditional powers in the sport. Since around the 1970s, Japan, Scandinavian and other Western European countries have produced leading players on a regular basis. The number of countries with high-class professionals continues to increase steadily, especially in East Asia. South Korea is notably strong in women's golf.

The last decade or so has seen a marked increase in specialised golf vacations or holidays worldwide. This demand for travel which is centered around golf has led to the development of many luxury resorts which cater to golfers and feature integrated golf courses. Also, there was a man a very kewl man named chuck norris he played golf and was the best ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever. Even better than tiger woods

Golf course

Main article: Golf course

The famous 17th hole of the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course.

Golf is played in an area of land designated a golf course. A course consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing area, fairway, rough and other hazards, and the green with the pin and cup. A typical golf course consists of eighteen holes, but many have only nine. link title

Play of the game

Every game of golf is based on playing a number of holes in a given order. A round typically consists of 18 holes that are played in the order determined by the course layout. On a nine-hole course, a standard round consists of two successive nine-hole rounds. A hole of golf consists of hitting a ball from a tee on the teeing box (a marked area designated for the first shot of a hole, a tee shot), and once the ball comes to rest, striking it again. This process is repeated until the ball is in the cup. Once the ball is on the green (an area of finely cut grass) the ball is usually putted (hit along the ground) into the hole. The goal of resting the ball in the hole in as few strokes as possible may be impeded by various hazards, such as bunkers and water hazards.

Players walk (or drive in motorized carts) over the course, either singly or in groups of two, three, or four, sometimes accompanied by caddies who carry and manage the players' equipment and give them advice. Each player plays a ball from the tee to the hole, except that in the mode of play called foursomes two teams of two players compete, and the members of each team alternate shots using only one ball until the ball is holed out. When all individual players or teams have brought a ball into play, the player or team whose ball is the farthest from the hole is next to play. In some team events a player whose ball is farther from the hole may ask his partner to play first. When all players of a group have completed the hole, the player or team with the best score on that hole has the honor, that is, the right to tee off first on the next tee.

Each player acts as marker for one other player in the group, that is, he or she records the score on a score card. In stroke play (see below), the score consists of the number of strokes played plus any penalty strokes incurred. Penalty strokes are not actually strokes but penalty points that are added to the score for violations of rules or utilizing relief procedures.

Par

A hole is classified by its par, the number of strokes a skilled golfer should require to complete play to the hole. For example, a skilled golfer expects to reach the green on a par-four hole in two strokes, one from the tee (the "drive") and another, second, stroke to the green (the "approach") and then roll the ball into the hole with two putts. Traditionally, a golf hole is either a par-three, -four or -five; some par-six holes exist, but are not usually found on traditional golf courses.

Primarily, but not exclusively, the par of a hole is determined by the tee-to-green distance. A typical length for a par-three hole ranges between 91 and 224 metres (100–250 yd), for a par-four hole, between 225 and 434 metres (251–475 yd). Typically, par-five holes are at between 435 and 630 metres (476–690 yd), and nontraditional par-six holes are any longer distance. These distances are not absolute rules; for example, it is possible that a 500-yard hole could be classed as a par-four hole, since the par for a hole is determined by its 'effective playing length'. If the tee-to-green distance on a hole is predominantly downhill, it will play shorter than its physical length and may be given a lower par rating.

Many eighteen hole courses have four par-three, ten par-four, and four par-five holes, though other combinations exist and are not less worthy than courses of par 72. Many major championships are contested on courses playing to a par of 70 or 71, and it's not rare to find a worthy test (especially in the British Isles) playing to a par of 69 or lower. In many countries, courses are classified, in addition to the course's par, with a course classification describing the play difficulty of a course and may be used to calculate a golfer's playing handicap for that given course (c.f. golf handicap).

The par scoring system can be seen as a way to facilitate the comparison of all golfers' progress around the course in stroke play by providing a common reference score. For example, if player A after completing hole #4 has a cumulative score equal to par (say, 16 strokes), and player B has a cumulative score equal to -1 after hole #6 (say, 23 strokes), then one is able to see more easily that player B has played relatively better than player A, than by comparing their cumulative numbers of strokes (16 vs. 23).

Scoring

In every form of play, the goal is to play as few strokes per round as possible. Scores for each hole can be described as follows:

Term on a scoreboard	Specific term	Definition
-4	Condor or Vulture (or triple-eagle)	four strokes under par
-3	Albatross (or double-eagle)	three strokes under par
-2	Eagle (or double-birdie)	two strokes under par
-1	Birdie	one stroke under par
0	Par	strokes equal to par
+1	Bogey	one stroke more than par
+2	Double bogey	two strokes over par
+3	Triple bogey	three strokes over par

A snowman (perhaps 4 over par on a par 4 hole) is an informal term in some countries for a score indicating that 8 shots were taken at a single hole.

The two basic forms of playing golf are match play and stroke play.

• In match play, two players (or two teams) play each hole as a separate contest against each other. The party with the lower score wins that hole, or if the scores of both players or teams are equal the hole is "halved" (drawn). The game is won by the party that wins more holes than the other. In the case that one team or player has taken a lead that cannot be overcome in the number of holes remaining to be played, the match is deemed to be won by the party in the lead, and the remainder of the holes are not played. For example, if one party already has a lead of six holes, and only five holes remain to be played on the course, the match is over. At any given point, if the lead is equal to the number of holes remaining, the match is said to be "dormie", and is continued until the leader increases the lead by one hole, thereby winning the match, or until the match ends in a tie. When the game is tied after the predetermined number of holes have been played, it may be continued until one side takes a one-hole lead, and thereupon immediately wins by one hole.
• In stroke play, every player (or team) counts the number of shots taken for the whole round or tournament to produce the total score, and the player with the lowest score wins. A variant of stroke play is Stableford scoring, where a number of points (two for the target score) are given for each hole, and the fewer shots taken, the more points obtained, so the aim is to have as many points as possible. Another variant of stroke play, the Modified Stableford method, awards points on each hole in relation to par and then adds the points over a round; for more details on this method, see the article on The INTERNATIONAL, a now-defunct PGA Tour tournament that used Modified Stableford scoring.

There are many variations of these basic principles, some of which are explicitly described in the "Rules of Golf" and are therefore regarded "official." "Official" forms of play are, among others, foursome and four-ball games.

Fees

One must pay certain fees to play on a golf course. There are two different fees; the cart fee, which is for the use of a golf cart, and the greens fee, which allows play on the course itself. On some courses, walking is prohibited, and the cart fee is often included with the greens fee.

The greens fee may vary from the equivalent of a few dollars for communal (also known as municipal) courses in many countries, up to that of several hundred dollars for public courses; e.g., greens fees at Pebble Beach can run over $850 as of Spring 2007. Discounts on fees may be offered for players starting their round late (and on many courses, unusually early) in the day. Prices may also vary for seniors and minors, or depending on the season.

Team play

A foursome (defined in Rule 29) is played between two teams of two players each, in which each team has only one ball and players alternate playing it. For example, if players A and B form a team, A tees off on the first hole, B will play the second shot, A the third, and so on until the hole is finished. On the second hole, B will tee off (regardless who played the last putt on the first hole), then A plays the second shot, and so on. Foursomes can be played as match play or stroke play.

A four-ball (Rules 30 and 31) is also played between two teams of two players each, but every player plays his own ball and for each team, the lower score on each hole is counted. Four-balls can be played as match play or stroke play.

There are also popular unofficial variations on team play. In a scramble, each player in a team tees off on each hole, and the players decide which shot was best. Every player then plays his second shot from within a clublength of where the best ball has come to rest, and the procedure is repeated until the hole is finished. In a Texas scramble, the same rules apply but at least four drives of each member of the team must be used during the course of the round. In best ball, each player plays the hole as normal, but the lowest score of all the players on the team counts as the team's score.

In a greensome, also called modified alternate shot, both players tee off, and then pick the best shot as in a scramble. The player who did not shoot the best first shot plays the second shot. The play then alternates as in a foursome.

A variant of greensome is sometimes played where the opposing team chooses which of their opponent's tee shots the opponents should use. The player who did not shoot the chosen first shot plays the second shot. Play then continues as a greensome. Such a format is known as either gruesomes, bloodsomes or gruesome greensomes.

There is also a form of starting called "shotgun," which is mainly used for tournament play. A "shotgun start" consists of groups starting at different tees, allowing for all players to start and end their round at the same time.

Handicap systems

Main article: Golf handicap

A handicap is a numerical measure of an amateur golfer's ability to play golf over 18 holes. The 2 main formulas used in the game are stroke play (also known as brutto or medal) and match play.

The Stroke play formula is an individual way of playing the game as you are competing against the par of the course. The Stroke play formula is simply the sum of strokes a player shoots over 18 holes and compares it to the par (or the sum of a theoretical number of strokes of an expert player per hole added up over 18 holes). The difference between your number of strokes and the par determines your handicap.

The match play formula is a game during which two players play against each other. In other words, your score per hole depends on the other player's score. This formula was - and still is - very much appreciated by golfers as the state of mind is totally different from a stroke play game, during which the golfer has to 'secure' each and single of his shots in order to play the lower score (number of strokes) possible over 18 holes. In the contrary, the match play rule will allow the player to approach the course in a more aggressive manner in order to win the hole against his opponent. e.g. P1 plays 4 and P2 plays 5: P1 wins the hole and current score on the tee number 2 would be '1 up'. If P2 would like to mention the status of the score, he would say: '1 down' (each player announces his position towards the game).

The so-called "net" score is a formula commonly preferred by players from different proficiency to play against each other on equal terms. Good Ones handicap is subtracted from their round score thus making a game even between two players. e.g. player 1's round score: 90, handicap: 20, the course's par: 70, Player 2's round score: 100, handicap: 30, overall (par): 70. a players handicap determines the quality of their game making a player with a lower handicap better than one with a higher handicap. However, in practice, motivated and ambitious high handicap players strive to lower their handicaps and thus the current official one they show on their cards might not be their real current level, which consequently might put them in a favourable position when playing 'net' formula games.

Handicaps are complicated, but essentially are the average over par of a number of previous rounds, adjusted for course difficulty. Legislations regarding the calculation of handicaps differs among countries and sometimes becomes so complicated that a golfer's handicap might not always mirror his real level of play. For example, Swiss handicap rules include the difficulty of the course the golfer is playing on by taking into consideration factors such as the number of bunkers, the length of the course, the difficulty and slopes of the greens, the width of the fairways, and so on.

Handicap systems are not used in professional golf. Professional golfers often score several strokes below par for a round and thus have a handicap of 0, subtracting 0 from their round score.

Rules and other regulations

The rules of golf are internationally standardised and are jointly governed by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A), which was founded 1754 and the United States Golf Association (USGA). By agreement with the R&A, USGA jurisdiction on the enforcement and interpretation of the rules is limited to the United States and Mexico. The national golf associations of other countries use the rules laid down by the R&A and there is a formal procedure for referring any points of doubt to the R&A.

The underlying principle of the rules is fairness. As stated on the back cover of the official rule book: "play the ball as it lies", "play the course as you find it", and "if you can't do either, do what is fair". Some rules state that:

• every player is entitled and obliged to play the ball from the position where it has come to rest after a stroke, unless a rule allows or demands otherwise (Rule 13-1)
• a player must not accept assistance in making a stroke (Rule 14-2)
• the condition of the ground or other parts of the course may not be altered to gain an advantage, except in some cases defined in the rules
• a ball may only be replaced by another during play of a hole if it is destroyed (Rule 5-3), lost (Rule 27-1), or unplayable (Rule 28), or at some other time permitted by the Rules. The player may always substitute balls between the play of two holes.

The Decisions on the Rules of Golf are based on formal case decisions by the R&A and USGA and are revised and updated every other year.

There are strict regulations regarding the amateur status of golfers. Essentially, everybody who has ever received payment or compensation for giving instruction or played golf for money is not considered an amateur and may not participate in competitions limited solely to amateurs. However amateur golfers may receive expenses which comply with strict guidelines and they may accept non-cash prizes within the limits established by the Rules of Amateur Status.

In addition to the officially printed rules, golfers also abide by a set of guidelines called Golf etiquette. Etiquette guidelines cover matters such as safety, fairness, easiness and pace of play, and a player's obligation to contribute to the care of the course. Though there are no penalties for breach of etiquette rules, players generally follow the rules of golf etiquette in an effort to improve everyone's playing experience.

Hitting a golf ball

To hit the ball, the club is swung at the motionless ball on the ground (or wherever it has come to rest) from a side stance. Many golf shots make the ball travel through the air (carry) and roll out for some more distance (roll).

Every shot is a compromise between length and precision, and long shots are often less precise than short ones. Obviously, a longer shot may result in a better score if it helps reduce the total number of strokes for a given hole, but the benefit may be more than outweighed by additional strokes or penalties if a ball is lost, out of bounds, or comes to rest on difficult ground. Therefore, a skilled golfer must assess the quality of his or her shots in a particular situation in order to judge whether the possible benefits of aggressive play are worth the risks.

Poor shots

There are several possible causes of poor shots, such as poor alignment of the club, wrong direction of swing, and off-center hits where the clubhead rotates around the ball at impact. Many of these troubles are aggravated with the "longer" clubs and higher speed of swing. Furthermore, the absolute effect of a deviation will increase with a longer shot compared with a short one.

For many people who play golf, the number and variety of poor shots is larger than they would like. Consequently, many, many words have been found to describe the shots--some of them are quite colourful. Some of the more common terms for the poor shots are explained below:

• Hook : The ball flight curves sharply to the left for a right-handed player (to the right for left-handed players). A severe hook is commonly called a Duck-Hook or a Snap hook.

• Slice : The ball curves sharply to the right for a right-handed player (to the left for left-handed players). For beginning golfers this is the typical outcome of most shots. A severe slice is commonly referred to as a Banana-Slice or a Banana-Ball.

• Pull : For a right-handed player the ball is 'pulled' across the body and flies to the left of the intended target without curvature (the ball flies to the right for left-handed players). A Pull-Hook indicates that the ball started out left of target and curved even further to the left. A Pull-Slice means the ball starts out left then curves back to the right.

• Push : The opposite of a Pull, where the ball is 'pushed' away from the body. The ball flies to the right of the intended target for right-handed players (to the left for left-handed players). A Push-Slice indicates that the ball started out right of target and curved even further to the right. A Push-Hook means the ball starts out right then curves back to the left.

• Shank or Lateral : The ball is struck by the hosel or the outer edge of the club rather than the clubface and shoots sharply to the right for a right-handed player.

• hitting it thin or Blade or Skull : The ball is struck with the bottom edge of the club and not its face. This may damage the surface of a golf ball with a soft cover material, and may result in a stinging sensation in one's hands on a cold day.

• hitting it fat/chunk it : A fat shot occurs when the club strikes the ground before the ball. A large divot is usually produced along with a clubface covered in the divot.

• Top/duff/dub/grounder : The topside of the ball is struck with the blade of the club. The result usually consists of the ball rolling forward on the ground with much topspin.

• Sky Ball or Pop-Up : The opposite of a Top. This occurs most frequently when teeing the ball up too high, though sometimes a Sky Ball will occur when the ball is sitting on top of long blades of grass and the club has space to pass under the ball. The top side of the club strikes the bottom side of the ball and forces the ball higher into the air than desired. A true sky ball occurs when the ball travels farther vertically than it does horizontally (although this is sometimes intentionally done with high loft clubs).

• Double-Hit : Hitting the ball twice in one swing. This occurs most often in chipping or pitching, and is extremely rare in any other kind of shot. This is commonly referred to as a T.C. Chen, named for the Taiwanese golfer who led the 1985 U.S. Open by 5 shots on Sunday, wherein he double-hit a chip on the fifth hole and made an eight, costing him the championship.

• Flyer : This type of shot usually occurs when playing from deep rough. Grass blades come between the club face and the ball, preventing the club face from imparting maximum backspin on the ball. This loss of lift from backspin will typically cause a lower, longer shot than a cleanly contacted shot. The resulting flight of the ball is that the target is overshot by 10 or more yards and the ball does not stop as quickly on the green.

• Hood : Somewhere during the swing the clubface becomes more perpendicular to the ground, or angled more toward the golfer. The clubface may strike the ground first or get caught up in heavy rough. This results in the ball flying lower to the ground than intended and usually resulting in a Pull as well.

• Wormburner, Groundhog Killer or Sally Gunnell : The ball is hit extremely low to the ground, or bounces rapidly across the ground, essentially "burning up worms" or hitting groundhogs as it speeds along.

• Chili Dip : A common miscue while chipping where the ball is flubbed only a few feet forward. Sometimes referred to as a Chunk.

• Foot Wedge : An illegal act of literally kicking one's ball to a better location. The character Judge Smails uses this technique in the movie Caddyshack.

• Whiff or Air Shot : Missing the ball completely after swinging at it counts as a stroke, usually resulting in embarrassment. May be jokingly referred to as a Practice Swing.

• Iron Hooker : Holding the club too far forward causing a flicking action which results in a major hook.

• Gunnell/Top : A Gunnell, or Top, is a low shot where the club face makes contact with the top of the ball. Shots that go ¾ distance in this manner are usually referred to as a 'Gunnell', or 'A runner, but not a looker'. The expression originated in England, and is a reference to former Olympic hurdler Sally Gunnell.

• Pulled a Ty-Ty : When on the tee box and you tee the ball too high and pop it up using a driver. ( known as a pop up.)

The golf swing

File:Woods technique.jpg

Tiger Woods displaying the textbook position (course: St Andrews).

Animation of the full golf swing.

Putts and short chips are ideally played without much movement of the body, but most other golf shots are played using variants of the full golf swing. The full golf swing itself is used in tee and fairway shots.

A full swing is a complex rotation of the body aimed at accelerating the club head to a great speed. For a right-handed golfer, it consists of a backswing to the right, a downswing to the left (in which the ball is hit), and a follow through. At address, the player stands with the left shoulder and hip pointing in the intended direction of ball flight, with the ball before the feet. The club is held with both hands (right below left for right-handed players), the clubhead resting on the ground behind the ball, hips and knees somewhat flexed, and the arms hanging from the shoulders. The backswing is a rotation to the right, consisting of a shifting of the player's body weight to the right side, a turning of the pelvis and shoulders, lifting of the arms and flexing of the elbows and wrists. At the end of the backswing the hands are above the right shoulder, with the club pointing more or less in the intended direction of ball flight. The downswing is roughly a backswing reversed. After the ball is hit, the follow-through stage consists of a continued rotation to the left. At the end of the swing, the weight has shifted almost entirely to the left foot, the body is fully turned to the left and the hands are above the left shoulder with the club hanging down over the players' back.

The full golf swing is an unnatural, highly complex motion and notoriously difficult to learn. It is not uncommon for beginners to spend several months practicing the very basics before playing their first ball on a course. It is usually very difficult to acquire a stable and successful swing without professional instruction and even highly skilled golfers may continue to take golf lessons for many years. One can also purchase or use a new golf simulator that can cost upwards of $50,000.

Relatively few golfers play left-handed (i.e., swing back to the left and forward to the right). The percentage of golfers in the U.S. who play left-handed is estimated to be anywhere from 4 percent to 7 percent in the U.S. according to http://www.pga.com/equipment/focus-on/lefthandedequipment050503.cfm. Even players who are strongly left-handed in their daily lives prefer the right-handed golf swing. In the past, this may have been due to the difficulty of finding left-handed golf clubs. Today, more manufacturers provide left-handed versions of their club lines, and the clubs are more readily purchased from mail-order and Internet catalogues, as well as golf stores. A golfer who plays right-handed, but holds the club left-hand-below-right is said to be "cack-handed". It is difficult to obtain the same consistency and power with this arrangement as is possible with conventional technique.

Besides the physical part, the mental aspect contributes to the difficulty of the golf swing. Golfers play against the course, not each other directly, and hit a stationary object, not one put into motion by an opponent. This means that there is never anyone to blame but oneself for a bad result, and in most competitive formats there are no teammates to directly help one out. Knowledge of this creates a great deal of psychological pressure on the golfer; this pressure exists at all levels of play. Even the best professional golfers sometimes succumb to this pressure, such as getting the "yips" (an infamous affliction of Bernhard Langer) a severe putting disorder caused by uncontrolled muscle spasms of the arms, resulting in a jerking motion during the follow through of the putt causing the ball to go much farther than desired, or having collapses of their full swing (as with Ian Baker-Finch).

A golf ball acquires spin when it is hit. Backspin is imparted for almost every shot due to the golf club's loft (i.e., angle between the clubface and a vertical plane). A spinning ball deforms the flow of air around it similar to an airplane wing; a back-spinning ball therefore experiences an upward force which makes it fly higher and longer than a ball without spin. The amount of backspin also influences the behavior of a ball when it impacts the ground. A ball with little backspin will usually roll out for a few yards/meters while a ball with more backspin may not roll at all, or even roll backwards. Sidespin occurs when the clubface is not aligned perpendicularly to the plane of swing. Sidespin makes the ball curve left or right: a curve to the left is a draw, and to the right a fade (for right-handed players). Accomplished golfers purposely use sidespin to steer their ball around obstacles or towards the safe side of fairways and greens. But because it's sometimes difficult to control or predict the amount of sidespin, balls may take an undesirable trajectory, such as hook to the left, or slice to the right (for right-handed players).

Golfing terms

These terms may often be heard from an experienced golfer:

• Apron, fringe, Birm, or edge of green : The band of grass at the approach to the green that is longer than the green itself.

• Barnes Wallace : This is when a ball bounces across a water hazard.

• Bite/munch/take a seat : This is a phrase often heard from golfers after a shot towards the green has been taken, in which they would like the ball to stop or slow down. These are phrases used especially among professionals.

• Dance Floor : An alternative name for the putting green.

• Fore : A golfer will yell "Fore" at the top of his/her lungs to warn other players that they hit a bad shot and the ball is headed their way. This is the standard warning system in golf.

• Perfect Round : Colloquial term used to describe a score of 54 on a par 72 course or 52 on a par 70 (all 18 holes played at one under par). The perfect round has never been achieved in competition and remains a lifetime goal for many professionals.

• Sandbagger : Someone who, when playing a game in which they know they will win, inflates their score by playing slightly worse intentionally in order to raise their handicap.

• Sandie : Similar to an "Up & Down", refers to chipping onto the green from the bunker and 1-putting.

• Stymie : This was a common phrase said before the allowance of ball markers. It occurred when a golfer's ball was blocking the other's line of putt. This is now avoided since the allowance of ball markers.

• Taxi : This is a term which may be shouted when a golf ball races past the hole, in the intention of holing it.

Equipment

Main article: Golf equipment

A wide range of equipment exists for playing golf, ranging from golf clubs, balls, tees, gloves, and shoes.

Social aspects of golf

In the United States, golf is the unofficial sport of the business world. It is often said that board meetings merely confirm decisions that are actually made on the golf course. For this reason, the successful conduct of business golf (which extends beyond merely knowing the game) is considered a useful business skill; various schools, including prestigious universities such as Stanford University, have started both undergraduate and graduate-level courses that teach "business golf". The PGA of America, an organization separate from the PGA Tour, helps to sponsor these programs at universities nationwide.

The 19th Hole is a common reference to having a drink in the clubhouse following a round of golf. Often, this is where wagers are tallied and paid out.

Professional golf

Golf is played professionally in many different countries. The majority of professional golfers work as club or teaching professionals, and only compete in local competitions. A small elite of professional golfers are "tournament pros" who compete full time on international "tours".

Golf tours

Tiger Woods, who is currently the leading professional golfer in the world.

Main article: Professional golf tours

There are at least twenty professional golf tours, each run by a PGA or an independent tour organisation, which is responsible for arranging events, finding sponsors, and regulating the tour. Typically a tour has "members" who are entitled to compete in most of its events, and also invites non-members to compete in some of them. Gaining membership of an elite tour is highly competitive, and most professional golfers never achieve it.

The most widely known tour is the PGA Tour, which attracts the best golfers from all the other men's tours. This is due mostly to the fact that most PGA Tour events have a first prize of at least USD 800,000. The European Tour, which attracts a substantial number of top golfers from outside North America, ranks second to the PGA Tour in worldwide prestige. Some top professionals from outside North America play enough tournaments to maintain membership on both the PGA Tour and European Tour. There are several other men's tours around the world.

Golf is unique in having lucrative competition for older players. There are several senior tours for men 50 and older, the best known of which is the U.S.-based Champions Tour.

There are six principal tours for women, each based in a different country or continent. The most prestigious of these is the United States based LPGA Tour.

All of the leading professional tours for under-50 players have an official developmental tour, in which the leading players at the end of the season will earn a tour card on the main tour for the following season. Examples are:

• PGA Tour: Nationwide Tour
• European Tour: Challenge Tour
• Japan Golf Tour: Japan Challenge Tour
• LPGA Tour: FUTURES Tour
• Ladies European Tour: Telia Tour (operates only in Sweden, but feeds directly to the LET)

Men's major championships

Main article: Men's major golf championships

The major championships are the four most prestigious men's tournaments of the year. In current chronological order they are:

• The Masters
• U.S. Open
• The Open Championship (referred to in North America as the British Open)
• PGA Championship

The fields for these events include the top several dozen golfers from all over the world. The Masters has been played at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia since its inception in 1934. It is the only major championship that is played at the same course each year. The U.S. Open and PGA Championship are played at various courses around the United States, while The Open Championship is played at various courses in the UK.

The number of major championships a player accumulates in his career has a very large impact on his stature in the sport. Jack Nicklaus is widely regarded as the greatest golfer of all time, largely because he has won a record 18 professional majors, or 20 majors in total if his two U.S. Amateurs are included. Tiger Woods, who may be the only golfer in the foreseeable future likely to challenge Nicklaus's record, has won 13 professional majors (16 total if his three U.S. Amateurs are included), all before the age of 32. (To put this total in perspective, Nicklaus had won nine professional majors and two U.S. Amateurs at the same age, and did not win his 13th professional major until he was 35.) Woods also came closest to winning all four current majors in one season (known as a Grand Slam completed first by Bobby Jones) when he won them consecutively across two seasons: the 2000 U.S. Open, Open Championship, and PGA Championship; and the 2001 Masters. This feat has been frequently called the Tiger Slam.

Prior to the advent of the PGA Championship and The Masters, the four Majors were the U.S. Open, the U.S. Amateur, the Open Championship, and the British Amateur. These are the four that Bobby Jones won in 1930 to become the only player ever to have earned a Grand Slam.

Women's major championships

Main article: Women's major golf championships

Women's golf does not have a globally agreed set of majors. The list of majors recognized by the dominant women's tour, the LPGA Tour in the U.S., has changed several times over the years, with the last change in 2001. Like the PGA Tour, the (U.S.) LPGA currently has four majors:

• Kraft Nabisco Championship
• LPGA Championship
• U.S. Women's Open
• Women's British Open

Only the last of these is also recognized by the Ladies European Tour. The other event that it recognizes as a major is the Evian Masters, which is not considered a major by the LPGA (but is co-sanctioned as a regular LPGA event). However, the significance of this is limited, as the LPGA is far more dominant in women's golf than the PGA Tour is in mainstream men's golf. For example, the BBC has been known to use the U.S. definition of "women's majors" without qualifying it. Also, the Ladies' Golf Union, the governing body for women's golf in the UK and Republic of Ireland, states on its official website that the Women's British Open is "the only Women’s Major to be played outside the U.S." For its part, the Ladies European Tour tacitly acknowledges the dominance of the LPGA Tour by not scheduling any of its own events to conflict with the three LPGA majors played in the U.S.

The second-richest women's tour, the LPGA of Japan Tour, does not recognize any of the U.S. LPGA or European majors. It has its own set of three majors. However, these events attract little notice outside Japan.

Senior major championships

Main article: Senior major golf championships

Like women's golf, senior (50-and-over) men's golf does not have a globally agreed set of majors. The list of senior majors on the U.S.-based Champions Tour has changed over the years, but always by expansion; unlike the situation with the LPGA, no senior major has lost its status. The Champions Tour now recognizes five majors:

• Senior PGA Championship
• U.S. Senior Open
• Senior British Open
• The Tradition
• Senior Players Championship

Of the five events, the Senior PGA is by far the oldest, having been founded in 1937. The other events all date from the 1980s, when senior golf became a commercial success as the first golf stars of the television era, such as Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, reached the relevant age. The Senior British Open was not recognized as a major by the Champions Tour until 2003.

The European Seniors Tour recognizes only the Senior PGA and the two Senior Opens as majors. However, the Champions Tour is arguably more dominant in global senior golf than the U.S. LPGA is in global women's golf.

Environmental impact

Environmental concerns over the use of land for golf courses have grown over the past 50 years. Specific concerns include the amount of water and chemical pesticides and fertilizers used for maintenance, as well as the destruction of wetlands and other environmentally important areas during construction. A notable toxic chemical used on golf courses is diazinon; however, this substance was banned in the United States as of the year 2004.

These, along with health and cost concerns, have led to significant research into more environmentally sound practices and turf grasses. The modern golf course superintendent is often trained in the uses of these practices and grasses. This has led to some mitigation in the amount of chemicals and water used on courses. The turf on golf courses is an excellent filter for water and has been used in many communities to cleanse grey water, such as incorporation of bioswales. Many people continue to oppose golf courses for environmental and human survival reasons, as they impede corridors for migrating animals and sanctuaries for birds and other wildlife. In fact, the effective non-native monoculture of golf courses systematically destroys biodiversity.

A major result of modern equipment is that today's players can hit the ball much further than previously. In a concern for safety, modern golf course architects have had to lengthen and widen their design envelope. This has led to a ten percent increase in the amount of area that is required for golf courses today. At the same time, water restrictions placed by many communities have forced many courses to limit the amount of maintained turf grass. While most modern 18-hole golf courses occupy as much as 60 ha (150 acres) of land, the average course has 30 ha (75 acres) of maintained turf. (Sources include the National Golf Foundation and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America [GCSAA].)

File:Deer on golf course.jpg

WildlifeDeer on a golf course.

Golf courses are built on many different types of land, including sandy areas along coasts, abandoned farms, strip mines and quarries, deserts and forests. Many Western countries have instituted significant environmental restrictions on where and how courses can be built.

In some parts of the world, attempts to build courses and resorts have led to significant protests along with vandalism and violence by both sides. Although golf is a relatively minor issue compared to other land-ethics questions, it has symbolic importance as it is a sport normally associated with the wealthier Westernized population, and the culture of colonization and globalization of non-native land ethics. Resisting golf tourism and golf's expansion has become an objective of some land-reform movements, especially in the Philippines and Indonesia.

In Saudi Arabia, golf courses have been constructed on nothing more than oil-covered sand. However, in some cities such as Dhahran, modern, grass golf courses have been built recently.

In Coober Pedy, Australia, there is a famous golf course that consists of nine holes dug into mounds of sand, diesel and oil and not a blade of grass or a tree to be seen. You carry a small piece of astroturf from which you tee.

In New Zealand it is not uncommon for rural courses to have greens fenced off and sheep graze the fairways. Many golf courses have been displaced by urban planning practices. Many things that displace golf courses range from neighborhoods to shopping malls.

At the 125-year-old Royal Colombo Golf Club in Sri Lanka steam trains, from the Kelani Valley railway, run through the course at the 6th hole.

Alternative golf courses

Extreme golf is typically played on environmentally sustainable alternatives to traditional courses. A cross between hiking and golfing, the course layout exposes players to a wide range of natural obstacles and challenging terrains.

Based on the growing popularity of the U.X. Open Alternative Golf Tournament the extreme golf course features un-mowed meadows and forest instead of fairways, with "goals" scored on temporary greens (a circle 20 feet in diameter).

Golf movies

• A Gentlemen's Game
• Happy Gilmore
• The Greatest Game Ever Played
• The Legend of Bagger Vance
• The Man with the Perfect Swing
• Tin Cup
• Caddyshack
• Caddyshack II
• Bobby Jones: Stroke of a Genius

• Follow The Sun
• Dead Solid Perfect
• Dorf on Golf
• Banning
• The Story of Golf
• Den ofrivillige golfaren
• Pat and Mike
• Three Little Beers
• Who's Your Caddy?

Golf magazines

• Golf Magazine
• Golf Digest
• Today's Golfer
• Scoregolf

See also

• Blind golf
• Carnoustie effect
• Champions Tour
• Disc Golf
• Farmers golf
• Golf etiquette
• Golf glossary
• Golf instruction
• Golf license
• Golfers with most LPGA major championship wins
• Golfers with most LPGA Tour wins
• Golfers with most PGA Tour wins
• Hickory Golf
• Ladies European Tour
• Lexus Cup
• List of golfers
• List of golfers with most major title wins
• LPGA Tour
• Maurice Flitcroft - Record holder for worst score in Open.

• Miniature golf
• PGA European Tour
• PGA of America
• PGA Tour
• Pine cone golf
• Presidents Cup
• Rules of Golf
• Ryder Cup
• Solheim Cup
• The Golf Channel
• 2006 in golf

References

External links

• The R&A
• United States Golf Association
• International Association of Golf Club Presidents
• International Golf Federation
• Official site of the PGA of America
• Official site of the Society of Hickory Golfers