Tomorrow sees the start of golf in 2016.
So what a better time to take a look at 'all things' golf here on the blog in the next few days!
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Golf is a club and ball sport in which players use various
clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as
possible.
Golf is one of the few ball games that do not require a
standardized playing area. The game is played on a course with an arranged
progression of either nine or 18 holes. Each hole on the course must contain a
tee box to start from, and a putting green containing the actual cup. There are
other standard forms of terrain in between, such as the fairway, rough, and
hazards, but each hole on a course is unique in its specific layout and
arrangement.
Golf is played for the lowest number of strokes by an
individual, known as stroke play, or the lowest score on the most individual
holes in a complete round by an individual or team, known as match play. Stroke
play is the most commonly seen format at all levels.
Origin
While the modern game of golf originated in 15th-century
Scotland, the game's ancient origins are unclear and much debated. Some
historians trace the sport back to the Roman game of paganica, in which
participants used a bent stick to hit a stuffed leather ball. One theory
asserts that paganica spread throughout Europe as the Romans conquered most of
the continent, during the first century BC, and eventually evolved into the
modern game. Others cite chuiwan as the
progenitor, a Chinese game played between the eighth and 14th centuries. A Ming
Dynasty scroll dating back to 1368 entitled "The Autumn Banquet"
shows a member of the Chinese Imperial court swinging what appears to be a golf
club at a small ball with the aim of sinking it into a hole. The game is
thought to have been introduced into Europe during the Middle Ages. Another
early game that resembled modern golf was known as cambuca in England and
chambot in France. The Persian game chaugán is another possible ancient origin.
In addition, kolven was played annually
in Loenen, Netherlands, beginning in 1297, to commemorate the capture of the
assassin of Floris V, a year earlier.
The modern game originated in Scotland, where the first
written record of golf is James II's banning of the game in 1457, as an
unwelcome distraction to learning archery. James IV lifted the ban in 1502 when
he became a golfer himself, with golf clubs first recorded in 1503-1504:
"For golf clubbes and balles to the King that he playit with". To
many golfers, the Old Course at St Andrews, a links course dating to before 1574,
is considered to be a site of pilgrimage. In 1764, the standard 18 hole golf
course was created at St Andrews when members modified the course from 22 to 18
holes. Golf is documented as being played on Musselburgh Links, East Lothian,
Scotland as early as 2 March 1672, which is certified as the oldest golf course
in the world by Guinness World Records. The oldest surviving rules of golf were
compiled in March 1744 for the Company of Gentlemen Golfers, later renamed The
Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, which was played at Leith, Scotland.
The world's oldest golf tournament in existence, and golf's first major, is The
Open Championship, which was first played on 17 October 1860 at Prestwick Golf
Club, in Ayrshire, Scotland, with Scottish golfers winning the earliest majors.
Two Scotsmen from Dunfermline, John Reid and Robert Lockhart, first
demonstrated golf in the US by setting up a hole in an orchard in 1888, with
Reid setting up America's first golf club the same year, St. Andrews Golf Club
in Yonkers, New York.
Golf course
A golf course consists of either 9 or 18 holes, each with a
teeing ground that is set off by two markers showing the bounds of the legal
tee area, fairway, rough and other hazards, and the putting green surrounded by
the fringe with the pin and cup.
The levels of grass are varied to increase difficulty, or to
allow for putting in the case of the green. While many holes are designed with
a direct line-of-sight from the teeing area to the green, some holes may bend
either to the left or to the right. This is commonly called a
"dogleg", in reference to a dog's knee. The hole is called a
"dogleg left" if the hole angles leftwards and "dogleg
right" if it bends right. Sometimes, a hole's direction may bend twice;
this is called a "double dogleg".
A regular golf course consists of 18 holes, but nine-hole
courses are common and can be played twice through for a full round of 18
holes.
Early Scottish golf courses were primarily laid out on links
land, soil-covered sand dunes directly inland from beaches. This gave rise to
the term "golf links", particularly applied to seaside courses and
those built on naturally sandy soil inland.
The first 18-hole golf course in the United States was on a
sheep farm in Downers Grove, Illinois, in 1892. The course is still there
today.
Play of the game
Every round 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. Each hole is played once in
the round on a standard course of 18 holes; on a nine-hole course, players may
play a "short game" playing each hole once, or a "full
round" by playing each hole twice.
Playing a hole on a golf course is initiated by putting a
ball into play by striking it with a club on the teeing ground . For this first
shot on each hole, it is allowed but not required for the golfer to place the
ball on a tee prior to striking it. A tee is a small peg that can be used to
elevate the ball slightly above the ground up to a few centimetres high. Tees
are commonly made of wood but may be constructed of any material, including
plastic. Traditionally, golfers used mounds of sand to elevate the ball, and
containers of sand were provided for the purpose. A few courses still require
sand to be used instead of peg tees, to reduce litter and reduce damage to the
teeing ground. Tees help reduce the interference of the ground or grass on the
movement of the club making the ball easier to hit, and also places the ball in
the very centre of the striking face of the club for better distance.
When the initial shot on a hole is intended to move the ball
a long distance, the shot is commonly called a "drive" and is
generally made with a long-shafted, large-headed wood club called a "driver".
Shorter holes may be initiated with other clubs, such as higher-numbered woods
or irons. Once the ball comes to rest, the golfer strikes it again as many
times as necessary using shots that are variously known as a
"lay-up", an "approach", a "pitch", or a
"chip", until the ball reaches the green, where he or she then
"putts" the ball into the hole . The goal of getting the ball into
the hole in as few strokes as possible
may be impeded by obstacles such as areas of longer grass called
"rough", which both slows any ball that contacts it and makes it
harder to advance a ball that has stopped on it; "doglegs", which are
changes in the direction of the fairway that often require shorter shots to
play around them; bunkers ; and water hazards such as ponds or streams. A
caddy's advice can only be given to the player or players for whom the caddy is
working, and not to other competing players.
Rules and regulations
The rules of golf are internationally standardised and are
jointly governed by The R&A, spun off in 2004 from The Royal and Ancient
Golf Club of St Andrews, and the United States Golf Association .
The underlying principle of the rules is fairness. As stated
on the back cover of the official rule book:
There are strict regulations regarding the amateur status of
golfers. Essentially, anybody 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 that 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, 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.
Penalties
Penalties are incurred in certain situations. They are
counted towards a player's score as if there were extra swing at the ball.
Strokes are added for rule infractions or for hitting one's ball into an
unplayable situation.
A lost ball or a ball hit out of bounds result in a penalty
of one stroke and distance . A one-stroke penalty is assessed if a player's
equipment causes the ball to move or the removal of a loose impediment causes
the ball to move . If a golfer makes a stroke at the wrong ball or hits a fellow golfer's ball with a putt,
the player incurs a two-stroke penalty. Most rule infractions lead to stroke
penalties but also can lead to disqualification. Disqualification could be from
cheating, signing for a lower score, or from rule infractions that lead to
improper play.
Equipment
Golf clubs are used to hit the golf ball. Each club is
composed of a shaft with a lance on the
top end and a club head on the bottom. Long clubs, which have a lower amount of
degree loft, are those meant to propel the ball a comparatively longer
distance, and short clubs a higher degree of loft and a comparatively shorter
distance. The actual physical length of each club is longer or shorter,
depending on the distance the club is intended to propel the ball.
Golf clubs have traditionally been arranged into three basic
types. Woods are large-headed, long-shafted clubs meant to propel the ball a
long distance from relatively "open" lies, such as the tee box and
fairway. Of particular importance is the driver or "1-wood", which is
the lowest lofted wood club, and in modern times has become highly specialized
for making extremely long-distance tee shots, up to or more in the hands of a
professional golfer. Traditionally these clubs had heads made of a hardwood,
hence the name, but virtually all modern woods are now made of metal such as
titanium, or of composite materials. Irons are shorter-shafted clubs with a
metal head primarily consisting of a flat, angled striking face. Traditionally
the clubhead was forged from iron; modern iron clubheads are investment-cast
from a steel alloy. Irons of varying loft are used for a variety of shots from
virtually anywhere on the course, but most often for shorter-distance shots
approaching the green, or to get the ball out of tricky lies such as sand
traps. The third class is the putter, which evolved from the irons to create a
low-lofted, balanced club designed to roll the ball along the green and into the
hole. Putters are virtually always used on the green or in the surrounding
rough/fringe. A fourth class, called hybrids, evolved as a cross between woods
and irons, and are typically seen replacing the low-lofted irons with a club
that provides similar distance, but a higher launch angle and a more forgiving
nature.
A maximum of 14 clubs is allowed in a player's bag at one
time during a stipulated round. The choice of clubs is at the golfer's
discretion, although every club must be constructed in accordance with
parameters outlined in the rules.
Violation of these rules can result in disqualification.
The exact shot hit at any given time on a golf course, and
which club is used to accomplish the shot, are always completely at the
discretion of the golfer; in other words, there is no restriction whatsoever on
which club a golfer may or may not use at any time for any shot.
Golf balls are spherical, usually white, and minutely
pock-marked by dimples that decrease aerodynamic drag by increasing air
turbulence around the ball in motion, which delays "boundary layer"
separation and reduces the drag-inducing "wake" behind the ball, thereby allowing the ball to fly farther.
A tee is allowed only for the first stroke on each hole,
unless the player must hit a provisional tee shot or replay his or her first
shot from the tee.
Many golfers wear golf shoes with metal or plastic spikes designed
to increase traction, thus allowing for longer and more accurate shots.
A golf bag is used to transport golf clubs and the player's
other or personal equipment. Golf bags have several pockets designed for
carrying equipment and supplies such as tees, balls, and gloves. Golf bags can
be carried, pulled on a trolley or harnessed to a motorized golf cart during
play. Golf bags have both a hand strap and shoulder strap for carrying, and
sometimes have retractable legs that allow the bag to stand upright when at
rest.
Part Two Tomorrow.
Tipster Street.
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