Golf is a precision club-and-ball sport, in which competing players (golfers), using many types of clubs, attempt to hit balls into each hole on a golf course while employing the fewest number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not require a standardized playing area. Instead, the game is played on golf "courses", each of which features a unique design, although courses typically consist of either nine or 18 holes. Golf is 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." Golf competition is generally played for the lowest number of strokes by an individual, known simply as stroke play, or the lowest score on the most individual holes during a complete round by an individual or team, known as match play.

The origin of golf is unclear and open to debate. Some historians[3] 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 B.C., and eventually evolved into the modern game.[4] Others cite chuiwan ("chui" means striking and "wan" means small ball) as the progenitor, a Chinese game played between the eighth and 14th centuries.[5] 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.[6] This game was, in turn, exported to the Low Countries, Germany, and England (where it was called pall-mall, pronounced “pell mell”). Some observers, however, believe that golf descended from the Persian game, chaugán. In addition, kolven (a game involving a ball and curved bats) was played annually in Loenen, Netherlands, beginning in 1297, to commemorate the capture of the assassin of Floris V, a year earlier.

According to the most widely accepted account, however, the modern game originated in Scotland around the 12th century, with shepherds knocking stones into rabbit holes on the current site of the Old Course at St Andrews.

A golf course consists of a series of holes, each with a teeing area 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 (flagstick) and cup. Different 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 tee-off point to the green, some of the holes may bend, either to the left or to the right. This is called a "dogleg", in reference to a dog's knee. The hole is called a "dogleg left" if the hole angles leftwards and vice versa; sometimes, a hole's direction can bend twice and is called a "double dogleg". A typical golf course consists of 18 holes but nine hole courses are common and can be played twice through for 18 holes.[8][9]

Early Scottish golf courses were primarily laid out on links land, soil covered sand dunes directly inland from beaches.[10] This gave rise to the term golf links, particularly applied to seaside courses and those built on naturally sandy soil inland.

The very first 18 hole golf course in America was located on a sheep farm in Downers Grove, Illinois in 1892. The golf course is still situated there

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. On a nine-hole course, a standard round consists of two consecutive nine-hole rounds. Playing a hole on a golf course is initiated by putting a ball into play by striking it with a club on the teeing area (also called the "tee box" or simply "the tee.") When this initial stroke (or "shot") is required to be a long one due to the length of the hole, it is usual (but not required) for a golfer to suspend (or "tee") the ball on a tee prior to striking it. A "tee" in this last sense is a small peg which can be used to elevate the ball slightly above the ground up to a few centimeters high. This elevation is at the discretion of the golfer. Tee pegs are commonly made of wood but may be constructed of any material; the ball may even be "tee'd" on a mound of grass or dirt (at one time a small pile of sand placed by the golfer was routinely used and sand was provided at teeing areas for golfers' use).

When the initial shot on a hole is a long-distance shot intended to move the ball a great distance down the fairway, this shot is commonly called a "drive." Shorter holes generally are initiated with "shorter" clubs. 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 (commonly called "sinking the putt"). The goal of getting the ball into the hole ("holing" the ball) in as few strokes as possible may be impeded by obstacles such as areas of long grass called rough (usually found alongside fairways) which both impedes advancement and makes it harder to advance the golf ball, bunkers ("sand traps"), and water hazards.[8] In most forms of gameplay, each player plays his or her ball until it is holed.

Players can walk or drive in motorized carts over the course. Play can be done either singly or in groups and sometimes accompanied by caddies, who carry and manage the players' equipment and who are allowed by the rules to give advice on the play of the course.[12] A caddies' advice can only be given to the player or players for whom the caddy is working, and not to competing players.



Luxury Golfing Holiday Breaks in Spain By : Michael J Lee
Spain golfing holidays have become popular among golf enthusiasts who intend to amalgamate relaxing and calming holidays with the prospects to really take pleasure in their preferred pastime. Whenever visiting Spain for spending holidays, one can expect to get international standard golf facilities, apart from beautiful coastline locations, making the place an ideal golf destination.
Golf Courses in Costa Calida By : Michael J Lee
If one is planning for a long vacation then Costa Calida is the place worth visiting. Costa Calida has something in store for everyone who visits. It has great beaches, water sports and excellent golf courses. There are several golf courses in Costa Calida. The golf courses in Costa Calida confirm to international standard golf courses.
Cheap Golf Packages In Palm Springs, California By : Martin G. Bell
For a long time the courses of Palm Springs and cheap golf packages have a huge popularity among world-class players and that’s why California continues to attract more and more tourists to its resort year after year.
Travel to Puerto Vallarta--Want to Golf All Winter? By : Jim Scherrer
Is your game getting rusty while you’re shoveling snow and scraping windshields? You might know that the average temperature in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, located along the Mexican Riviera on the Pacific Ocean, is 73°F with virtually no rain during the seven month “high season” from November through May, but, did you know that Vallarta now has seven magnificent golf courses with more under construction? Did you realize that most of the Vallartenses are now speaking English, that purified water is.



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