Golf Resource

A game of golf is commonly referred to as a round of golf, consisting of eighteen holes that are played in the order according to the course layout (though nowadays the emergence of a 9 hole course is common). A round starts with a golfer hitting his first shot of the round on the teeing box (an area where the first shot of every hole must be taken) and the first shot of the hole is referred to as a tee shot. Where ever the ball you, the player goes after in order to take their next shot until they reach the green where a putter is used to stroke the ball in to designated hole. The main goal is to hit as few strokes as you can but this is made more difficult by sand bunkers, water hazards or the Out of Bounds area (known as OB). Golfers walk over the course, although in today’s world some use motorized golf carts, individually or in groups of two to five with some courses offering services of a caddy  whose main duties are to mark the position of golf balls, carry and manage player’s equipment and offer advice as they know the course layout very well. The most common type of play is what is known as stroke play, where the scoring system is determined by the number of strokes played plus any penalty strokes (points added to score for violations of rules).

Par

Each hole is classified by its par, the number of strokes golfers need to complete the hole, to clarify, a skilled golfer playing a par four hole is expected to reach the green in two strokes, the first being the tee shot (also known as the drive) and the second is the shot on the fairway onto the green (known as the approach), then sink the ball on the green in two putts. A hole may be a par three, par-four or a par-five, depending on the distance from the teeing box to the green. A typical par-three hole should be distanced around 100-250 yards, a par-four hole 250-475 yards and a par-five hole 475-690 yards, though they can be longer or shorter. The difficulty of each hole varies depending on placement of hazards or the shape of the hole, this is decided upon by par ratings. A traditional golf course has four par-three holes, ten par-four holes and four par-five holes, though nowadays it can vary depending on the designer, and are not less worthy than courses of par 72. Major Championships for professional golfers uses the rules of playing to a par of either 70 or 71.

Penalties

Penalty strokes are handed out to golfers who hit their ball into an area where they cannot continue or choose not to continue playing the ball as it lies (hitting into water) or losing their ball in the Out of Bounds area, penalty strokes are added to the score.

Scoring

The main goal of golf is to hit as few shots as you can, the less the better the score. This table will show you how the scoring is done in golf.

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	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

The two basic forms of playing golf are match play and stroke play. The first, match play, either two players or teams play each hole as a separate contest against one another. The ones with the lower score wins the hole, if it is a draw the hole is halved (a draw). The way to win is to see who wins more holes, but if a team or a player is leading and cannot be overcome in the number of remaining holes, the match is considered as over and the victory goes to the team or player who has won more holes. If the game is tied after eighteen holes, the match continues until one side take a one hole lead. The latter, stroke play, every player or team counts the total strokes in the round or tournament to gather the total score, the one with the lowest is deemed as the winner.

Team Play

A foursome: A foursome is played by having two teams with each team having two players, each team uses one ball and teammates alternate playing it e.g. one tees off, the other hits the next and so on. Foursomes can be played as both match and stroke play.

A four-ball: A four ball is also played by two teams with each team having two players but the difference is every player plays his own ball and the lower score on each holes are counted. A four-ball can also be played as both match and stroke play.

Though there are unofficial methods of team play which has proven to be very popular amongst golfers,  the main two are scramble and greensome.

Scramble: Every player of the team tees of individually on each hole and they decide which shot was the best. After deciding the best shot, the remaining players of the team can lay their ball within club length of the best shot, this is repeated until the game is over. 

Greensome: Both players tee off individually then pick the best shot out of the two like in scramble. The player who did not hit the chosen best shot hits the second shot, it is alternated like a foursome.

In some tournaments, the use of a form of starting called ‘shotgun’ is applied, a ‘shotgun start’ is where groups, on different holes, start and end their round at the same time.