Home Random Page


CATEGORIES:

BiologyChemistryConstructionCultureEcologyEconomyElectronicsFinanceGeographyHistoryInformaticsLawMathematicsMechanicsMedicineOtherPedagogyPhilosophyPhysicsPolicyPsychologySociologySportTourism






III GOLF STROKES AND GOLF CLUBS

Golf

I INTRODUCTION

Golf, outdoor game in which individual players use specially designed clubs to propel a small, hard ball over a field of play known as a course or links. The object of the game is to advance the ball around the course using as few strokes as possible.

II THE GOLF COURSE

A golf course is divided into 18 sections, called holes. The standard course is about 6500 to 7000 yd (about 5900 to 6400 m). The individual holes may vary in length from 100 to 600 yd (about 90 to 550 m). Each hole has at one end a starting point known as a tee and, imbedded in the ground at the other end and marked by a flag, a cup or cylindrical container (also called a hole) into which the ball must be propelled in order to complete play at each hole. The cup is usually made of metal or plastic, 4.2 in (10.8 cm) in diameter, and at least 4 in (10 cm) deep.

Play begins at the first tee, a level area of turf, generally raised slightly above the surrounding terrain. From here each player tries to drive the ball onto the fairway, or main part of the golf course, a carefully tended strip of land, 30 to 100 yd (about 27 to 90 m) wide, on which the grass has been cut to provide a good playing surface for the ball. On either side of the fairway is the rough, which consists of areas covered with long grass, bushes, or trees, and which sometimes contains sandy, rough, or marshy areas that compel golfers to use additional skill and judgment in playing their shots. In the absence of such natural obstacles, artificial hazards may be constructed. These include bunkers, also known as traps, which are hollows dug in the earth and usually filled with loose sand; mounds and other earthen embankments; and water hazards, such as ditches, creeks, ponds, or lakes. At the far end of the fairway from the tee is the putting green, an area of closely cropped grass surrounding the hole or cup. The smooth surface of the putting green is designed to facilitate the progress of the ball into the cup after the ball has been given a tap or gentle stroke known as a putt.

III GOLF STROKES AND GOLF CLUBS


In addition to the putt, the specialized stroke used on the green, two main types of shots are used in playing each hole: the drive, which is a long shot from the tee onto the fairway; and the approach shot, which is the shot used to hit the ball onto the green. Both types demand great accuracy. Shots of various lengths are played with different clubs, according to the distance to be covered and the lie (position) of the ball. A standard set of 14 golf clubs (the maximum that may be carried in tournament play), is divided into two main types: those known as woods, with heads made of wood or metal; and those known as irons, with heads made of forged steel, usually chromium plated. The shafts of both types usually are made of metal and sometimes of fiberglass. Formerly, each club was known by a distinctive name, but today most are designated by numbers. The woods are customarily numbered 1 through 5, the irons 1 through 9. The putter, an iron, has retained its name. In addition to the numbered irons are the utility clubs, including the sand wedge and the pitching wedge, used on medium-range shots to loft the ball high into the air and limit its roll to a short distance after landing.



The clubs are variously used in achieving distance, height, or accurate placement of the ball; the angle at which the striking surface is set on the shaft of the club determines the trajectory of the ball. For making drives and distance shots on the fairway, the woods (No. 1, or driver; No. 2; No. 3; No. 4; and No. 5) and the so-called long irons (No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3) are used. For the initial drive of each hole, the ball is teed up—that is, placed on a small wooden, rubber, or plastic peg, known as a tee, which the players carry with them. This lifts the ball at least 0.5 in (1.3 cm) off the ground, allowing the head of the club to strike the ball with maximum force. For long, low shots on the fairway, the No. 2 wood is used, and for long, high shots the No. 3, No. 4, and No. 5 woods are employed. Other approach shots to the green, generally of a shorter range, are played with irons. For even shorter approaches, known as chip shots, the same irons are used but with a shorter swing. The putter normally is used only on the green or the apron (a fringe of less smooth grass) of the green.

IV FORMS OF COMPETITION
Two basic forms of competition exist in golf: match play and medal play (also known as stroke play). In match play the player (or, if more than one player, the team) taking the fewer number of strokes to sink the ball into any particular hole—called holing out—is the winner of the hole; the contest is won by the player or team winning the most holes. If each player or team takes the same number of strokes on any hole, the hole is said to be halved (tied). A final score of 9 and 8 in match play means that the winner was 9 holes ahead with only 8 left to play, sufficient to clinch victory in the match. When the match goes tied until the last hole, the winning score is 1 up.

In medal play, now the more popular kind of play in major tournaments, the winner of the contest is the team or player taking the fewest strokes over the total number of holes agreed upon. Although a round usually consists of 9 or 18 holes, the play in championship contests covers 18, 36, 54, or 72 holes. In medal play, ties are decided by playoff rounds.

The term par refers to the number of properly played strokes an expert golfer would be expected to use in completing a particular hole without mishap. The aggregate for all of the holes is called par for the course. Par is based primarily on the number of strokes necessary to reach the green, plus two putts. Par for a single hole is three strokes for a hole of 250 yd (229 m) or less for men, and 210 yd (192 m) or less for women; four strokes for a hole from 251 to 470 yd (230 to 430 m) for men, and 211 to 400 yd (193 to 366 m) for women; and five strokes for a hole of 471 yd (431 m) or more for men, and 401 yd (367 m) or more for women. In addition, for women, par is six strokes for a hole of 576 yd (527 m) or more. Occasionally, on a par-three hole, a player makes a hole in one—that is, drives the ball from the tee into the cup in one stroke—although this is rare. A score of one less than par is referred to as a birdie, and two less than par (for example, a score of three on a par-five hole) is called an eagle. Three strokes less than par is known as a double eagle. One stroke over par is called a bogey; two over par is a double bogey.

V HISTORY
Some historians believe that golf originated in the Netherlands (the Dutch word kolf means “club”), but the Romans had a game played with a bent stick and a ball made of feathers that may have been the original source of the game. It has been fairly well established, however, that the game actually was devised by the Scots in the 14th or 15th century. The game became so popular in Scotland that in order to keep people from playing golf and football during time that should have been employed in practicing archery, a military necessity, the Scottish parliament in 1457 passed a law prohibiting both games. The Scottish people, however, largely ignored this and similar laws, and early in the 16th century James IV, king of Scotland, took up the game of golf. His granddaughter Mary, later Mary, Queen of Scots, played the game in France, where she was educated. The young men who attended her on the golf links were known as cadets (pupils); the term was adopted later in Scotland and England and became caddy or caddie. (Caddies, once an integral feature of the game, have now been superseded on many courses by golf carts and buggies.) In England the game was made popular by the attention given it by James VI of Scotland, later James I of England, and his son Charles I.

In the 18th century the first golf associations were established; they included the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (founded 1744); the Saint Andrews Society of Golfers (1754), which in 1834 took its present name, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of Saint Andrews; and the Royal Blackheath (1766), near London, where, according to tradition, golf was introduced to England in 1608. The first clubs established outside Britain were the Calcutta Golf Club of East India (1829) and the Royal Bombay Club (1842). The first golf club established in the western hemisphere was Canada's Royal Montréal Golf Club, founded in 1873. It is believed by some that golf was played in North America during the colonial period (17th and 18th centuries), but no documented proof of this has been advanced. In 1888 the Saint Andrews Golf Club of Yonkers, New York, was established. Some authorities say this is the oldest continuously existing golf club in the United States. The popularity of the game in the United States and Britain reached great heights by the 1920s and steadily increased over the years, fostered by television. In the United States alone, more than 14,000 golf courses serve more than 24 million people who play golf at least once a year. Golf is also popular in continental Europe, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Japan, and many other parts of the world.

 


Date: 2016-01-03; view: 972


<== previous page | next page ==>
Der Stil der Alltagsrede | VI RULES AND REGULATIONS
doclecture.net - lectures - 2014-2024 year. Copyright infringement or personal data (0.007 sec.)