Golf Essay Research Paper Golf Golf is

Golf Essay, Research Paper

Golf

Golf is an outdoor game where players use specially designed clubs to hit a small, hard ball over a field known as a course. The object of the game is to advance the ball around the course using as few strokes as possible. Golf is a game played by many, but has recently increased in popularity due to the promotion of young athletes. One of these, Tiger Woods, is a major role model for many younger kids. This game is very positive and everything that the sport of golf accomplishes in this world is for a good cause . This quote is from Arnold Palmer when he was promoting the first donation tournament, Golf for Aids , which went to the research and development of finding cures and treating patients.

A golf course is divided into 18 sections, called holes. The standard course is about 7,000 yards. Each hole may vary in length from 100 to 600 yards. The holes have, at one end a starting point known as a tee and, at the other end a hole marked by a flag. A hole is where the ball must be hit into in order to complete play at each hole. 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, 30 to 100 yards wide, where the grass is neatly cut for a good 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 make golfers use additional skill in playing their shots. In the lack of such natural obstacles, artificial hazards may be constructed. These include bunkers, or traps, which are ditches, dug in the ground and usually filled with sand. Water hazards, such as trenches, creeks, ponds, or lakes. At the far end of the fairway from the tee is the putting green, an area of extremely low cut grass surrounding the hole or cup. The grass surface of the putting green is intended to ease the progress of the ball into the hole after the ball has been given a tap or gentle stroke known as a putt. In addition to the putt, the stroke used on the green, two main types of shots are used in playing each hole. These are 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 shots need great accuracy in order to have good hole. Shots of various lengths are played with different clubs, according to the distance and the lie, also known as the position of the ball. A standard set of 14 golf clubs, is divided into two main types, the woods, with heads made of wood or metal; and the irons, with heads made of steel. The shafts of both types are usually made of metal and sometimes of fiberglass. Now, a new type of graphite is used in the shafts to make them extra light. Formerly, each club was known by a distinctive name, but today they are represented by numbers. The woods are customarily numbered 1 through 5, and 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 to hit the ball high and close, leaving only a short distance of rolling.

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 path of the ball. For making drives and distance shots on the fairway, the woods (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and driver) and the long irons (1, 2, and 3) are used. For the opening drive of each hole, the ball is teed up. This is when the ball 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 an inch off the ground, allowing the head of the club to strike the ball at the center point of the club, and with maximum force. For long, low shots on the fairway, the 2 wood is used, and for long, high shots 3, 4, and 5 woods are applied. 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 fringe of the green.

Two basic forms of competition exist in golf. These consist of match play and medal play or stroke play. In match play the player or 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 player or team winning the most holes wins the event. If each player or team takes the same number of strokes on any hole, the hole is said to be 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, so the loser has no chance of gaining a lead or tie and the game is stopped. 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 amount in championship contests covers 18, 36, 54, or 72 holes. In medal play, playoff rounds, or tiebreaker holes decide ties.

The term par refers to the nu