The great thing about golf is that it is a club and ball sport with no standardized playing area. This opens up for a more diverse playing area, although there are of course rules that has to be followed.
In addition the sport combines the need for intense focus as well as a great hand-eye coordination.
There are even rules that allow inexperienced players to compete with more experienced players without always ending up last; the handicap rules.
The course
All golf courses are slightly different, but there are also some similarities as there are different elements one has to include on the course.
• The course has to have a designed and arranged progression with either nine or 18 holes.
• Each hole must include a tee box and a putting green. The tee box is where they player start. The putting green is the area around the actual hole.
• In the area between the tee box and putting green you have different standard forms of terrain. These include
o Fairway
o Rough (long grass)
o Sand traps
o Water, rocks and other “traps”
The game
The player has to hit a small white ball, with a club that has small edge at the bottom. If the player hits the ball correctly, then the player can make the ball go where they want. When the player hits the ball, that is called a stroke.
On each of the nine or 18 holes, the player has to get the little golf ball into the cup, the hole. When they have gotten the ball into the hole, that hole is finished. It takes on average 2 hours to get through a golf course with 9 holes and 4 hours with an 18 hole course.
The object of the game is to make it around the course with 9 or 18 holes with as few strokes as possible. After the course is finished, the number of strokes are counted and compared with the other players if you are playing with others. Or you can compare the number to your own average.
Golf is a social game so you will normally find groups of 2 and up to 6 people going around the courses and hitting the ball.
Start
All holes have a tee box where you start the course. The player will lay the ball on the ground and get ready to strike it. If the player wants to they can place the ball on a tee before striking it. This is a small peg that will elevate it a bit so it is easier to get a good, clean stroke. Most professionals will use a tee as this minimalizes the interference from grass or other material. It also makes it easier to aim the ball.
However, the tee can only be used on the tee box.
The middle
Between the tee box and the putting green you have a rather long stretch of land. Here there are traps in the form of sand pits that makes it difficult to strike the ball, water or forest at the edges. It is rare that a player will not get caught in one of the traps or lose a ball during a course. Even the professionals will sometimes strike a smidgen too hard or soft and get caught.
The players will strike the ball every other time as long as they are in each other’s field of sight. This means that it is not normal for one player to move ahead to the putting green before all of the players are within sight of that.
The end
After having gone through the whole course, getting the ball into all the holes, the players will stop to look at the scores. Players usually keeps track of their own score or one of the players will be in charge of keeping the scores.
The players will compare the scores and the player with the lowest number of strokes is the winner.