HERE ARE SOME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FROM BEGINNERS…
Where Did the Word “Golf” Come From?
Does it Stand for “Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden”?
Did the word “golf” originate as an acronym for “gentlemen only, ladies forbidden”? That’s a common old wives’ tale. Or, in this case, more likely an old husband’s tale.
No, “golf” is not an acronym for “gentlemen only, ladies forbidden.” If you’ve ever heard that, forget it immediately. Better yet, find the person who told you and let them know it’s not true.
Like most modern words, the word “golf” derives from older languages and dialects. In this case, the languages in question are medieval Dutch and old Scots.
The medieval Dutch word “kolf” or “kolve” meant “club.” It is believed that word passed to the Scots, whose old Scots dialect transformed the word into “golve,” “gowl” or “gouf.”
By the 16th Century, the word “golf” had emerged.
Sources: British Golf Museum, USGA Library
Why are they Called ‘Woods’ When they aren’t Made of Wood?
Because, from the beginnings of golf until just recently (relatively speaking), they were made of wood.
Drivers, fairway woods and utility woods (the 7s, 9s and 11s of the wood family) were actually wooden in composition - often with a metal soleplate attached, sometimes with screws in the face - until the first metal woods began appearing in the late 1970s.
As late as 1997, Justin Leonard was still using a wood driver on the PGA Tour.
The wood of choice for most of the 20th century was persimmon, a very hard wood.
You can still find persimmon woods, but many of them made today are made as novelties. The only major company still producing persimmon clubs as an alternative to metal woods is Louisville Golf, whose products are well-regarded.
Metal woods replaced wooden woods when it was discovered - and when golfers finally became convinced it was true - that metal woods could add distance and forgiveness to the driver and other woods.
Should I Take Golf Lessons?
Absolutely, positively, yes. Yes, yes, yes!
Do you have to take lessons? Of course not. Can you pick up golf and improve on your own? Of course, and many do.
But beginners should always look into lessons. First, you’ll simply pick up the game much more quickly. Golf is not easy to master, and if you want to get good at it, you’ll show improvement much more quickly if you are taught the correct way to play from the get-go.
Second, there’s really no reason not to take lessons. If you’re willing to spend money on golf, then spending a little bit more on lessons is no big deal.
Individual lessons usually range from 30 minutes to an hour, with prices varying. A typical price range might be from €30 to €60 per session. Discounts are frequently available for people who sign up for a package of lessons (say, a series of five or six).
Taking lessons simply makes learning the game much easier, and improvement much quicker. Which will increase your enjoyment. Not to mention the safety of those around you on the golf course!
How Long Does It Take to Play a Round of Golf?
Four hours is the estimate most people give for 18 holes.
The actual time depends on how busy the course is, how many people you are playing with and how many strokes everyone takes (a round of 72 will obviously be faster than a round of 112).
A golfer playing alone on a course that is not crowded should be able to finish in 2 and a half hours or less.
A foursome playing a very crowded course might wind up spending 5 or even 6 hours on the golf course.
To keep things moving, all friendly matches (rounds of golf that are not played in tournaments or for money) should be played by the principles of “ready golf.”
How to rake a sand bunker
Locate the lowest spot around the edge of the bunker that is conventient to your ball. This will be your entry and exit point. Identifying this spot keeps you from walking down a steep facing (possibly damaging the turf), stepping off a higher rim (leaving deeper footprints), or having to walk a longer distance which would require raking a greater area of sand.
- Find the Best Entry and Exit Point
- Enter the Bunker with Rake
- Play Your Shot
- Smooth Over the Sand as You Back Out of the Bunker
- Exit the Bunker and Complete Raking
- Admire Your Work
What is Golf Etiquette?
Golf etiquette is a set of rules - both written and unwritten - that governs behavior on a golf course. Simply put, golf etiquette is good manners.
The rules of golf etiquette are designed to keep golf enjoyable for everyone on the course by making sure that golfers keep moving (preventing the rounds from becoming interminably long) and that everyone remains safe. And that players are, simply, nice to each other - no gamesmanship, no deliberate or inadvertent interference with another player’s game.
Do Golf Courses Have Dress Codes?
Many golf courses do have dress codes.
Most public golf courses do not have dress codes - except, of course, in the sense that you must be dressed! (No shirt, no service.)
Dress codes vary in strictness depending on the price range of the course to which you are going. The higher the price, the more likely there is a dress code.
In general, a collared shirt and chino-style trousers will get you onto 95-percent of golf courses. And most of those will not allow denim or tracksuits on or off the course.
The most upscale courses — or the ones that take themselves too seriously — will require collars and have a no-denim rule. A small number will even have a no-shorts rule, requiring golf slacks.
It’s always a good idea to call ahead and inquire about a dress code before heading to a course you haven’t played before.
A collar on a shirt doesn’t sound like much, but if the course requires collars and you show up in a t-shirt, you’ll either be buying a collared shirt in the pro shop or heading home.
The other rule most courses have these days is no metal spikes on golf shoes. It’s difficult to buy shoes with metal spikes anymore, so if you have recently purchased golf shoes you should be OK. If you are using ancient shoes that still have metal spikes, it’s time to trade them in.
Soft spikes are the answer!
Does Golf Require Any Special Physical Abilities?
There are certainly physical attributes that will help if you have them: overall fitness, flexibility, coordination, athleticism.
The more fit you are, the better your chances for improving your golf game. But people of every imaginable body type - and of every age - are able to play golf.
How Do I Know Which Golf Club to Hit?
It’s called knowing your yardages, and it’s learned by trial-and-error.
You can begin gauging your distances - how far you hit each club - on a driving range. But driving range distances are not “real” distances because balls made for driving ranges are intended to be pounded into submission. The quality of driving range balls varies wildly.
You’ll simply have to make educated guesses as you start playing golf courses, pay attention to the results and make adjustments. Over time, if you learn as you go, you’ll become very good at deciding which club to hit for which distance.
Distance isn’t always the deciding factor, of course. If you are playing into a wind, you will need more club (a 3-iron as opposed to a 4-iron, for example) than if the wind was calm.
Likewise, if you are hitting with the wind, you’ll need less club (a 5-iron as opposed to a 4-iron).
The sequential clubs in a set (3-iron, 4-iron, 5-iron and so on) are designed so that there should be a regular yardage interval between clubs. For most players, that interval will be 10-15 yards (a 3-iron will go 10 yards farther than a 4-iron, which will go 10 yards farther than a 5-iron). Again, this will vary from player to player.
Manufacturers control distance mainly through shaft length and the loft of the clubface. A 5-iron will be shorter than a 3-iron - resulting in less clubhead speed - and the 5-iron will have more loft on the face, which will cause the ball to fly higher.
These are things that every golfer learns over time, by playing and practicing. Before you know it, you’ll have your yardages to a tee.
What Do the Numbers on a Golf Ball Mean?
Every golf ball has numbers on it. How many numbers and which numbers vary from brand to brand, but they all have at least one number.
That one number is most likely to be a 1, 2, 3 or 4 (although it can also be anything from a zero to a 9). What do these numbers mean?
Nothing, really. These single-digit numbers are simply there for identification purposes. If the members of a foursome are all playing a Titleist NXT ball, for example, one might play a ball with the number “1,” another a “2,” the third a “3,” and the fourth a “4.” This will allow the members to keep track of which ball belongs to each player.
These numbers usually appear just below the branding of the ball’s name. All the balls from the same sleeve will have the same ID number.
A golf ball might also have a three-digit number on it, usually something in the 300s or 400s.
If you notice such a number on a ball, this number is letting you know how many dimples are on the ball.
Another number that might appear on golf balls is the ball’s compression rating. Until solid core balls drove the wound ball almost completely out of the market - beginning in the late 90s - compression rating was a big deal to golfers. A compression rating of 70 or 80 for a wound ball was regarded as an indicator that ball was a “ladies ball.” A compression rating of 110 meant you had to swing very hard to make that ball work right (the he-man ball).
We know now that compression relates much more to feel than to distance. Solid, soft-core balls are a huge segment of the golf ball market now, and the compressions these day can be way down in the 30s or 40s (ranging up to 100 or so). When these low-compression balls first started appearing on the market, manufacturers felt there was still a stigma attached to low compression - i.e., that a low-compression ball would be viewed as a “ladies ball.” And so numbers representing compression were dropped from most golf balls.
You’ll still find them on some brands, however, and they are almost certain - these days - to be two digits.
So, to recap: A single-digit number is there for identification; a double-digit number most likely represents compression; a triple-digit number most likely represents the number of dimples
