The first section of every hole consists of what is known as the teeing ground, or tee-box. There is usually more than one available box for a player to place their ball, each one a different distance from the hole. They are generally as level as feasible, and most are slightly raised from the surrounding fairway. The most common tee areas, in increasing order of length from the hole, are the ladies' tee, the men's tee, and the championship tee. Other common tee-boxes include the junior tee, closer to the hole than the ladies' tee, and the senior tee, generally between the ladies' tee and the men's tee. In tournaments, golfers generally tee off from the box one level further from the "normal" box for their class (men use the championship tee, ladies use the senior or men's tee, and juniors use the ladies' tee).
Each tee box has two markers showing the bounds of the legal tee area. The teeing area spans the distance between the markers, and extends from two-club lengths behind the markers up to the markers themselves. A golfer may play the ball from outside the teeing area, but the ball itself must be shot from within the area.[1] A golfer may place his ball directly on the teeing ground (called hitting it "off the deck"), a wooden manufactured stick known as a tee, or any natural substance such as sand placed on the teeing surface.
Fairway and rough
Typical doglegs. On the left side: "dogleg
left", on the right side: "double dogleg"
After teeing off, the player again hits the ball toward the green from where it came to rest. The area between the tee box and the putting green is called the fairway. The turf of the fairway is generally cut short and evenly and is an advantageous area from which to hit. The area between the fairway and the out-of-bounds markers and also between the fairway and green is the rough, the turf of which is cut higher than that of the fairway and is generally a disadvantageous area from which to hit. Par three holes expect the player to be able to drive the ball to the green on their first shot from the tee box. Holes longer than par threes are expected to require at least one extra shot made from the fairway or rough.
While many holes are designed with a direct line-of-sight from the tee-off point to the green, some of the holes may bend either to the left or to the right. This is called a "dogleg", in reference to a dog's knee. The hole is called a "dogleg left" if the hole angles leftwards, and vice versa; rarely, a hole's direction can bend twice, and is called a "double dogleg".
Hazards
A
golfer hits a ball from a bunker
Many holes include hazards, which may be of three types: (1) water hazards such as lakes and rivers; (2) man-made hazards such as bunkers; and (3) natural hazards such as dense vegetation. Special rules apply to playing balls that fall in a hazard. For example, a player may not touch the ground with his club before playing a ball, not even for a practice swing. A ball in any hazard may be played as it lies without penalty. If it cannot be played from the hazard, the ball may be hit from another location, generally with a penalty of one stroke. The Rules of Golf govern exactly from where the ball may be played outside a hazard. Bunkers (or sand traps) are shallow pits filled with sand and generally incorporating a raised lip or barrier, from which the ball is more difficult to play than from grass. As in any hazard, a ball in a sand trap must be played without previously touching the sand with the club.
Putting
green
The 18th green at Pebble Beach Golf Links
To putt is to play a stroke using a putter. Usually, this stroke is played on the green where the ball does not leave the ground. Once on the green, the ball is putted (struck with the eponymous flat-faced club to roll it along the ground) toward the hole until the ball falls into the cup.
The grass of the putting green (more commonly just green) is cut very short so that a ball can roll distances of several yards. The growth direction of the blades of grass affects the ball's roll and is called the grain of the green. The slope or break of the green also affects the roll of the ball. The cup is always found within the green (at least ten feet from the edge), and must have a diameter of 108 millimeters (4.25 in) and a depth of at least 100 millimeters (3.94 in). Its position on the green is not fixed and should be changed daily by a greenskeeper in order to prevent excessive wear and damage to the turf. The cup usually has a flag on a pole positioned in it so that it may be seen from a distance, but not necessarily from the tee; this flag-and-pole combination is called the pin or less commonly the flagstaff.
Putting greens are not all of the same quality. Generally, the finest-quality greens are well kept so that a ball will smoothly roll over the closely-mowed grass. Excess water can be removed from a putting green using a machine called a water hog. Golfers describe a green as fast if a light stroke to the ball makes it roll a long distance; conversely, a slow green is one where a stronger stroke is required to roll the ball the required distance. The exact speed of a green can be found with a stimp meter. By collecting sample measurements, golf courses can be compared in terms of average green speed. It is, however, illegal by the Rules of Golf to test the speed of a green while playing by rolling a ball on it, feeling or rubbing the green.
Par
Most courses have only par three, four, and five holes, though some courses include par six holes. Typical distances for the various holes are as follows.
Men
* Par 3 – 250 yards (230 m) and below
* Par 4 – 251 to 470 yards (430 m)
* Par 5 – 471 to 690 yards (630
m)
* Par 6 – 691 yards (632 m) or more
Women
* Par 3 –
210 yards (190 m) and below
* Par 4 – 211 to 400 yards (370 m)
*
Par 5 – 401 to 575 yards (526 m)
* Par 6 – 575 yards (526 m) or
more
Harder or easier courses may have longer or shorter distances, respectively. Terrain can also be a factor, where a long downhill hole might be rated a par four, but a shorter uphill or treacherous hole might be rated a par five.
Other areas
Some areas of the course are designated as ground under repair ("G.U.R."), where greenskeepers are making repairs or where the course is damaged. A ball coming to rest in this spot may be lifted, then played from outside the G.U.R. without penalty. Certain man-made objects on the course are defined as obstructions (i.e. distance posts, gardens, etc.), and specific rules determine how a golfer may proceed when their play is impeded by these.
Driving range
Practice range with 43 tees (20 covered)
Often, there is a practice range or driving range, usually with practice greens, bunkers, and driving areas. Markers showing distances are usually included on a practice range to benefit the golfer. There may even be a practice course (often shorter and easier to play than full-scale golf courses), where golfers practice to measure how far they can hit with a specific club or to improve their swing technique.
Design
Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information
might be found on the talk page. (June 2008)
A specialty of landscape design or landscape architecture, golf course architecture is its own field of study. Some golf course architects become celebrities in their own right. The field is represented by the American Society of Golf Course Architects, the European Institute of Golf Course Architects and the Society of Australian Golf Course Architects.
While golf courses can and often follow the lay of the original landscape, some degree of modification is unavoidable. This has grown increasingly true as new courses have a higher probability of being sited on less optimal land. Bunkers and sand traps are almost always custom built, although other forms of roughage may "fall out naturally" from the original land.
The layout of fairways follows certain traditional principles, such as the number of holes (nine and 18 being most common), their par and number of chosen par types per course. It is also preferable to arrange greens to be close to the tee box of the next playable hole, to minimize travel distance while playing. Combined with the need to package all the fairways in a compact square or rectangular land plot, they tend to form an oppositional tiling pattern.
A successful design is as visually pleasing as it is playable. With golf being an outdoor form of recreation, the strong designer is an adept student of natural landscaping, understanding the aesthetic cohesion of vegetation, water bodies, paths, grasses, stonework and woodwork, among other things
Environmental impact
Environmental concerns over the use of land for golf courses have grown over the past fifty years. Specific issues include the amount of water and chemical pesticides and fertilizers used for maintenance, as well as the destruction of wetlands and other environmentally important areas during construction. The UN estimates that golf courses use 2.5 billion gallons of clean water daily, enough to provide fresh drinking water for 4.7 billion people. Diazinon is a toxic chemical used on golf courses. In 1988, the US Environmental Protection Agency prohibited the use of Diazinon on golf courses and sod farms because of decimation of bird flocks.
These, along with health and cost concerns, have led to research into more environmentally sound practices and turf grasses. The golf course superintendent is often trained in the uses of these practices and grasses. This has led to some reduction in the amount of chemicals and water used on courses. The turf on golf courses is an excellent filter for water and has been used in communities to cleanse grey water, such as incorporation of bioswales. People continue to oppose golf courses for environmental and human survival reasons, as they impede corridors for migrating animals and sanctuaries for birds and other wildlife. It is claimed that the effective non-native monoculture of golf courses systematically destroys biodiversity
A result of modern
equipment is that today's players can hit the ball much further than previously.
As a result, out of a concern for safety, golf course architects have had to lengthen
and widen golf courses. This has led to a ten percent increase in the amount of
area that is required to build those. At the same time, water restrictions placed
by communities have forced courses to limit the amount of maintained turf grass.
While most modern 18-hole golf courses occupy as much as 60 square hectometers
(150 acres) of land, the average course has 30 hm² (75 acres) of maintained
turf. (Sources include the National Golf Foundation and the Golf Course Superintendents
Association of America GCSAA.)
Deer on a golf course.
Golf courses can be built on sandy areas along coasts, abandoned farms, strip mines and quarries, deserts and forests. Many Western countries have instituted environmental restrictions on where and how courses can be built.
In some parts of the world, attempts to build courses and resorts have led to protests along with vandalism and violence by both sides. Golf has symbolic importance as it is a sport normally associated with the wealthier Westernized population, and the culture of colonization and globalisation of non-native land ethics. Resisting golf tourism and golf's expansion has become an objective of some land-reform movements, especially in the Philippines and Indonesia.
In the Bahamas, opposition to golf developments has become a national issue. Residents of Great Guana Cay and Bimini, for example, are engaged in legal and political opposition to golf developments on their islands, for fear the golf courses will destroy the nutrient-poor balance on which their coral reef and mangrove systems depend.
In Saudi Arabia, golf courses have been constructed on nothing more than oil-covered sand. However, in some cities such as Dhahran, modern, grass golf courses have been built. In Coober Pedy, Australia, there is a golf course that consists of nine holes dug into mounds of sand, diesel and oil, with no grass anywhere on the course. Players carry a small piece of astroturf from which they tee the ball. In New Zealand it is not uncommon for rural courses to have greens fenced off and sheep graze the fairways. At the 125-year-old Royal Colombo Golf Club in Sri Lanka steam trains, from the Kelani Valley railway, run through the course at the 6th hole.
Extreme golf is played on environmentally sustainable alternatives to traditional courses. A cross between hiking and golf, the course layout exposes players to a wide range of natural obstacles and challenging terrains.
Based on the growing popularity of the U.X. Open Alternative Golf Tournament the extreme golf course features un-mowed meadows and forest instead of fairways, with "goals" scored on temporary greens (a circle 6 metres (20 ft) in diameter)
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