The Golf Course

Golf is one of few sports that are not played on a standardised playing surface, meaning that, providing you have a hole, a teeing-ground, a club and a ball, it can, theoretically, be played anywhere!

Traditionally, the terrain on which it is played falls into three categories: links courses, which have sandy soil and are often located near the sea; parkland courses, which are generally inland with fairways lined with trees; and heathland courses, which are also usually inland but are less heavily wooded and more reminiscent of links layouts.

With the rapid growth of the game throughout the world, however, golf is being played in increasingly diverse regions and climates, from deserts to rainforests.

A golf course usually consists of a loop of nine or 18 holes, each of which will have a ‘par’ of three, four or five – though there are rare exceptions to this rule. On a ‘par-four’ or a longer ‘par-five’ hole, players will aim to hit the fairway with their first shot before attempting to reach the green with their next strokes. On a ‘par-three’, however, a player will attempt to strike the ball onto the green, directly from the teeing-ground.

Most of the time, the player will be able to see the flagstick, which displays the location of the hole, from the teeing-ground. If they can’t see the flag, they’re facing a dog-leg, meaning that the fairway will curve left or right (or sometimes both!) to bring the player round to face the green.

Different heights of grass are cut to increase difficulty and punish bad shots: generally speaking, the further from the fairway, the longer the blades of grass. The green will always be the area most closely mown to crate a smooth surface suitable for putting.

Aside from that brief introduction, it’s very difficult to generalise about golf courses. Every single layout worldwide will possess dozens of idiosyncrasies that make that particular course unique – and the game is all the more enjoyable for it.