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Golf is a sport that many consider the prerogative of aristocrats, the rules of which can only be understood by a specific category of people. Let’s clarify – a stratum of wealthy people. For objectivity, we note that such an opinion is not far from the truth. Golf has certain limitations if you consider expensive prepared greens for competitions, not cheap equipment and equipment for players, maintenance of tournaments, etc.
To understand this, let’s look at the golf system to get to the bottom of it.
Let’s start with the fact that golf has deep historical roots. It was included in the Olympic Games program in 2016. Although this in no way speaks of his youth. At the beginning of the last century, golfers already participated in similar competitions at two Olympics in a row.
In addition, current golf in the world ranking of sports games is marked in particular by the annual world tournament Masters Tournament, held in the American state of Georgia. The yearly open championships of the US Open in the United States and the English championship tournament of the significant series, The Open Championship. The permanent championship of the PGA Championship of professionals of the American League of Golfers. So, what is golf?
Golf is an exciting game that gives the player emotion—joy, pain, disappointment, a sense of responsibility, and a feeling of the wind. Moreover, you can always meet players of several generations on the golf courses. Here, you can meet people who exchanged their seventies and ten-year-old youth. And that’s normal. Considered experience fights on an equal footing with exaggerated optimism. This is a game. A one-person match in which the final result depends only on yourself. You compete with yourself, and all mistakes and miscalculations rely on you. Golf does not involve collective team play.
Historically, the founders of golf are considered the Scots, who date this discovery to the mid-fifteenth century. Some historians disagree with this statement and attribute its beginnings to the Roman Empire and China. Nevertheless, this sport has been actively developed since the nineteenth century. In the Anglo-Saxon countries, it was considered a recreational sport for most of the population; for example, for the Germans, it was an expensive and elite pastime for a long time.
The first golf club was established in Scotland, and then the uniform rules of golf were introduced, which had previously been different everywhere. Right here in Scotland, in St. Andrews, the first women’s golf club was created, which started the development of the women’s golf championship.
Rules of golf. They are straightforward and make the game possible for both older and young people. There is a golf course, which is usually located on average terrain. It has holes and small notches where you need to drive the ball. And not just to go, but to do it using special sticks. An athlete must have strength, accuracy, strategy, and strike calculation. The ultimate goal is to finish the game with the minimum number of strokes and see the ball in the hole.
A few touches on the important. The playing field, usually with a grass surface, consists of eighteen holes. There are nine-hole courses that require two rounds to complete the game. The end of the game is when the ball hits the hole, which is marked with a flag for greater clarity. By the way, on the perimeter, where the final hole is located, the grass is cut to a minimum so as not to interfere with the accurate hitting of the ball. The grass cover is heterogeneous on the remaining sections of the field, making it as difficult as possible to pass the intermediate stages to the finish line. The game starts from the starting zone, where the player, in a few strokes, must direct the ball to the green zone, where it is necessary to hit the hole with a special putter stick. By the way, a golf course consists of holes with a starting area and place for the ball. In addition, for a full-fledged game, artificial obstacles are also created, in addition to a smooth and uneven field.
What else is worth knowing from the main points?
According to average statistics, the game lasts up to five hours, during which the player travels up to ten kilometers. And this does not consider the physical exertion associated with blows, attempts, etc. You need an excellent physical form to swing and hit a small ball and send it precisely to the target.
A few words about the basic rules and etiquette in golf: an identification mark is applied to your balls before the game. This is a label of the ball’s owner, which should be different from others. This is important because the ball is considered lost without a tag.
According to etiquette, the game is stopped until the group of ahead players moves to a safe distance. If others are playing faster than you, skip those groups ahead. Place the flag neatly, level the tracks and restore the turf, stay out of another player’s line of scrimmage, and more.
Inventory and equipment. Keys’ number per player should not exceed fourteen pieces, each designed to perform a specific shot. Their two types are for hits at maximum distances called Wood and sticks, which are used depending on the hit’s difficulty and the ball’s position. This is Iron. Of course, not everything is so simple. The sticks differ in the manufacturing material and the heads’ shape. For a high trajectory from a short distance, a wedge-shaped stick with an inclination angle of up to sixty percent Ritching wedge is used. For a difficult shot from the sand, it is customary to use a heavy stick with a steel sole or sand wedge. A special Rutter stick performs the final and accurate blow on a flat surface.
It is important to remember that all clubs are numbered depending on the angle to the surface of the face impact head, with a conditional average impact length of ten meters between the numbers. The smaller the number, the longer the potential impact path.
Golf balls only look the same at first glance. The diameter is slightly more than four centimeters; the weight does not exceed forty-six grams, and there are depressions on the surface. It is customary to apply them from three to five hundred pieces—more depressions – higher ball flight height.
The ball compression index determines the ball’s deformation level upon impact. At a conventional compression value of eighty to one hundred units, the ball will “compress” by two to three millimeters, and at two hundred units, it will not be deformed.
Of course, everything depends on the structure of the ball itself. The simplest is single-layer, used for training. In most cases, two-layer products, which combine flight range, durability, and affordable price, are used. Sometimes, athletes use three-layer balls wound with an elastic thread on top of a flexible or gel-like core.
There are also four-layer balls with an additional layer between the shell and the weave, used only by professional players.
Over the years, golf has become an expensive sport for the rich. There is a specific reason for this. And regularity. Selection of territory, design, landscape design, land costs, golf course training, and club construction are costly. At the same time, there is little to design and build; all this infrastructure must be maintained, which is not a cheap pleasure. Therefore, the first stage of expenses for those who like to play this game is determined through registration and annual fees, which not everyone can afford.
At the same time, the costs from this moment only begin. Balls, sticks of various shapes, gloves, markers, stands, and player equipment. Training also takes a lot of time and money, making it difficult to achieve a decent result.
At the same time, for a long time, the theme of elitism in the game of golf was supported and is supported in many feature films, where directors savor the sophistication and expensiveness of not only the game of golf itself but also everything that stands around it. Electric cars, servants, expensive drinks, and the like. All this is so. However, this stereotype has changed over the past few decades, and golf has become much more accessible to ordinary people.
First, the price tag for golf equipment has fallen significantly recently.
Secondly, collapsible puttings of various shapes and sizes have appeared, which allow you to cover unique plastic panels with professional artificial grass and create breaks in different directions. This seriously cheapens the foundations of golf development. For example, high-quality synthetic grass used for golf is easy to install and cheap to maintain. It withstands high and low temperatures without losing its professional properties or changing its shape from direct sunlight.
Thirdly, stimulants and sports simulators. This is a breakthrough in training athletes of severe tournaments and training, especially in the off-season. You can remove any conventional field in the world and simulate the game on it, see the ball’s trajectory, calculate the impact’s force, and the hit’s accuracy.
And the main thing. Today, there are many public golf courses where you can practice without a mandatory club ticket. In addition, many private golf clubs have begun to open their courses to the public during the day. True, with the possibility of limited access for them on weekends or other days. But believe me, this is a severe step for profit-oriented enterprises.
Four years ago, World Golf switched to the new World Handicap System. It is a system of general rules of golf, with the exact requirements for the athletes’ equipment and a uniform system of scoring results.
For example, before this, each country lived its own life. American golf associations USGA, European EGA, Irish and British CONGU, etc.
Without going into details, we note that such a step, thanks to the universal system, made it possible to make golf in different countries and continents more accessible, both for world-class athletes and for amateurs. Today, it is united by a single evaluation of an athlete according to one global measure of his results on a golf course in any country.
Availability of golf. Today, many countries try to minimize costs for those who cannot afford to pay high prices for visiting golf clubs. For example, in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany, to learn the basics of the game, study golf ethics, etc., one is allowed to play on the golf course of clubs when obtaining a golf license or a corresponding permit for the course.
Of course, there are many hidden aspects of this process. If permission is obtained, for example, for one course, then to play on other courses, you may be asked for a handicap from a specific golf association or have such permission for peak times, etc.
Despite this, what was unimaginable yesterday is being formed into an understandable framework today. For example, in Germany, an association of non-club golfers allows its members to play golf without joining a club.
A unique atmosphere with access to golf in the USA. Along with exclusive private clubs for the rich, there are many public courses where golf can be played at a very affordable price per game.
Golf in Europe has always been and remains one of the elite sports. Of course, this game has been behind the influx of wealth, sophistication, a particular caste of players, and expensive greens with holes for more than six hundred years. Nevertheless, nowadays, this game has not lost its sophistication, restrained pathos, or intelligence. Especially in Europe, where, according to experts, this game can be played on more than six thousand fields.
However, as they say, the elitism of a golf club cannot be measured by a single number. A mild temperate climate, beautiful nature, and optimal infrastructure of golf hotels have brought Majorca and Spain, in particular, to the peak of popularity. And not only.
We will give some examples of famous golf courses in Europe.
In the Spanish Balearic Islands, in the Bay of Palms, in the capital of Palma de Mallorca, between pine trees interspersed with palm trees and a beautiful view of the sea, the oldest golf course in the region, Son Vida Mallorca, is located. Despite the beautiful nature and sea breeze, the field is complex and requires good physical and moral stability. Especially when passing the hole of the fourth pair.
Right here in Majorca, among wild meadows and olive trees, in the middle of vineyards, on almost one hundred and sixty hectares of Mediterranean landscape, the private family golf club Son Gual is spread out with complex fields and water obstacles. It is open to club members throughout the year.
Abama Golf Guia de Isora golf course is located on the Spanish island of Tenerife and is almost surrounded by more than two dozen lakes. It is the first course in the country to receive the EMAS certificate from the European Union and the IAGTO quality certificate from the World Organization of Golf Tour Operators.
Canyons, planting with olive trees, seashore. It is part of the relief of the 18-hole golf courses of the diverse landscape of the Bay Course Navarino Hotel on the Greek Peloponnese peninsula. There is no simple game or easy victory on these fields assigned to the international classifier. Moreover, here on two holes, you will have to show your skill right by the shore of Navarin Bay.
Well, for those who want to learn the basics of golf or have forgotten the game’s rules, the Navarino Golf Academy works. Here, you will be offered everything you need. From classes in comfortable classrooms to full clothes, sticks, and ball equipment.
The Montgomerie Maxx Royal Golf Antalya golf course in Turkey is advantageously located among lakes and mountains. He designed it Scottish professional golfer Colin Montgomery has won the European Tour Order of Merit and more than thirty wins on the European Tour. At one time, the Golf Club Management Association ranked him seventh among influential people in English golf. Therefore, playing on a field designed by such a specialist becomes difficult, even for professional players.
The Thracian Cliffs golf course near the Bulgarian city of Varna is lost among the hills, the Thracian rocks, and the sea. The level of difficulty in passing this field is marked by the grade “sporty”.
The Anfi Tauro Champions Course is over six hundred and fifty thousand square meters located in the Canary Islands and is modeled as a “trio”, which allows casual players with a low level of training to feel like champions and enjoy the game.
The relatively young Royal Obidos Golf is located near the Portuguese lagoon of Óbidos, where you can’t do without two things. Enjoy a gorgeous view of the Atlantic Ocean and move around the course on a golf cart.
The private course of the Valderrama Golf Club in Spain, near Cadiz, is considered to be a place with particularly thick grass. This makes it possible to provide a beautiful game complicated by natural difficulties. The golf course received a high reputation after hosting the Ryder Cup at the end of the last century.
Historically, Austria has been one of the countries in Europe with an active infrastructure and development of golf. Almost all regions have more than one hundred and seventy clubs on their territory. Vienna, Carinthia, Lower and Upper Austria, Styria, Burgenland, etc. However, a special place for the development of this sport is Tyrol. There are complex landscapes, cliffs, altitude differences, and many more surprises for athletes.
At the foot of the Dolomites near Linz is the GC Dolomitengolf Osttirol Golf Club, which has the only thirty-six-hole golf course in Tyrol. Here, professionals and amateurs can train on two championship courses with eighteen holes, each with daily changing combinations.
Golfpark Mieminger Plateau is located on the territory of the community of Innsbruck Land at an altitude of almost nine hundred meters above sea level on the Mieminger Plateau, next to the settlement of Wildermiming. There is an eighteen-hole championship course for professionals and a nine-hole parkland course for less experienced players.
The twenty-seven-hole Wilder Kaiser Golf Academy is set against a former imperial garden in the Tyrolean settlement of Niringerwald. The complex is divided into three fields of nine holes each for convenience.
The Seefeld-Wildmoos Golf Club is a real gem of Tyrol on the territory of the Wildmoos nature reserve.
It is located at one thousand three hundred meters on a high plateau near the village of Seefeld in Tirol. There is a championship course with eighteen holes. This golf club is included in the list of the hundred most beautiful courses in Europe and is classified as one of the best golf courses in Austria. The field was opened over fifty years ago and is rated as sports-difficult.
One of the best golf courses in Austria is located in Kitzübel. This Kitzbühel golf club was founded in the middle of the last century. There is a nine-hole course on thirty hectares.
Due to the unstable Tyrolean weather and the location of some golf courses in the foothills or on mountain plateaus, there are sometimes problems with the start of the active golf season. However, almost everywhere, the season opens in April and actively lasts until October. The off-season in golf clubs is used according to developed and approved plans for a certain period. Who is completing the construction of covered areas for training in rainy weather? Who is studying management, golf club management, or organizing tournaments? Coaches are being trained during the season.
Some training programs for the middle of the season are also signed up for children in golf camps. Since last July, such camps have been operating in Kufstein at Golfclub Wilder Kaiser and Kaiserwinkl Golf Kòssen in Kitzbühel. The recreation program was rich and informative. Learning the rules of golf, golf etiquette, coordination and motor skills training, etc.
One more important thing. As you prepare for the holiday season and the opportunity to play golf, you should know the bonus you can capitalize on by purchasing a unique Golf Tirol Card.
In Tyrol, more than thirty golf hotels are located next to golf courses. With this card, you can get discounts at partner hotels and nineteen golf courses in Tyrol. It is important that two people can use the Golf Tirol card at the same time.
Tyrol and golf are organically woven into the historical development of territories and sports. Unique golf courses of any category allow everyone to practice their skills. And if the professionals have long mastered the fields and the difficulty of playing the holes, then almost all clubs offer trial days for beginners. To check your desire to do this sport.
And when you still decide to spend your first vacation with a stick in your hands in the fresh alpine air, start small. Choose a hotel within a short distance of your golf club. Try to take advantage of the comprehensive service when you can, book a class time, consult about the equipment purchase, and specify where and how best to store it. By chance, find out if the transfer service to the field and back is available and what discounts you can expect.
Solving these and many other little things will allow you to focus on the game and get unparalleled emotions.