Golf Course 101

Thank you for returning to Golf Course 101! A new way to learn about golf and life.

For my beginning lady golfers – what to know before we hit the links (ah, hem…driving range)

 

Golf Clubs:

The rule is that you can only carry 14 clubs in your golf bag (for the purposes of practicing on the driving range, feel free to bring as many as you want).  Clubs are what you use to hit the golf ball with.  Clubs range in length and lie angle.  The lie angle is the angle at which the club lays on the ground.  This variance allows you to choose a specific club to go a specific distance.  For instance, you wouldn’t want to hit a pitching wedge for a 200 yard shot because it is physically impossible (even for Tiger Woods) to hit a pitching wedge that far.  Instead, you would choose perhaps a driver, the longest club in your bag, and therefore able to be hit the furthest. 

 

Keep in mind, everything in golf is backward.  The higher the number of club, the shorter distance it goes.  Here’s a chart to help explain:

 

Putter     Sand wedge     Pitching wedge     9     8     7     6     5     4     3 wood     Driver (shortest club)                                                                                                   (longest club)  (shortest distance)                                                                                    (longest distance)

 

 

Scoring:

The same rule of thumb holds true in scoring:  the higher the score, the worse you’re doing.  The object of golf is to get the lowest score possible.  A full golf course has 18 holes.  There are three different types of holes:  Par 5, Par 4, and Par 3.  The mixture of these types of holes equals the golf course’s par.  Most of the time a golf course’s par = 72.  Par is the ideal number of strokes (number of times you hit the golf ball) that it takes you to get the ball from the tee(where you begin each hole) to in the hole.  For example, if you’re on a Par 4 hole and it takes you 6 tries to get the ball in the hole, then you are 2 over par.  If you are on a Par 4 and it takes you 3 tries to get the ball in the hole, then you are 1 under par. 

 

There are also types of scores you can make on each hole:

Double eagle = 3 under par

Eagle = 2 under par

Birdie = 1 under par

Par = even par

Bogey = 1 over par

Double Bogey = 2 over par

Triple Bogey = 3 over par

Etc.

 

So, when you add up your scores from all of the holes you’re either going to be over par (72 or more), under par (72 or less) or even par (72). 

More on the basics in my next blog!!

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