Thanks to the star power of Tiger Woods, golf has become one of the commercially successful sports worldwide. Now, golf is enjoying and basking in its popularity with several major and minor tournaments happening every year.

Major tourneys include the Masters, the US Open, the British Open, and the PGA Championship. Those four are the majority of the major tournaments making up what is known in the golf world as the grand slam of golf for men. For women, the grand slam tournaments are the LPGA Championship, the US Womens Open, the du Maurier Classic and the Dinah Shore.

But what is golf really about? Besides the ruckus created by swinging on the grass and looking out for a possible birdie, much of the dynamics of the sport is a blur. So lets get to know golf, it will entice you to buy some golf clubs the next time you happen to pass by a sports store.

Golf is an outdoor sports where the player's objective is to propel a small ball over a field or a golf course and shoot it towards a hole at the end of each course. The key to the game is to place the ball inside the hole using as few strokes as possible. A golf course is often made up of 18 sections with holes. Standard courses have about 6500 to 7000 yard length. Each sections or holes may differ in length.

History

The game dates back to the 14th or 15th century in Scotland, where it became really popular but it was not until the 18th century that people started to get enthusiastic about it, forming golf associations including the St. Andrews Society of Golfers. The first golf club was created in 1603 by a Scotsman named William Mayne, who was assigned to the court of James I to make golf clubs for the Royals enjoyment. The idea of a golf club was later improved upon when Andrew Dickson and Henry Mill, developed clubs made of carved wooden heads. The club face had leather horn or bone. Years later, golf clubs made of iron were introduced.

The creation of golf balls was credited to James Melville who was commissioned by James I to make leather golf balls stuffed with feathers. In 1848. Reverend Adam Paterson experimented with gutta-percha, a substance in India that he softened with heat and molded into a smooth hard ball. Noticing that though the hard ball was good to play with, one must intentionally put nicks and scratches on the surface for better play. This paved the way for the new generation golf ball with little crevices on it. Popularity of golf reached the United States and in Britain in the 1920s.

How to start

A golf player starts the game with a tee towards the fairway, a carefully tended strip of land with rough areas of long grass, bushes and trees on the sides. To make the game more challenging, golf courses often have artificial hazards like sand-filled bunkers and water hazards where the ball can easily get into. At the end of the fairway, the player will see the putting green, a smooth area that surrounds the cup where the hole is located. This is where players often do their putting, being really close to the hole.

Golf strokes and clubs

There are two kinds of golf strokes, the drive and the approach shot. The drive is done from the tee and is actually a long shot. Different golf clubs are used for different shots depending on the distance the player wants the golf ball to reach. A standard set has 14 golf clubs in different types. There are woods, irons and the wedge, which is often of two kinds, the sand wedge and the pitching wedge.

Whatever your experience with this game, it is also a great sport to be out enjoying nature.