The Basics of Golf

A Guide for Beginners to Understand the Game Of Golf

In this guide I will give you some information on the basics of golf, including golf terms, length of courses and tee placements.

Stroke Play or Match Play

There are two types of golf matches. The most common one is stroke play. Stroke play is the type of golf that most professional tournaments are played.  Generally a golf tournament is 72 holes of golf and the person that has the lowest score after the 72 holes wins the tournament.  In stroke play, you count every stroke, including any penalty strokes and at the end of each 18 holes, that score is posted as your score for the round.  If the tournament is 72 holes, the scores for each day are added together and the total score is used to determine the winner.

The other most popular golf match is match play. In match play, the competition is usually between just two players. The players compete head to head and hole by hole. The person that scores the lowest score on each hole is deemed to have won the hole. The player that wins the most holes is the winner of the match.   If both players score the same score on the hole, the hole is considered HALVED and no one wins the hole. The match can end early if one player is so far ahead that the other player cannot catch up in the remaining holes. For example, if a player is ahead by 4 holes on hole number 15, then the match ends because the opponent cannot catch up.   In many match play touraments, there is a match play tree. Match play trees are often 16, 32 or 64 players. When a player wins their match, they advance to the next bracket and play the winner of other matches until everyone in the tree has been eliminated.

Scoring

The golf game has a certain method for scoring.  Each hole is given a rating of PAR. Par is the number of strokes that a scratch (good) player will take to play the hole.  Most holes are either a Par 3, Par 4 or a Par 5.  Generally the Par is related to the length of a hole. The Par 3 holes, in general are the shortest holes on the course. The are usually under 225 yards but can be longer in professional tournaments.  The Par 4 holes are generally under 425 yards. Par 5 holes are the longest and they are generally 426 yards or longer. (of course these yardages can vary from course to course and are longer in professional golf)  Some rare courses also have a Par 6, which is over 601 yards, but that is very uncommon.

If a player scores less than the PAR for the hole there are special names for their scores.  If you score a 3 on a par 4, it is called a BIRDIE.  A birdie is a good score!  If you score a 2 on a par 4, that is called an EAGLE. An eagle on a par 4 is very rare, but on a par 5 a score of 3 is more common. Many professional golfers can score an eagle in every round of golf that they play.  The most coveted score is a HOLE IN ONE.  Usually these are on Par 3 holes and the ball goes in on the first shot, thus, hole in ONE.    More rare is the ALBATROSS. An albatross is the score of three under par.. It is a very rare score.  For example. on a par 5, if a player gets the score of 2, it is an albatross. Some people call this score a double eagle.

The last terms that I will discuss are the Bogey scores.  A Bogey is a score of one over par. A Double Bogey is a score of two over par and a triple bogey is a score of three over par. In golf, a triple bogey is not a very good score but it does happen, even to the professional golfers.

Length of the Course

Not all golf courses are built the same.  Most golf courses are 18 holes and that can be made up of par 3's, par 4's and par 5's.  Many golf courses are PAR 72, which is made up of four par 3's, four par 5's and ten par 4's.  It is possible to play golf courses that only have two par 5's and courses that have a Par of 70 rather than Par 72. The par is determined by the length of the course and the plan that the designer had when building the course.

Tee placement is another way to determine the length of the course.  Many courses have three, four and sometimes even five sets of tees. Each set of tees is generally a different color and each set is set up based on the length of the holes. The longest set of tees are often reserved for the very best golfers, like professionals and scratch golfers.  The forward tees are often used by beginning golfers and less skilled golfers.  Tees used to be referred to as gender specific, however over time that has changed.  Some courses have what they call Senior Tees or Women Tees, but that is changing and now Golf Course Professionals are suggesting tees by golf skill rather than gender or age.

I hope I have given you some basic information for you to use to understand the game of golf. When you hear these terms while watching television I hope that you will now understand what those terms mean. For more information, the USGA (United States Golf Association) or your local golf association would be glad to answer your questions.