Understand Golf

A Guide For Beginnners

Michelle Wie, Tiger Woods, LPGA, The Masters:  Chances are, even if you have never played a round of golf, you have heard these names and phrases.  Golf has never been as popular as it is today and even non-golfers are interested when they hear certain names or when they turn to the sports channel and see these names appear. In this guide, I will help the novice golf fan understand some basic terms, names and places that are popular in the golf world today.

Golf Associations

There are several main golf associations throughout the country. The four most well know associations are: The PGA (Professional Golf Association) , The PGA Tour (Professional Golf Association Tour), The LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) and the USGA (United States Golf Association)

PGA

The PGA is a members organization for golf professionals. The club pro that runs your local golf course is very likely a member of the PGA. The objectives of the PGA are:

1. Promoting interest in the game of golf
2. Advancing the mutual trade interest of its members
3. To arrange and hold meetings and tournaments for its members
4. To operate a benevolant fund for the relief of deserving members
5. Assist members in obtaining employment

PGA Tour

The PGA Tour governs the men's professional tour in the United States. They conduct over 150 tournaments a year.  Players must compete in tournaments to qualify to play in the PGA Tour or get special exemptions. Although they are a professional tour for men professionals, they do occasionally give consideration to amateur players (an amateur is a player that does not accept payment for playing skills) and have offered exemptions to women such as Annika Sorenstam and Michelle Wie.  Tiger Woods is the top golfer in the PGA Tour.

LPGA Tour

The LPGA Tour is the Ladies Professional Golf Association. It is the tour for women professionals in the United States.  It was founded in 1950 and it holds over 40 events a year.  It is the leading womens golf tour in the country and aside from the top US women golfers, it also features the worlds top women golfers.  Annika Sorenstam is the top woman golfer in this tour.

The USGA

The United States Golf Association (USGA) is the United States' national association of golf courses, clubs and facilities and the governing body of golf for the U.S. and Mexico. Together with the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A), the USGA produces and interprets the rules of golf. The USGA also provides a national handicap system for golfers, organizes several leading golf championships, and tests golf equipment for conformity with regulations.  They put on three of the most famous tournaments in the country: The US Open, The Women's US Open, and the Senior Open.  They also conduct 10 National Championships and the State Team Tournament.

Famous Golfers

There are many professional golfers that are well known inside and out of the golf community. Here are some top names in golf and their importance to the game of golf.

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods is currently ranked as the number one player in the world. He plays on the PGA Tour and has won 12 major tournaments in his career.  He holds many golf records and has won 10 major tournaments in his 10 years on the PGA Tour.  He is considered one of the greatest golfers of all times.

Michelle Wie

Michelle Wie is an American female golfer who began playing golf at age 4.  She has attempted to make the cut in a men's professional event several times.  She has openly stated that she wants to play and compete against the men and play in the professional men's tour.

Annika Sorenstam

Annika Sorenstam is a Professional Swedish golfer that plays on the LPGA Tour. She is one of the most successful professional women golfers of all time.  She attempted to play in men's tournament, The Colonial, in 2003, and she has won 69 official professional tournaments.  She has won 10 major championships.

Jack Nicklaus

Jack Nicklaus is known as "The Golden Bear". He played on the PGA Tour from the Mid 1960's to the Mid 1980's and was a major force on that tour.  Jack Nicklaus is often referred to as the greatest golfer of all time. During his career he won 18 major championships.

Golf Tournaments

There are hundreds of golf tournaments every year, but a few stand out as important and famous because of their unique history and steller field. The most famous of tournaments are called the MAJOR tournaments. There are major tournaments in both Men and Women's professional golf. As well, there are several very important tournaments in Amatuer Golf.

The Masters

The Masters is a major golf tournament that is held annually in Augusta Georgia.  It is held in the spring. It is held over four days and is well known for giving a green jacket to the winner of the tournament.  Tiger Woods has won the Masters tournament  4 times and Jack Nicklaus won the Masters 6 times.  The Winner of the Tournament gets a lifelong exemption into the tournament, meaning that he is always welcome to play in the tournament.

The US Open

The US Open is a tournament that is conducted by the USGA. It is tradionally held over Father's day. It is considered to be the National Championship and the winner is hailed as the Champion of the Year.  It is considered to be one of the hardest tournaments to play because the USGA sets up the couurse very difficult with narrow fairways and long rough.  The US Open is played at a different course each year.

The Women's US Open is held in July and is for Women only. It is also conducted by the USGA and is The US national championship for women.  A player does not have to be a professional golfer to compete in the US Opens and  there are a series of local and sectional qualifying tournaments to determine the players in the tournament proper. Any player that meets certain playing criteria can apply to play in the US Opens.

Team Events

Most professional golf played in the United States is indicidual competition. However, every two years there are team events that are non-paid events that are held for pride and country.  The Ryder cup is a competition between US Men golfers and European Men Golfers. They play for 3 days and alternate playing in the US or the United Kingdom. The last Ryder cup tournament was played in Ireland and the European men were victorious over the United States.  The Solheim Cup is the equivelent tournament for women.  The men also play a tournament called the President's Cup, which is for world wide players against the United States.  Amateur players can play in the Walker Cup for Men and the Curtis cup for women. The Walker Cup and Curtis Cup are played biennially and are conducted by the USGA.

In this guide I have tried to give you basic information about the game of golf. For more information, you can contact the United States Golf
Association or your local state or regional golf association.  Good Luck and enjoy the game.