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GOLF

With its excellent climate, beautiful elf courses and inviting after golf facilities the Philippines is an ideal country or give this sport a try. Add to this the fact that plavirie golf, contras; to man.: other countries. is here still very much affordable and you should not Miss your chance to hit a few balls. By the way gull is sport for men and women alike.

For those who intend to play golf for the first time we will give a short outline of this beautiful sport.


HISTORY

Some historians believe that golf originated in the Netherlands (the Dutch word kola means "club"), but the Romans had a game called paginate played with a bent stick and a ball made of feathers that may have been the original source of the game. It has been fairly well established, however, that the game actually was devised by the Scots in the 14`' or 15`11 century. The game became so popular in Scotland that in order to keep people from playing golf and football during time that should have been employed in practicing archery. a military necessity, the Scottish parliament in 1457 passed a law prohibiting both games, The Scottish people, however, largely ignored this and similar laws, and early in the I6"' century James IV of Scotland, took up the game of golf. His granddaughter Mary, later queen of Scots, took the game to Franc;., where she was educated. The young men who attended her on the golf links were known as cadets (pupils); the term was adopted later in Scotland and England and became caddie or caddy. (In many developed countries caddies are replaced by golf carts and buggies, in the Philippines. however. caddies are still an integral part of the golf-scenery. Even umbrella- hl. are still everywhere around). In England the game was made popular by the attention given it by James of Scotland. later James I of England. and his son Charles 1.

In the 18r, century the first golf associations were established; they included the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (1744); the St. Andrews Society of Golfers: and the Royal Black heath (1766, London). The first golf club established outside Great Britain was the Calcutta Golf Club of East India in 1829.

The game arrived relatively late in the New World. The oldest golf club in the U. S. is the St. Andrews Golf Club of New York, founded in 1888.

It were the Irish who brought the game to the Philippines. Irish engineers working on the Panay railroad, desperate for the game they were used to play home, introduced the game in the country. The first golf club in the Philippines was the Santa Barbara in Iloilo province. The club was established in 1908. The game was a great success. Soon golf courses became a common sight everywhere in the country.


THE GAME

Golf is an outdoor game in which players use specially designed clubs to propel a small, hard ball over a field of play known as a course or links. The object of the game is to advance the ball around the course using as few strokes as possible.

A golf course is divided into 18 sections, called holes. The standard course is about 5,900 to 6,400 m. The individual holes may vary in length from 90 to 550 m. Each hole has at one end a starting point known as a tee and, embedded in the ground at the other end, marked by a flag, a cup or cylindrical container (also called a hole) into which the ball must be propelled in order to complete play at each hole. The cup is usually made of metal or plastic, 10.8 cm (4.2 inch) in diameter, and at least 10 cm (4 inch) deep.

Play begins at the first tee, a level area of turf, generally raised slightly above the surrounding terrain. From here each player tries to drive the ball on to the fairway, or main part of the golf course, a carefully tended strip of land, 27 to 90 m wide, on which the grass has been cut to provide a good playing surface for the ball. On either side of the fairway is the rough, which consists of areas covered with long grass, bushes, or trees, and which sometimes contains sandy, rough, or marshy land that compel golfers to use additional skill and judgment in playing their shots. In the absence of such natural obstacles, artificial hazards may be constructed. Among these are bunkers, also known as traps, which are hollows dug in the earth and usually filled with loose sand; mounds and other earthen embankments; and water hazards such as ditches, streams, ponds, or lakes. Among these are bunkers, also known as traps, which are hollows dug in the earth and filled with sand.


GOLF STROKES AND GOLF CLUBS

In addition to the putt, the specialized stroke used on the green, two main types of shots are used in playing each hole: the drive, which is a long shot from the tee on to the fairway, and the approach shot to the green. Both types demand great accuracy. Shots of various lengths are played with different clubs, according to the distance to be covered and the lie (position) of the ball. A standard set of 14 golf clubs (the maximum that may be carried in tournament play) is divided into two main types: those known as woods, with heads made of wood or metal, and those known as irons, with heads made of forged steel, usually chromium plated. The shafts of both types usually are made of metal and sometimes of fiberglass. The woods are customary numbered from I to 5, the irons from I to 9. The putter, an iron, has retained its old historic name. In addition to the numbered irons are the utility clubs, including the sand wedge and the pitching wedge, on medium range shots to loft the ball well into the air and limits its roll to a short distance after landing.


CHAMPIONSHIPS

Two basic forms of competition exist in golf: match plan and stroke play. In match play the player or the team taking the fewer number of strokes to sink the ball into any particular hole - called "to hole out"- is the winner of the hole. The contest is won by the player or team winning the most holes.
In stroke play the winner of the contest is the team or player taking the least number of strokes over the total number of holes agreed upon. Although a round usually consists of 9 or 18 holes, the play in championship contests covers 18, 36, 54, or 72 holes. In stroke play, ties are decided by play-offs.

Par is the term applied to the number of properly played strokes an expert golfer would be expected to use in completing a particular hole without mishap. The aggregate for all of the holes is called par for the course. Par is based primarily on the number of strokes necessary o reach the green, plus two putts. A score of one less than par is referred to as a birdie, and two less than par is called an eagle. Three strokes less than par is known as an albatross (or double eagle in the U. S.). One stroke over par is called a bogey. Two strokes over par is called a double bogey.


RULES AND REGULATIONS

The rules of play for golf are numerous and complex and include a code of etiquette for behavior on the green. (see also Special Golf Info p. 215).

The game was originally played with a ball made of feathers tightly packed in a leather cover. About 1850 a ball made of gutta-percha came into use. Gutta-percha is a milky liquid, derived principally from the latex of Malaysian trees that hardens after being boiled and cooled. In about 1901 a ball with a rubber core enclosed in gutta-percha, similar to the ball in use today, was developed. The pitted surface of modern golf balls acts to stabilize flight.


GOVERNING BODIES

The organizations that establish golf rules for the world are the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews and the United States Golf Association (USGA), founded in 1894. The Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA) was organized in 1916, and annual tournaments were started during the same year. For a summary of the Golf Rules see Special Golf Info p. 215.