Golf is a sport in which individual players or teams hit a ball into a hole using various clubs, and also is one of the few ball games that does not use a fixed standard playing area. It is defined in the Rules of Golf as "playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules."
The first game of golf for which records survive was played at Bruntsfield Links, in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1456, recorded in the archives of the Edinburgh Burgess Golfing Society, now The Royal Burgess Golfing Society.
Anatomy of a golf course
Golf is played on an area of land designated as the course. The course consists of a series of holes. A hole means both the hole in the ground into which the ball is played (also called the cup), as well as the total distance from the tee (a pre-determined area from where a ball is first hit) to the green (the low cut area surrounding the actual hole in the ground). Most golf courses consist of eighteen holes.
Teeing Ground
The first stroke on each hole is hit from the Tee (officially, teeing ground), where the player can use a tee (a small wooden or plastic peg), which makes the tee shot easier. Before the modern tee came into use, early golfers often used a small pyramid or block of sand to hold the ball. Most courses offer a range of Tee boxes to play from depending on a player's skill or handicap, making the hole longer or shorter depending on which Tees the player starts at. Often, the different Tee boxes have names associated with degree of competence (e.g., Professional and Amateur Tees), or by sex and age (Men's, Ladies', Senior, etc.). In addition to a difference in distance, the different Tees may also eliminate or reduce the danger of some hazards for the "Forward" tees, such as water hazards. Teeing grounds on most golf courses are relatively flat, in order for the golfer to have a perfect lie for the first shot on a hole.
Fairway & Rough
After teeing off, a player hits the ball towards the green again from the position at which it came to rest, either from the fairway or from the rough. Exceptions are short par three holes, where the second shot may lie directly on the putting green or in the rough. Playing the ball from the fairway is an advantage because the fairway grass is kept very short and even, allowing the player to cleanly strike the ball, while playing from the rough is a disadvantage because the grass in the rough is generally much longer, which may affect the flight of the ball.
While many holes are designed in a straight line from the tee-off point to the green, some of the holes may bend somewhat to the left or right. This is called a "dogleg," referencing the partial bend at the knee of a dog's leg. The hole is called a "dogleg left" if the hole angles to the left, and vice versa. On rare occasions, a hole's direction can bend twice. This is called a "double dogleg."
Hazards
Many holes include hazards, which may be of three types: 1) Water hazards such as lakes, rivers, etc. 2) Man made hazards such as bunkers and 3) Lateral Hazards such as dense vegetation areas, bushland or gardens. Special rules apply to playing balls that come to rest in a hazard. For example, in a hazard, a player must not touch the ground with his club before playing a ball, not even for a practice swing. A ball in any type of hazard may be played as it lies without penalty. If it cannot be played from the hazard for any reason, the ball may be hit from another location, generally with a penalty of one stroke. Exactly where the ball may be played outside a hazard is governed by strict rules. Bunkers (or sand traps) are hazards from which the ball is more difficult to play than from grass. As in a water hazard, a ball in a sand trap must be played without previously touching the sand with the club.
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