When the word golf first comes to mind one may associate it with Tiger Woods, Older men, country clubs, and maybe a green jacket. The simple idea is that it’s played on a course and the objective is to hit the small white ball into the hole in as little tries as possible. But there’s so much more to the game than what meets an onlooker’s eye. Holes gets complicated, points become negative, clubs and swing approaches switch, balls land in sand and water, etc.
The sport as a whole has become known on a global scale. As of right now there are 12 Americans in the op 25 (PGA) and players from Spain, Australia, Northern Ireland, Japan, Sweden, England, South Africa, and Scotland makeup the other 13. Almost every area of the globe excluding Antarctica has golf as not only a sport being played but a tourist destination as well. Although the popularity between each country differs, the simple fact that the game is being played all over explains its globalization in part.
Yes, there is still much to be done but every year the game of golf is growing and seeking new countries and players on the leaders boards as well as golf courses and clubs being built around the world. Mass media, golf tourism, and the uniqueness of the sport itself are some one the main factors in the globalization of golf. impact and what is to be looked at in hopes of becoming more globalized in the future. Golf originated in the 1400’s out of Scotland where is was banned for a century due to archery practice that was needed for defense. King James IV of Scotland brought it back and took up the sport himself.
Some argue that golf originated from different countries. A Dutch game, kolven, had the concept of hitting a ball in the least amount of strokes. As did a Belgium ame, chole, dating back to 1353 where the goal was to hit a very distant target. Although the different games are similar Scotland earns the spot where golf originated. (Hudson, 167) It is said that the game could have first been played with pebbles or rocks as the golf ball and sticks as the club. But in 1724, golf balls were switched from hard leather to being stuffed with feathers. Great Britain was the first to take a liking to golf after Scottland.
In the nineteenth century golf was taken and played everywhere that it ended up in India. The Bangalore Club in 1820 was the irst non-British golf club and many countries in Asia, South America, and Australia followed in suit. The British helped spread the game all around the world more or less. But a Scottish business man John Reid was responsible for expanding to the United States and from Yonkers, New York in 1888 the game would never be the same. (Dutton, 12) At the end of the 19th century, the Ladies Golf Union is formed, The USGA is formed, the US Amateur Championship and the US Open are played for the first time.
After Canada founded “Canada’s Royal Montreal Club” the first 18- hole course in the US was in Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton, Illinois. In the US there are both amateur and professional events played by international players as well Americans. The first prize in the first Open Championship was a red leather belt. And in the first US Open it was $150 which would have been close to $4,000 today. (Brumer, 26) In 2016 the US Open Winners Dustin Johnson and Brittany Lang (Men and Women winners) received $3. 5 million. Thus showing the growth in the game and assumption of how much the prize will continue to go up.
There are 34 rules currently for the game of golf. First and foremost, “The game of golf consists of playing a all with a club from the teeing round into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules” (UGSA, 2). But the most central basis found in the R &A book is as follows “Play the ball as it lies, play the course as you find it, and if you cannot do either, do what is fair. But to do what is fair, you need to know the Rules of Golf. ” Rules are crucial in any sport and although many can be found bizarre and useless if not abided players can be disqualified.
In 1996 Greg Norman was disqualified in the Cannon Greater Hartford Open because he didn’t have the UGSA stamp on the balls he was playing with. An interesting rule during WW2 was that golfers had to tee the ball from a club width away from the hole. This rule is obviously not around anymore but at the time the tee box served as another courses hole. Just this year during the ANA Inspiration tournament, Lexi Thompson got the two 2-stroke pentalty for moving her ball, what was said to be no more than an inch, from where it was originally should have been placed.
Thus costing her the championship which went to So Yeon Ryu of South Korea. This incident marked the third time rules had marked players a win. Interestingly enough it was caught by a viewer ho emailed the website pointing out the error. Who knows how many slight errors like this have occurred throughout the history of golf that have gone unnoticed and could have been brought to attention by an email.
• Why is it popular o Why it attracts such a broad age group (8 year olds -70+ year olds) http://www. golfchannel. om/news/joe-posnanski/does- age-really-matter-golf-yes-it-does/ When looking at the top sports that consume the entire world right now; football, basketball, cricket, tennis, American football, and rugby they all have one major theme in common. Players can start as young as six but can’t go past their 50’s which is a stretch but can happen. Yes you have older baseball players in their late 40’s and technically the oldest player in sports was 106 in Track and Field (Brumer, 105) Golf is arguably one of the only sports where age is truly just a number.
One of the many factors that makes it unique is age. The youngest player to play in the Master’s is Guan Tianlang who at 14 made the cut for the prestigious professional golf championship. Tiger Woods was the youngest to win, at 21 years and 3 months old and Jack Nicklaus holds the ecord for the oldest winner at 46 years and 82 days old. So many enjoy this sport because it offers this illusion of timelessness that even when one is 62 they can still grab their clubs for a round of golf and even take a 4-year-old with them.
One can argue that age will always play a role in sports because you are at your prime only for so long which is true. But when looking at golf however the game can always be played recreationally/ professionally for longer than the normal. Additionally, with many sports a player is in their prime throughout their 20s and tends to loose gear in their 30s, in golf owever the 30s are prime. (Brumer, 57) Tourism of golf is a huge part of the why golf has become so globalized. It is one of the few sports that has tournaments and courses for recreational and amateur like purposes.
They are many Opens in which amateur and professional golfers can play and complete as stated above but there are also major tournaments and specific golf courses made for people who golf for a hobby. Countries around the world are beginning to invest in resorts with high end golf courses for people to come and play on. For example, in Malaysia the “Golden Valley Golf Resort in Melaka” as built on 400 acres of land. It included not only a three eighteen- hole course but high end bungalows, karaoke lounge, and other attractions making it even more enjoyable for a visit.
These five star resorts are not only tourist stops but also championship courses being built in Europe and Australia as well. (Hudson, 178) Countries are seeing golf not only as a sport but a leading area in the tourism industry. Considered a billion dollar industry, golf can be played on a prestigious golf course in the Arabian Gulf but also played in a version like mini golf in a city in Alabama. Golf has taken on its own meaning and way of life. The recreational idea behind it is so much bigger than other sports like football, rugby, or tennis.
People fly around the world to play on the best courses, golf tournaments are held to raise money for charities, and even mini golf courses have becoming regular pastimes for people. People have tken the sport and made it into something bigger than just watching it on television. The course itself brings a surprising element to the sport. Unlike all other sports where the field or court stays the same, golf brings a new element to every hole and course played. There are three diferent types of courses, parkland, links, and desert.
All three bring different obstacles and settings to the game and are based off location for instance a desert course would be found in more of a Middle East location as oppose to a linked course. With all these different types of courses, golfers have the ability to choose what kind of game they want to play, how many holes, and difficulty level. This brings a new level to the sport that other sports do not have. Besdies football and soccer which have indoor, everything is still the same minus maybe the size and the boundaries.
With a certain golf course the game can get harder, longer, trickier, overall more challenging or less challenging. Tiger Woods in one documentary stated “Each course presents a different way to play it. You just have to open your mind to it” from there that’s when he felt his success coming. He enjoyed the fact that there were options to the way it was played. Golf has its top players who emerged to be the face of the game. These included, Arnold Palmer, Tiger Woods, Jack Nickalus, Se Ri Pak, and the currents. Arnold Palmer, nicknamed the king, was a pioneer of golf playing in the 1950’s and 60’s.
He won four masters and ranked as one of the most important figures in golf history. His style was unbeatable but so was attitude off the course in which he was charming with his fans and helped with countless charities and even funded his own “Arnold Palmer Hospital”. He brought flair, unorthodox swing, and attracted more fans than golf had seen before. He was a beloved figure that won over 62 titles. But most importantly was golf’s greatest ambassador during the beginning of the TV age. Him and Jack Nicklaus were the legends of golf who every golfer thanks to this day for making the golf he sport it is today.
Nickalus, “The Golden Bear”, played for four decades in which he won 18 career major championships. He even started his on PGA Tour, The Memorial Tournament. He was known for his straight swing and course skills. He even started the mileage book. Jack Nickalus holds the record for the ? oldest golfer to win the Masters. As for the youngest, that tile goes to Tiger Woods. Tiger in 1997 won his first Master’s. The previous two year’s Tiger finished 41st meaning the 1997 win came out of nowhere. Many said Tiger’s shots were the best they had ever seen and he was only 21 at the time.
For Phil Knight it was “the magical way he played and won struck me the most. ” When Woods was five he was shown playing golf which explains why he went on to win 79 PGA Tour events and 14 maiors. Another famous young golfer was Seve Ballesteros of Pedrena, Spain. His accomplishments include 2 Masters and 3 British Open Championships as well as 50 European Tour wins. Ballesteros is best known for his incredible shot making. He was a magician and incredibly gifted in miracle shot making. Currently in the top 5 leaderboards of the PGA only 2 are Americans. Rory Mcllroy of Northern Ireland holds the number two spot