25 Distinctive Golf Information You Didn’t Know About
How educated are you about golf? Listed here are some wide-ranging golf enjoyable information introduced with a bit context. We hope they spark your curiosity to be taught extra about this historic sport and spur you to get out and play
1. Largest Crowd
In 2018, the final time the PGA Tour’s WM Phoenix Open launched attendance figures, a report 216,818 followers turned out for the Saturday spherical at TPC Scottsdale. That quantity, the biggest for any event in golf’s historical past, was probably eclipsed in 2023. For the primary time ever, Saturday ticket gross sales had been curtailed and the event often called “The Biggest Present on Grass” was declared a sellout. Though marathons in huge cities appeal to far bigger numbers of spectators, amongst ticketed U.S. sporting occasions, solely the Indianapolis 500 with its 300,000+ race-day crowd beats the Saturday attendance of golf’s WM Phoenix Open.
2. Breaking Limitations
Over time, a number of girls have competed in PGA Tour tournaments. In 2003 LPGA nice Annika Sorenstam, then the world’s no. 1 girl golfer, entered the Financial institution of Colonial at Colonial Nation Membership. Michelle Wie performed in eight PGA Tour tournaments between 2004 and 2008. As a 14-year-old phenom, Wie shot 68-70 on the 2004 Sony Open in Hawaii and missed the reduce by one stroke. The one girl to make a reduce on the PGA Tour was Babe Zaharias, who first achieved the feat on the 1945 Los Angeles Open. That 12 months she additionally made the reduce on the Phoenix Open and the Tucson Open.
3. Inflation Buster
Shopping for meals at sporting occasions is generally an costly proposition, however on the Masters, the meals concessions, highlighted by the pimento cheese sandwich, are an important cut price. Since 2003 this favourite Masters’ sandwich has been priced at $1.50.
4. Retaining Good Firm
In 2022 greater than 25.6 million People performed a spherical of golf on a golf course and one other 15.5 million participated in off-course golf actions like Topgolf. A complete of 119 million People—one-third of the inhabitants—both performed golf (on or off-course), watched it on tv or on-line, listened to a golf podcast, or learn concerning the sport.
5. Aces Wild
The insurance coverage corporations that underwrite hole-in-one contests determine the percentages of a professional making a hole-in-one are 3,000 to 1. For amateurs, it’s 12,500 to 1. How about two holes-in-one in a single spherical? These odds are an astronomical 67 million to 1. In 2013 Oakland College girls’s golfer Kassandra Komma scored two aces on the entrance 9 of a apply spherical. Amazingly, the feat has been achieved thrice on the PGA Tour, most just lately by lefty Brian Harman at The Barclays in 2015.
6. Splash
In the course of the 2023 Gamers Championship at TPC Sawgrass, the professionals dunked 58 balls into the lake that surrounds the island-green on the par-3 seventeenth gap of the Gamers Stadium Course. Not surprisingly, public gamers rinse balls at a a lot greater clip. Annually, some 35,000 rounds are performed on the Stadium Course and about 60,000 golf balls are fished from the lake on 17. Whereas there’s no official restrict on what number of occasions you’ll be able to re-tee, the unwritten coverage is gamers are permitted as much as three swings from the tee and, if unsuccessful, two extra from the drop zone.
7. Floating Enjoyable
Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho added a brand new wrinkle to island holes by creating the world’s first floating island inexperienced when the course opened in 1991. Because of an underwater cable system, your entire inexperienced on the par-3 14th is moved every day to differ the size of the opening and its place relative to the tee packing containers. Since it’s a true island gap, a small boat transports gamers to and from the inexperienced.
8. Lefty Haven
Whereas left-handers make up 10 to 12 p.c of the general inhabitants, solely about 5 to 7 p.c of golfers play left-handed. Until you go to Canada, that’s. Within the Nice White North, 30 p.c of golfers play left-handed. Credit score hockey, a sport synonymous with Canada. Practically two thirds of Canadian hockey gamers stick-handle and shoot left-handed, so it’s a simple transition for them to swing a golf membership from the left facet.
9. What a Debut
The primary nationally-televised golf event within the U.S. was the 1953 World Championship of Golf held exterior of Chicago. Lined by the ABC Community, it featured an unbelievable walk-off win. Trailing by one stroke on the par-4 ending gap, Lew Worsham hit a 115-yard wedge shot onto the inexperienced and the ball proceeded to roll 45 ft into the cup for an eagle and the victory.
10. Mighty Condor
An avian theme defines the most effective scores in golf. One-under-par on a gap is a “birdie,” two beneath is an “eagle,” and minus-3 on a gap is a “double-eagle” or “albatross.” A “Condor”—a minus-4 rating—is achieved by making a hole-in-one on a par 5 or a “2” on a par 6. The feat is so uncommon it’s solely identified to have occurred 5 occasions. Most just lately, in December 2020, newbie Kevin Ponan holed out for a “2” on the 649-yard, par-6 18th gap at Lake Chabot Golf Course, a GolfNow course in Oakland, California.
11. Over the Moon For Golf
Astronaut Alan Shepard is liable for probably the most otherworldly enjoyable golf reality—he launched golf to the moon. Throughout an Apollo 14 moon stroll on February 6, 1971, he introduced out a few golf balls and a custom-made 6-iron. Swinging one-handed due to his cumbersome area go well with, Shepard whiffed a few occasions after which shanked a shot, however on his last swing he made good contact and advised the world the ball went for “miles and miles and miles.” Alas, it’s now believed the ball flew simply 40 yards.
12. Age is Only a Quantity
One of the vital outstanding feats in golf is capturing your age. Fred {Couples} calls his last spherical 60 to win a PGA Tour Champions event in 2022 at age 63 the most effective spherical of his life. Sam Snead was the youngest PGA Tour participant to shoot his age when he recorded a second-round 67 within the 1979 Quad Cities Open, and he topped that with a last spherical 66. Thomas Edison Smith, an newbie from Minnesota, shot his age a whopping 3,359 occasions. Props additionally to Arthur Thompson of Victoria, British Columbia, who in 1972 recorded a 103 rating, making him the oldest golfer to shoot his age.
13. A Victory For Womankind
Lynn Grant made historical past on the Volvo Scandinavian Blended in June 2022 when she grew to become the primary girl to win an official DP World Tour event. The sphere was composed of 72 DP Tour members and 72 members of the Girls European Tour. Although the women and men performed from totally different tees calibrated to supply strategy pictures from equitable distances, the competitors was fully built-in. Grant bested second-place finisher Henrik Stenson, the 2016 Open Champion, by 9 strokes.
14. So Many Eyes on Tiger
When Tiger Woods gained the 1997 Masters in runaway style for his first main championship, the ultimate spherical attracted a tv viewers of 44 million—the biggest ever to look at a golf event. Against this, the 2023 Masters, the most-watched golf telecast within the final 5 years, had an viewers of 12 million.
15. The PGA Tour’s Worst Rating was Painfully Unhealthy
The worst rating registered on the PGA Tour is the 123 Mike Reasor recorded within the third spherical of the 1974 Tallahassee Open. Reasor was really much less “unhealthy” than badly injured. After making the 36-hole reduce, he went horseback driving and fell from his horse. Since a requirement for securing his place within the subsequent week’s subject was finishing all 72 holes of the event, Reasor performed the ultimate two rounds (he shot a fourth-round 114) with critical accidents to his shoulder, knee, and ribs. He persevered by swinging with one arm and utilizing only a five-iron, two wedges and a putter.
16. Iceland is Golf-Land
One of the vital shocking golf information is that Iceland boasts extra golf programs per capita than some other nation. Situated slightly below the Arctic Circle, the small island nation with a inhabitants of 388,000 individuals is house to 65 golf programs. That’s one course for each 6,000 Icelanders. Golf season is brief—late Might to early September—however between early June and late July you’ll be able to play previous midnight.
17. Low Wages
In 1895, the winner’s share of the prize fund on the first U.S. Open Championship, a 36-hole stroke-play event held at Newport Nation Membership in Rhode Island, was $150. The remaining payouts for the most effective finishers within the 11-player subject had been $100, $50, $25, and $10. Adjusting for inflation, the 1895 winner’s haul equates to about $5,600 as we speak.
18. Choosing Up the Tempo of Play
Sluggish play is a irritating problem in golf, however many professional Tour gamers really like to play quick. Wesley Bryan unofficially holds the report for the quickest spherical on Tour. Enjoying alone and working between pictures on the 2017 BMW Championship, Bryan completed his last spherical in 89 minutes. Most impressively, he shot a 2-under-par 69. On the LPGA Tour, Alice Miller, a serious winner who amassed 9 Tour titles throughout her profession, holds the report. She accomplished a spherical on the 1997 Welch’s/Circle Okay Championship in 1 hour, 26 minutes and 44 seconds.
19. Lightning Strikes
The CDC estimates that random people within the U.S. have one million to 1 likelihood of being struck by lightning, however for golfers the percentages leap to 250,000 to 1. Fortunately, lightning strikes aren’t usually deadly. With a mean of just one fatality per 12 months, golf isn’t probably the most harmful out of doors exercise for lightning strikes (fishing tops the listing), and it isn’t even within the high ten. Nonetheless, it’s finest to not tempt destiny. Six-time main champion Lee Trevino has been struck thrice. He was hospitalized and knocked out of the PGA Tour’s 1975 Western Open by a lightning strike when he declined to return to the clubhouse and as a substitute stood beneath a tree along with his umbrella open.
20. Most Uncommon Caddies
Talamore Golf Resort in Southern Pines, North Carolina captured headlines in 1981 when its Rees Jones-designed course debuted that includes llama caddies. The llamas often went out with golfers on the hilly course, however they had been basically a publicity stunt. These days the consideration of “Most Uncommon Caddy Program” goes to Silvies Valley Ranch, a livestock ranch and 52-hole golf resort close to Burns, Oregon. The caddie corps consists of a number of goats who’re saddled up with a pack that includes a custom-made double golf bag and pouches for golf balls, drinks and peanuts (a deal with for the caddies). Resort visitors can e-book a goat caddy on the 7-hole McVeigh’s Gauntlet and 9-hole Chief Egan par-3 course.
21. A True Golf Fanatic
In 2020, 61-year-old Barry Gibbons of Austin, Texas, set the report for “Most Golf Performed in a Yr” by finishing 1,235 rounds on the 4 programs of The Hills Nation Membership, his house membership. In all, he walked 8,377 miles taking part in golf—the equal of crossing the continental U.S. thrice.
22. Most Costly Muni
Rambling over an outdated landfill within the shadows of the Whitestone Bridge within the Bronx, Trump Golf Hyperlinks at Ferry Level, a GolfNow course, price an estimated $250 million to construct by the point it debuted in 2015. Although it’s a thrilling, upscale, links-style New York Metropolis muni with breathtaking views of Manhattan, it was a colossal boondoggle that took a long time to return to fruition.
23. Go {Golfing}, Go Bare
Whereas many golf programs adhere to strict gown codes, one course in Gironde, France, has a strict “undress code.” At La Jenny Golf, the world’s solely naturist golf course, nudity is obligatory for all gamers. When climate permits, it’s essential to take off all your garments to play the 6-hole, par-20 course.
24. You vs. Tour Gamers
Based on research by the USGA and R&A, the common size of drives for newbie golfers throughout all ranges is 215 yards. For newbie girls golfers, drives common 147 yards. In the meantime, in 2022-2023, Rory McIlroy averaged 326 yards on his drives. On the LPGA Tour, the longest hitters averaged 285 yards. No surprise the professionals usually appear to be taking part in a unique sport than atypical golfers.
25. Olympic Golf, Take Two
After a 112-year absence, golf re-established itself on the Olympic stage in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro when Justin Rose of Nice Britain and Inbee Park of South Korea gained gold medals. In its first go-round as an official Olympic occasion, in 1900 and 1904, golf wasn’t precisely successful. In St. Louis in 1904, golfers representing the USA and Canada had been the one opponents. Golf was scheduled to be included within the 1908 London Olympics however Nice Britain determined to boycott the event and it was cancelled due to lack of entries. n the 1908 London Olympics however Nice Britain determined to boycott the event and it was cancelled due to lack of entries.
