The Club and Ball sport
With its origins being debatable between Chinese, Dutch or Scottish, golf is definitely an old sport. The word golf is derived from the Dutch kolf meaning stick, bat or club. Golf is a relatively easy sport and yet it can be difficult at times. In principle, the game is about striking a small ball using a customized stick with a heavy end. This ball travels some distance and is eventually goes into a small hole. Then this is repeated 17 times with holes of varying lengths and levels of difficulty. A golfer carries a maximum of 14 clubs that differ in length and heights, club head density and a putter for use on the greens.
The play in the Golf
Amateurs play the game with 18 holes using any number of game formats. This is known as roundcof golf. Professionals play Stroke play and Match play. Stroke play is where most events are played over 4 rounds i.e. 72 holes and 4 days. Winner is the one who plays the 72 holes in the least shots or strokes. Match play is the opposite of Stroke play where a player or a team gets a point for each hole in which they have outdone their opponents. Some other ways in which the golf is played are Skins, Stableford and Team play. Skins is a variant of match play and the game is played for cash. The prize money also known as a skin is associated with every hole in this game. Upon all golfers completing the first hole, the skin is given to the player with the lowest score for that hole. In Stableford, the player receives points for the score he or she made on each hole of the round. It is 1 point for a bogey, 2 for a par, 3 for a birdie and 4 for an eagle. The points gained for each hole of the round are put together for the final score. Needless to say, the highest scorer aces the game. In Team play, there is foursome wherein two teams comprising of two players have only one ball and they switch playing it. Another variant is the four-ball wherein also there are two teams of two players but each player has his/her own ball and the lowest score on each hole is counted.
Handicapped on the Greens
A handicap in golfing terms is a rookie golfer’s playing ability centered on the tees for a given course, usually 18 holes. The handicap is used to derive a net score based on the number of strokes played. Handicaps are used either for match play or stroke play. In stroke play, the golfer’s handicap is removed from the total ‘gross’ score at the completion of a round so as to calculate a ‘net’ score. Handicaps in match play are allocated on a hole-by-hole basis. The toughest holes of the course get the maximum handicap strokes while the easier holes get the least handicap strokes.
Golfing in Gandhi's land
Over half a million people play golf in India and the sport is only growing at an estimated 25 percent annually. India has its own pro tour – the Professional Golf Tour of India and hosts several tournaments. One of the fastest growing sports in the country, golf courses are springing up all over the country. In fact, India was the first country to take up golf outside Great Britain. The Royal Calcutta Golf Club is the oldest golf club in India and again the first outside the Great Britain. Today, there are over 160 golf clubs in India. Also, India is home to the world’s highest 18-hole golf course in Kashmir at an altitude of 2700 meters while the world’s highest 9-hole golf course, The Gyamchchona golf course lies at 4968 meters in the lap of the third highest Himalayan peak – Kanchenjunga. Golf players including Jyoti Randhawa, Jeev Milka Singh, Shiv Kapur, Gaurav Ghei and Arjun are some of the players, who have established their names alongside greats such as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson of the United States and Lee Westwood from England.
It's TEE time in India
It is known that path-breaking deals are cracked on the golf courses of the world. This sport has firmly taken its place amongst the most talked of sport in India. Gone are the days when this sport was a rarefied indulgence meant only for the British. The interest level amidst the yuppies is steadily on the rise. The Indian Golf Union has approximately 75,000 registered golfers out of the 700,000 golfers in India. Today, corporates and individual alike, travel to golf courses all over the world. Golf academies such as the DLF Golf Academy have partnered with international brands to help the sport grow at the grassroots level. For example, Srixon has recently brought on board the Oxford Golf and Country Club to launch the Srixon Golf Academy. Similarly, the Lavasa Corporation has plans to start its academy in partnership with golf legend Nick Faldo. Also, Mercedes Benz holds its international golf tournament in Stuttgart every year and an Indian team is deployed to go and participate. Another fact that proves its tee time in India is that Golf Digest, the best-known and largest circulated magazine, has started its Indian edition under the India Today banner.
Gone are the days when golf, an export of the British Raj, was a tweedy pastime or a leisure hobby for the stiff upper-lipped expats and crusty folks of the upper echelons. Bloodlines were of significance and not business relations. Rounds were made for refined mingling and not signing deals. But today, India is home to a new breed of golfers. They have a taste for networking. Salesman schmooze or marketer’s market, either way, Indian fairways are congested with golf talk. And that is definitely not clearing up anytime soon.