Where Can You Play Golf?

Where can you play golf? You may be surprised by just looking around you. Most likely, there is a sign showing the way to a close-by golf course. You may even see a golf course out of the corner of your eye. Here are some interesting places to check out.

A whole lot of golf courses

Just about every large city, medium-sized city and small town has one golf course. The course may be on the edge of town or in a less populated area, that is far enough away from the main streets that the golf players won't be disturbed by noise.

Many urban areas have more than one golf course

Spotting a convenient place to play probably will not be a problem. Entire organizations are determined to encourage public golf courses. These days, golf is not a country club game any more. People from all walks of life, even including women, are accepted as just typical players of the game, without the exclusiveness of class or gender restrictions of the past.

Does golf cost a lot of money?

Golf can cost you a lot less than you might think. You can start with a good used set of golf clubs by asking a few golf equipment stores about returned items, or you can check out the local second hand store in the sporting goods section.

In addition, you can play golf at close-by public courses, where golf is very affordable.

Then again, if your choose to become a member of a country club, and buy the most premium top rated golf clubs that you can find, your expenses will be quite different. If you are set on getting the best brand of clubs, you may want to check out the Internet for online deals.

What states in the U.S. have the most golf courses?

If you guessed California, Arizona and Florida you were right. These three states are famous for lush, green golf courses that attract many tourists.

There are 600 public golf courses in California alone, in addition to the private clubs spread all over the state. Arizona has several community living areas with a golf course that is the main draw for the residents. Florida golf courses have a major role in family vacations as an alternative for the adults from Disney World's entertainment. The U.S. is considered to have as many golf courses as the rest of the entire world combined.

What about golf vacations?

Golf vacations are easy to find. Actually the destination of many golf vacations use public courses that are some of the top rated golf courses. Actually, several of these same public courses are used for professional tournaments.

Wherever you decide to go, if you intend to fly, you might want to keep in mind the challenges of traveling with your golf clubs.

What Makes it a Golf Course?

A golf course is just a golf course right? Not necessarily. Golf courses have been evolving since the 15th century. If you saw one during the 15th century in Scotland, you, like most people, probably would not even recognize it.

Golf courses began as open areas of open area that grew naturally in the country, outside the urban cities and villages. Interestingly, animal trails and fields beaten down by herds of large animals developed into what would be considered today's modern golf courses.

Here are several interesting facts that many people may not know about how golf courses and players.

1. The golf courses first played on.

At first, the golfers' most popular place to play was on flat, open terrain, where horses trod and humans walked and kept the long grass and plants from growing. Golf players struck their first golf balls beside animal footprints and aimed for rabbit holes as their goals.

2. Where did the idea of using sand and water as traps come from?

You may find the original sand traps and bunkers are still used on today's golf courses. Even so, many are improved by adding more sand and having the area landscaped. The sand bunkers that are in between the plush green golf courses of today, give golfers a challenge that has always been part of the game.

Sandy soil was common in the beginning, since the golf courses were close to the sea. As the tides rolled in, they shaped the lower regions and low ground, which may have led to the tradition of playing golf with traps and sand bunkers.

3. What is so special about having 18 holes on a golf course?

How the 18 hole standard was chosen has a long and detailed answer that could possibly fill up a whole book by itself. However, the straight-forward answer is that the initial golf courses had quite a variety of numbers of holes.

Golf courses all over Scotland or even further, may have had 10 holes, while others increased it to 14 or 22, depending on how much ground was available. The general theory is that a well known Scottish golf course might have been the very first to declare that 18 holes was the standard for all the rest of the courses to follow.

Over the centuries, golfers may have had different looking terrain to play on, but some things have never changed. Whether it is hitting the ball far across a grassy knoll, or waking up a rabbit with a hole in one putt, the passion for the game is the same.