Читать реферат по английскому: "Golf Essay Research Paper Golf Golf is" Страница 2


назад (Назад)скачать (Cкачать работу)

Функция "чтения" служит для ознакомления с работой. Разметка, таблицы и картинки документа могут отображаться неверно или не в полном объёме!

for a hole of 471 yards or more for men, and 401 yards or more for women. In addition, for women, par is six strokes for a hole of 576 yards or more. Occasionally, on a par-three hole, a player makes a hole in one, which is, drives the ball from the tee into the cup in one stroke, although this is rare. A score of one less than par is referred to as a birdie, and two less than par. Three strokes less than par is known as a double eagle. One stroke over par is called a bogey, and two over par is a double bogey. Some historians believe that golf originated in the Netherlands, because the Dutch word Kolf means “club”, but the Romans had a game played with a bent stick and a ball made of feathers that may have been the original foundation of the game. It has been established, however, that the game was actually devised by the Scots in the 15th century. The game became so popular in Scotland that in order to keep people from playing golf and football during time that should have been working in practicing archery, a military necessity, the Scottish parliament in 1457 passed a law prohibiting both games. The Scottish people, however, largely ignored this and similar laws, and early in the 16th century James IV, king of Scotland, took up the game of golf. His granddaughter Mary, later Mary Queen of Scots, played the game in France, where she was educated. The young men who attended her on the golf course were known as cadets, meaning pupils. The term was adopted later in Scotland and England and became caddy. Caddies, once a vital feature of the game, have now been outdated on many courses by golf carts and push carts. In England the game was made popular by the attention of James VI of Scotland, later James I of England, and his son Charles.

In the 18th century the first golf associations were established, they included the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, founded in 1744; The Saint Andrews Society of Golfers in 1754, which in 1834 took its present name, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of Saint Andrews; and the Royal Black heath originated in 1766, near London, where, according to tradition, golf was introduced to England in 1608. The first clubs established outside Britain were the Calcutta Golf Club of East India set up in 1829 and the Royal Bombay Club in 1842. It is believed by some that golf was played in North America during the colonial period, but no documented proof of this has been advanced. In 1888 the Saint Andrews Golf Club of Yonkers, New York, was established. Some authorities say this is the oldest continuously existing golf club in the United States. The popularity of the game in the United States and Britain reached great heights by the 1920s and steadily increased over the years, fostered by television. In the United States alone, more than 14,000 golf courses serve more than 24 million people who play golf at least once a year. Golf is also popular in continental Europe, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Japan, and many other parts of the world.

The rules of play for golf are numerous and complex. They include a code of etiquette for behavior on the green. Some of these codes include let a faster group play ahead, never yell on course (unless warning), no more than 15 minutes played on one hole, can t walk in the path of someone s ball and the hole on green, wear proper course dress code, no metal spikes, and of course never throwh a club.

The game was originally played with a ball made of feathers tightly packed in a leather cover. About 1850 a ball made of gutta-percha came into use. Gutta-percha is a milky liquid, derived principally from Malaysian trees, that hardens after being boiled and cooled. About 1901 a ball with a rubber core enclosed in gutta-percha, similar to the ball in use today, was developed. The pitted surface of modern golf balls acts to stabilize flight.

The organizations that establish golf rules for the world are the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of Saint Andrews and the United States Golf Association (USGA), founded in 1894 and located in Far Hills, New Jersey. Before 1913, golf in the United States was played chiefly by people of wealth. In 1913, however, after a former caddie from the United States named Francis Ouimet won a victory over two outstanding British professionals in the U.S. open championship tournament (open to amateurs and professionals), golf came to the attention of the American public in general. The Professional Golfers’ Association of America (PGA) was organized in 1916, and annual tournaments were started during the same year. The PGA is headquartered in Palm Beach, Florida. Currently, there are more than 23,000 members of the PGA, most of who assist amateur players as club or resort instructors; and each year several hundred professional players tour the country competing in major tournaments. The Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida, numbers more than 800 club instructors, along with several hundred-tournament players. Major professional tours include the PGA for men, the LPGA for women, and the Seniors Tour for men over the age of 50.

Each year many golf tournaments take place. The most important professional tournaments for men are the Masters, the U.S. Open, the British Open, and the PGA Championship. Collectively these four events form the grand slam of golf. Until 1960 the grand slam was considered to be the U.S. Open, the British Open, the U.S. Amateur, and the British Amateur, but with the increasing importance of professional golf in the mid-20th century, the Masters and the PGA Championship gained superiority over the two amateur tournaments. However, the U.S. and British amateurs remain important events for non-pros.

International matches are also played. The Walker Cup is a contest between amateur golfers from the United States and Britain. The Ryder Cup is also a contest between professional golfers from



Интересная статья: Быстрое написание курсовой работы