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Golf is a sport in which players use a club to hit a ball into a series of holes on a course, using the fewest number of strokes.

Golf is usually played for the lowest number of strokes by the golfer - known as stroke play. Golf can also be played using match play rules, with scoring based on the lowest score on the most individual holes during a complete round.

The common scores for a stroke are: -4 or condor, which means four strokes under par; -3 or albatross, which means three strokes under par; -2 or eagle, which mans two strokes under par; -1 or birdie, which means one stroke under par; E or Par, which means equal to par; +1 or bogey, which means one stroke over par; +2 or double boogey, which mean two strokes over par; and +3 or triple boogey which means three strokes over par.

Golf does not require a standardized playing area. Traditional golf is played on a course which has an arranged progression of nine or eighteen holes. The holes need to contain a tee box to start from, and finish with a green containing the hole. There may be hazards such as trees, sand bunkers and water holes.

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Golf Variations

There are many variations from the standard well-known traditional sport of golf, often the difference is the course length and location.

• Pitch and Put — golf played on course with holes typically less than eighty yards.
• Snow Golf — like regular golf, however the golf course is covered with snow and ice, rather than grass.
• Beach Golf — a simplified version of golf played on sand with a polyurethane foam ball.
• Urban Golf — golf played anywhere that there's free space and not too many people about.
• Speed Golf — a variation of golf in which the objective is to complete the course in the fewest possible number of strokes and the fastest time possible.
• Mini-Golf — a putting only version of golf usually played on artificial surfaces.
• Longest Drive — golf competition in which players attempt to hit the ball the longest distance.
• Target Golf — players hit a golf ball at a large net, scoring points based on where the ball lands.
• Virtual Golf — played indoors with the ball struck at a screen which calculates and displays where the ball would have landed.

Golf with different balls

• Disc Golf — frisbee golf, the objective is to traverse a course from start to end with the fewest number of throws of the disc.
• Footgolf — a mix of golf and football, where players use football skills to kick a ball into a hole.

Sports with Similarities to Golf

• Behcup — similar to putting in golf, though the balls are hit into a small goal and not into a hole.
• Golf Croquet — a popular form of croquet in which each player takes a stroke in turn, trying to hit a ball through the same hoop.
• Krolf — a mix of croquet and golf from Denmark, players use a mallet to hit the ball into a hole.
• Irish Road Bowling — competitors attempt to take the fewest throws to propel a metal ball along a predetermined course of country roads.
• Klootschieten — German sport in which participants throw a ball as far as they can.
• Crossage — a traditional Belgian golf-like sport played on the streets where the aim is to get a wooden ball through a series of goals [extinct sport]

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Related Pages

• More about the sport and science of golf
• Different types of golf sports
• Basic Golf Rules
• Golf at the Olympics
• Complete list of sports
• The Encyclopedia of Sports