Where And What to Play With… At a Golf Course

Now that you have decided to play course, how about a bit of information of the types of golf courses. They can be put into various types, depending on a whole lot of different aspects.Broadly, those differences in categories could be on the basis of :(a) Ownership (b) Length and distance or number holes (c) Setting and design of the courses.

A. OWNERSHIP CATEGORIES:

Private: These are members-only courses, where memberships can be through invitation and applications and is usually expensive.

Hotels and resorts: Many hotels and resorts have their own courses, which are open only to their guests or by special memberships. So, in a way, it is also a private club.

Municipal/Public courses: Usually run by a town council or district or the authorities, it is open to the public on pay-and-play basis.

B. LENGTH OF COURSES:

18-hole, full-length courses: These are full courses where proficient golfers prefer to play and where championships and tournaments are held.

Nine-hole courses: There are 9-hole courses, many of them small because of the size of the land available or because of costs entailed in maintaining courses. In India, many Army/ Services courses are 9-hole courses.

Executive courses (Par 3): Par-3s and miniature courses to relax, often in hotels and resorts, where patrons may have little time or just want some fun.

C. SETTINGS AND DESIGN:

Links courses: The original links courses are mostly in the United Kingdom where thin strips of sand, grass and dunes lay between the sea and agricultural land. A Links course “linked” them together, in a manner of speaking. Links courses have undulating fairways, sand dunes, deep bunkers and few (often no) trees. The most famous links courses are found in Scotland or Ireland and some coasts of England. Among the most well-know is St Andrews.

Parkland courses: Parkland courses are somewhat designed with extremely well-maintained fairways, manicured greens, mature and big trees, which provide a challenge, thick rough and bunkers, which penalise errant shots. They are usually inland, but some Parkland coasts can also be found on the coastline.

Resort courses: Very pleasing to the eyes, they can be found in high-end Resorts, often in states like Florida, or countries and islands like Bahamas, Macau and so on. They are owned and run by hotels or companies, which provide high-paying customers courses designed by famous names and they have stunning surroundings and backdrops.

Heath-land courses: Unlike Links courses, they are inland courses with gentle, rolling fairways winding through a landscape full of bushes and shrubs, but few large trees. Many of these are found in the UK, like Walton Heath.

Desert golf courses: Now seen in the Middle East and the US (in south-western US), they are almost like oases in the middle of sand. They have man-made lakes, desert plantations like cacti, palm trees and rocky outcrops give a very distinctive feel to these courses.

Designer courses: Can be put in different categories: (a) Many designers hire golf architects to draw/create holes and then usually pick 18 of them. (b) But there are designers like Tom Fazio, Tom Doak, Robert Trent Jones) who visit the site and create all the holes. In such cases, it is considered a signature course. (c) Designer courses may also be well-known in a prestigious golf region (Myrtle Beach, Ponte Vedra Beach, Palm Springs, etc)

Sand courses: Golfers play on all-sand courses making the long game harder, but the short game easier. The putting area usually consists of “browns”, a mixture of sand and oil, which is blended and rolled.Snow or ice courses: Like desert courses and sand courses, this is a rather recent invention. The course is white instead of green and an orange or brightly coloured ball is used.

THE NATURE AND USES OF GOLF CLUBS

Though a golfer is allowed only 14 clubs in his or her bag, the total number of clubs is way more than that. Manufacturers make many more, and the ones that a player carries in his bag depends on his skill, needs and comfort.

A set: A traditional set consists of a driver, a couple of fairway woods (a 3-wood and sometimes a 5-wood), irons (5-iron to 9-iron), 2 or 3 hybrid clubs (3-hybrid to 5-hybrid), a pitching wedge, a sand wedge and a putter.

Driver: The longest and biggest club in the bag, both in club head size and the distance it sends the ball. It has steep faces, between 7.5 and 13 degrees and is used off the tee.

Fairway Woods: A 3-wood with a loft between 12 and 17 degrees, and sometimes a 5-wood, lofted 18 to 23 degrees is what golfers prefer. Fairway woods have large heads like the driver, but are shallower with a lower sweet spot toward the bottom of the club.

Irons: Irons range from 1 to 9, but most carry irons from 5 to 9, with hybrids replacing the lower number irons. Irons have a comparatively thin face, allowing them to slice through thick lies and rough and even sand.

Hybrids: Sets include 2 or 3 Hybrids from #3 to #5 hybrids, as these are easier to hit than comparable long irons. Hybrids are to combine the uses of woods and irons.

Wedges: A pitching wedge and sand wedge are what are usually picked. Wedges have heads similar to irons, as their faces are more open. Wedges can send the ball a shorter distance at a greater height when struck and also used for high flops with backspin to cause a ball to stop quickly, to back up on a hole.

Putter: The putter is used on the green and has a flat surface and is also called flat-stick by golfers. It has minimal or no loft on the ball and is used to roll the ball along towards the hole.

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About The Author

V Krishnaswamy