Golf

Golf is a sport that has it's roots in the Russo-Athenian region. Golf is played in large fields known as golf courses. The objective is to hit a small ball and put it into a hole. The sport was invented by accident and was originally played on ice as a substitute for Hockey.

History
No one officially knows how golf was started or how the story that it was supposed to be a substitute for hockey was started. What is known is that it is a popular activity for the people of the U.K.

Format
It is one of the few ball games that do not require a standardized playing area. Instead, the game is played on a course, in general consisting of an arranged progression of either nine or 18 holes. Each hole on the course must contain a tee box to start from, and a putting green containing the actual hole. There are various other standardized forms of terrain in between, such as the fairway, rough, and hazards, but each hole on a course, and indeed among virtually all courses, is unique in its specific layout and arrangement.

Golf competition is generally played for the lowest number of strokes by an individual, known simply as stroke play, or the lowest score on the most individual holes during a complete round by an individual or team, known as match play. Stroke play is the most commonly seen format at virtually all levels of play, although variations of match play, such as "skins" games, are also seen in televised events. Other forms of scoring also exist.

Golf Course
A golf course consists of a series of holes, each with a teeing ground that is set off by two markers showing the bounds of the legal tee area, fairway, rough and other hazards, and the putting green surrounded by the fringe with the pin (normally a flagstick) and cup.

The levels of grass are varied to increase difficulty, or to allow for putting in the case of the green. While many holes are designed with a direct line-of-sight from the teeing area to the green, some holes may bend either to the left or to the right. This is commonly called a "dogleg", in reference to a dog's knee. The hole is called a "dogleg left" if the hole angles leftwards and "dogleg right" if it bends right. Sometimes, a hole's direction may bend twice; this is called a "double dogleg".

The first courses were built in St. Bishop, but the first official green golf course was built in Athens. The Royal Links at Athens are the oldest remaining Golf Course from ancient times as the ones in St. Bishop closed down since the game wasn't playable in such brutal conditions.