Golf Compendium

On the vast majority of golf courses, par-5 holes are the longest holes. Par-3 holes are the shortest, par-4 holes are in the middle, and par-5 holes are the longest. (A small percentage of golf courses have par-6 holes, which, where they exist, are longer than par-5s.) But how does being "the longest holes" translate into actual yardages?

Which golf courses have been the site of the U.S. Women's Open golf tournament over the years? The tournament dates to 1946. Today, this major championship rotates around the United States to some of the most-famous courses in America.

The goal of every golfer in the field at a PGA Tour tournament is to win it, but, obviously, all but one of them won't. So the next-best thing is finishing as high as you can — that's why golf tours, golfers and golf fans pay attention to Top 10 finishes. Do you know who the oldest golfer to record a Top 10 finish on the PGA Tour is?

Sam Urzetta was a golfer who pulled off a major surprise in winning the U.S. Amateur. His attempt at playing the PGA Tour in the 1950s was, alas, surprisingly unsuccessful. But he was a local legend in the city where he was born, raised, lived and died.

"Bermuda grass," or "Bermuda" for shorthand, is a common type of turfgrass used on golf courses. It is classified as a warm-season grass , so is most common in areas with hot summers and winters that don't typically get very cold. One region famous for its use of Bermuda grass on golf courses is the American South, particularly Florida, Georgia and South Texas.

Par-4 holes on a golf course can be thought of as the middle ground of golf holes: They are longer than par-3 holes, but shorter than par-5 holes. But what does that mean in terms of yardage?

George Gadd was an English professional golfer who won tournaments in the 1910s and 1920s. He also was involved in the formative events of the Ryder Cup, including the very first competition.

A "skull shot" or "skulled shot" in golf happens when the golfer lifts the club up off the ground at impact, resulting in the leading edge of the clubface striking the golf ball above its equator. That leading edge is sometimes called the blade of the clubface, which is why skulls are sometimes called "bladed shots."

Many recreational golfers struggle with shots out of the sand, so when you add a sidehill lie on top of the basic bunker shot that just complicates things more. But playing sidehill bunker shots doesn't have to be hard!

Par-3 holes are the shortest holes on a golf course — holes that expert golfers are expected to need three strokes to play. But when we say they are the shortest holes on the course, what do we mean? Are there guidelines for how long a par-3 hole should be?

Making a hole-in-one is a thrill for even the best golfers in the world, such as those on the PGA Tour. And PGA Tour aces happen here and there throughout every tour season. But how about making two aces in the same round? Has any PGA Tour golfer made two holes-in-one in the same round of a tour event?

A "blind shot" in golf is one the golfer plays without being able to see the intended target. For example, if you are standing in the fairway but cannot see the putting green from your location, you are playing a blind shot into the green.

Helen Dettweiler is best-remembered today as one of the 13 founders of the LPGA Tour. But she also won an LPGA major championship and was a famous golf instructor, and she led a remarkable life off the golf course, too.

The Oakland Open was a golf tournament played on the PGA Tour for only seven years, but it played an important part in the early careers of Ben Hogan, Sam Snead and Jim Ferrier.

There's a well-known tale in the golf world told to illustrate Ben Hogan's powers of concentration, a story about the time he was so focused on his own coming shot that he failed to even notice when his playing partner made a hole-in-one. It's a great story ... but is it true?

Are you in charge of planning a golf tournament? Then you probably have questions about the best way to go about it.

When you are trying to get the ball up-and-down from off the green, there are four types of shots you can play: putt, chip, pitch, lob. And that is the order in which they should be favored,

If you want to win a golf tournament, you better make some birdies. The PGA Tour golfers we discuss in this article made a lot of birdies: They are the record-holders and the runners-up in the category of most birdies in a 72-hole tournament on the PGA Tour.

Salvador Balbuena was a Spanish golfer who made his mark in the 1970s, the early years of the European Tour. He won the first European Tour event he ever played outside of his home country. Unfortunately, what he is best known for is dying young.

How has the PGA Tour's 18-hole scoring record progressed over the years? That's the question the drove us to research this article.

The Gold Mashie was a golf tournament for amateur golfers that was played in the 1920s. And for the brief period it was played, it was one of the top amateur tournaments in the world, won by several of the best American amateur golfers ever.

Which sudden-death playoff lasted the longest on the LPGA Tour, and how many holes did it go? The longest sudden-death playoff in LPGA history lasted a whopping 10 holes before the winner finally emerged.

Have you ever heard of a golf bet called "Cube" or "the Cube"? The cube is an imaginary object that one golfer (in a one-vs.-one match) or one side (in a two-vs.-two match) gains control over, and then can use to double the amount of the bet — if doing so makes sense.

Al Brosch was a golf professional from the 1930s into the 1970s, and played on the PGA Tour. While he was the king of PGA Professional tournaments on Long Island, he never won on the PGA Tour. But he definitely made his mark: Brosch was the first golfer in PGA Tour history to record an 18-hole score of 60 during tournament play. And he held that scoring record for more than 25 years.

Who is the youngest golfer ever to win a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour? The golfer who holds that record was only 15 years old when she earned her first LPGA victory. That same golfer also dominates the list of those 18 years old and younger who've won on the LPGA Tour, a list that appears below.

Which golfers have led the Champions Tour in sand saves each year? That's what the list below shows for this statistical category on the PGA Tour Champions circuit.

How many amateur golfers have won on the LPGA Tour? That number currently stands at five. But they won six tournaments between them, because one of those amateurs claimed two LPGA Tour events.

Which golfers have led the Champions Tour (today officially named the PGA Tour Champions) in GIR? That's what the list below shows: Every golfer on the senior circuit who has topped the tour in this statistical category, going back to 1988, the first year the tour officially kept this stat.

In the 1930s, Ellsworth Vines built a career in tennis that caused some tennis observers to rank him among the best ever to play that sport. But then, before he turned 30, Vines changed careers: He became a pro golfer and joined the PGA Tour. In this profile, we'll explore the golf career of the tennis legend Ellsworth Vines.

The Philadelphia Inquirer Open was a golf tournament on the PGA Tour that launched during wartime. It ended after only six years, but produced a series of notable champions.

The first thing you need to know about the Eisenhower Tree at Augusta National Golf Club is that it no longer exists. But once upon a time, it was one of the best-known — one could argue it was the most-famous — tree on any golf course anywhere. And why is easy to see in our very first sentence above: Dwight Eisenhower and Augusta National.

Hitting fairways? That's something a lot of "older" golfers are better at than younger golfers. At least on the golf courses that you and I play. What about at the pro level? Which golfers have led the Champions Tour in driving accuracy over the years?

How many holes-in-one did Arnold Palmer make over the course of his lifetime in golf? Quite a few! And some of them happened on the PGA Tour and Champions Tour. Two of them even happened in back-to-back rounds of a pro tournament.

Which golfers have been the best putters on the Champions Tour over that tour's history? One way of answering that question is to check the senior tour's putting statistical leaders. Below, you'll find the annual leaders in the Champions Tour's two main, traditional putting stats: putts per GIR, and putts per round.

George Von Elm was one of the great amateur golfers of the 1920s, a decade that was chock full of them. He beat Bobby Jones in a U.S. Amateur championship match, but lost to Jones in other big events including several professional majors. Von Elm turned pro in the 1930s and almost won a U.S. Open (it took 72 playoff holes for him to lose), but his pro career didn't live up to his amateur success.

The Alcan Golfer of the Year Championship was a limited-field golf tournament for the top men of the world golf tours. It was played only four times, at four different golf courses, including once as an official PGA Tour event.

One of the greatest players in golf history also holds the LPGA Tour record for most times losing in playoffs. And the other golfers on the list of most LPGA playoff losses also happen to be greats.

What are the key features that a newly designed and built golf course needs to have? Opinions differ, of course, but wouldn't you like to go back in time, to the so-called "Golden Age of Golf Course Design," and ask one of the giants of golf course architecture that question? Turns out we can: We can know exactly how Alister Mackenzie answered that question because he included his answer in a book.

If you've ever shown up at a golf course on a cold morning while the frost is still on the ground, then you know the frustration of waiting out a frost delay. Even if you are willing to tee off in the cold, the golf course staff won't let you until the frost has melted away. Why? What is it about frost that makes golf courses tell golfers, "You'll just have to wait until the frost disappears?"

As an adult, since turning professional, Tiger Woods has always lived in Florida. But he was born and raised in California — Cypress, California, to be exact. But we can get even more exact than that, as we do below.

Norman Von Nida was an Australian pro golfer who made a big mark on the British PGA circuit in the late 1940s. He also won dozens of top tournaments in his home country from the 1930s into the 1960s. He had a stellar short game and sometimes-abrasive personality.

The Corona Championship, also remembered as the Tres Marias Championship, was a golf tournament on the LPGA Tour that was played six times in the first decade of the 2000s. It was played in Mexico.

If you want good results on bunker shots around the green, you need a consistent point-of-entry. That means being able to repeat, bunker shot after bunker shot, where your club enters the sand relative to your golf ball — having the club enter the sand at the same point on every shot during the forward swing. That's where the Line Drill comes in.

How many holes-in-one does an all-time great golfer like Jack Nicklaus make in his lifetime? Probably, but not necessarily, a lot. Even the all-time greats rely on a lot of luck for aces. In Nicklaus' case, his approach irons, combined with a little luck, have produced more than 20 career holes-in-one.

Having to hit out of a divot is one of the more frustrating things that can happen to a golfer who is in the fairway. After all, you just knocked the ball right where you're supposed to hit it: in the fairway. But thanks to some rotten luck, your golf ball rolled into a divot hole. Now what?

Which golfer finished the year 2016 at No. 1 in the women's world golf rankings? On this page we'll find out that answer, plus look at the season-ending Top 50 in the Rolex Rankings, the official world rankings of women's professional golf.

Ernie Vossler was a PGA Tour golfer who won several times in the late 1950s/early 1960s. His impact on the game was greater as a club pro, however, as he developed multiple famous golf courses.

The Deutsche Bank Championship (called the Dell Technologies Championship during its final two years) was a PGA Tour golf tournament played in the first two decades of the 2000s. For most of that time it was part of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. It was played in a suburb of Boston as one of the final events on the tour schedule.

Fixing ball marks, also called pitch marks , on putting greens is something every golfer needs to know how to do. So most golfers, at least those who are properly brought into the game with an appreciation for good golf etiquette and caring for the course, are introduced very quickly to the small item known as a divot tool or ball mark tool.

Which golfer finished the year 2017 at No. 1 in the women's world golf rankings? On this page we'll find out that answer, plus look at the season-ending Top 50 in the Rolex Rankings, the official world rankings of women's professional golf.

Tiger Woods holds a lot of PGA Tour and golf records , but does his hole-in-one total rank among those records? Not really. Woods has made a lot of holes-in-one in his life, but his total doesn't come close to the record. In this article, we'll talk about Tiger's milestone aces, his career total, and also tell you about — and show you most of them — every hole-in-one he's made on the PGA Tour.

Which golfer finished the year 2018 at No. 1 in the women's world golf rankings? Let's find out, along with looking at the end-of-year Top 50 in the Rolex Rankings, the official world rankings of women's professional golf.

Hassan Hassanein was one of the first golfers from Africa (other than South Africans) to make a mark on the international golf scene. He won multiple times in Europe, but died in a horrible accident inside his own house.

The U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship was, from 1977 through 2014, one of the annual USGA national championships staged by the United States Golf Association. The tournament was discontinued when the USGA decided to replace it with a fourball tournament.

Which golfer in the world of women's golf finished the year 2019 at No. 1 in the rankings? Let's find out, along with looking at the end-of-year Top 50 in the Rolex Rankings, the official world rankings of women's professional golf.

The U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship was, from 1922 through 2014, one of the USGA national championship tournaments conducted by the United States Golf Association. The USAPL was for male amateurs who did not belong to a private golf club — for public-course golfers, in other words.

In 1988, Mary Bea Porter was a one-time LPGA Tour winner who was struggling to hold onto to her tour career. But in one moment, in the middle of a round, she became a hero who saved a young boy who was struggling to hold onto his life.

"Publinx" is a word that serves as a short-hand way of referring to a "public links championship" golf tournament. Publinx comes from the combination of "public" and "links." But that leads to the follow-up question: what is a public links tournament?

Ok-Hee Ku was the first star on the LPGA of Korea Tour (KLPGA) during that tour's earliest years. She then became the first Korean to win on the LPGA of Japan Tour (JLPGA), and also the first golfer from South Korea to win on the American LPGA Tour.

Who was the No. 1 player in women's golf at the end of 2020? Which golfers finished the year ranked the highest in the Rolex Rankings, the official world rankings of women's golf? Below is the year-end list of 2020's top-ranked golfers.

Korean golfers have made a huge impact on the recent history of the U.S.-based LPGA Tour, the top-level women's professional golf tour in the world. But who was the first golfer from South Korea to win on the American LPGA Tour? If you answered Se Ri Pak, you're wrong.

Tiger Woods accomplished a lot in golf at a very young age, including making his national television debut before the age of three. But how old was he when scored his first hole-in-one?

What is a "snap hook" in golf? A snap hook is a hook that goes even worse. It is a really bad hook shot. Even the best golfers in the world sometimes snap hook a shot. Here is Tiger Woods doing it on a drive:

Lone Ranger is the name of a golf tournament format for four-person teams. On each hole, one member of the team is designated as the Lone Ranger and plays the hole solo. The other three team members play the hole as a scramble. Those two scores are combined to create the team score.

Cyril Walker was an England-born golfer who won on the very young PGA Tour in the 1920s, including a victory in the U.S. Open. He is remembered as one of the slowest players in golf history, so slow he was once literally hauled out of a tournament by police. After his playing days ended, Walker went into a downward spiral fueled by drinking and a loss of investments, and he died in a jail cell.

Who holds the record on the LPGA Tour for longest streak of rounds in the 60s? The record for consecutive sub-70 scores on the LPGA is 14 rounds, and it is shared by three golfers: Annika Sorenstam, So Yeon Ryu and Jin Young Ko.

The AT&T Champions Classic was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour that was played for 30 years. One of several other names it was known by through the years was Ralphs Senior Classic. It was always played in Southern California, either in Los Angeles or just north.

You know that there are pro golfers who have scored 59 in tournaments played on major pro golf tours. You might also know that there have even been some 58s recorded on pro tours. What about the score of 57 for an 18-hole round? Has any pro golfer, on any major pro golf tour, shot 57?

There are two versions of Honest John in golf: There is a golf game (or, really, a honey pot ) called Honest John, and there is a one-day handicap estimate for tournament use called Honest John. Let's break down both of them now.

How many golfers have scored 58 on one of the world's major golf tours? So far, there are seven such rounds in golf history, all of them since 2001.

When a golf game is named "Gruesomes," you have to figure that it involves making the golfers play some of their lesser shots, rather than their best shots. And Gruesomes does just that: The partners on a 2-person side both hit drives, then their opponents choose which drive they have to use.

Art Wall was a good, consistent PGA Tour player and winner through much of the 1950s. He had one great year during which he won The Masters, and he continued winning into the 1960s and even the 1970s. For many years, Wall was regarded as the world record-holder for most lifetime holes-in-one.

There have been a handful of 58s scored in professional golf for 18 holes . Jim Furyk, for example, was the first to do it on the PGA Tour. But, until October 1, 2021, no pro golfer on any significant tour had ever shot 58 on a par-72 golf course.

During a tournament on the 1981 LPGA Tour, a golfer stepped up to the 16th hole, a par-3, and knocked her tee shot right into the hole. An ace. The crowd went wild, because that golfer just won the tournament's hole-in-one prize, a brand new car. Or so the fans thought. There was one problem, though: That golfer had aced the wrong hole.

When you hear golfers using the word "flush," they are probably not referring to what happens in the restroom. They are talking about making good contact when they hit the golf ball.

Has Tiger Woods be a good playoff player over his career? Yes — in fact, Woods has been great in playoffs. That probably doesn't surprise you. But the fact is, a golfer's overall greatness isn't necessarily an indicator of playoff success: Arnold Palmer's playoff record and Jack Nicklaus' playoff record are both good, but not great. And Ben Hogan had a losing record in playoffs .

Who holds the record for most career holes-in-one made on the PGA Tour? How about the LPGA Tour, the European Tour, the Champions Tour?

"Fairways and Greens" is the name of a golf game that can be played by an group of golfers (foursome, threesome, twosome), but it is best played by golfers of similar skill levels. That's because it pays out to the golfer in the group who is best at hitting ... fairways and greens.

Which teams (USA, Europe, Great Britain/Ireland) have posted the biggest blowout wins and suffered the worst losses in the history of the Ryder Cup? In the current era, the biggest blowout is by 10 points: a 10-point margin of victory for the winning side. But earlier in Ryder Cup history, when different formats were used, even bigger blowouts occurred.

The Open de Baleares was a golf tournament on the European Tour from the late 1980s through the mid-1990s. It was played in the Balearic Islands of Spain, and a Spanish legend was the event's biggest winner.

Big Break X: Michigan was the name of the 10th season of the Golf Channel reality/competition television series. As with all other seasons of The Big Break franchise, golfers on the show competed in challenges and matches to advance to the final episode, where a winner was crowned. Or, in the case of Big Break X: Michigan , winners, plural.

Which golfers have pulled off the largest margins of victories (and suffered the biggest losing margins) in Ryder Cup matches? Asked another way, which golfers have had the biggest blowout wins and the worst losses in singles, foursomes and fourballs at the Ryder Cup?

One of the words golfers use and golf fans sometimes hear in match play is "halve." Which, let's be honest, is a weird word! Not "half," but "halve." What does it mean? A halve is a tie.

Who put the "Ryder" in the Ryder Cup? Why is this every-other-year competition, one of the biggest events in golf, named the Ryder Cup? The namesake who seeded the idea of the Ryder Cup happens to have been a man who made his fortune selling ... seeds.

Fred Wampler was a professional golfer whose PGA Tour playing career took place mostly in the 1950s. He won one tour event and had several other near-misses, but, before that, he was a record-setting college golfer.

For decades, the Vardon Trophy was one of the biggest and best-known awards in golf. It was awarded annually by the PGA of America to the golfer who had the lowest season scoring average on the PGA Tour. But the Vardon Trophy is no more — the PGA of America discontinued the award after last giving it out in 2022. But all the past recipients still have their names written in golf history (as well as written below).

Let's say Team Europe and Team USA are playing a hard-fought, very closely contested Ryder Cup. It comes down to the final match, and when that match ends, both teams have the same number of points. It's a tie score. What happens?

In the golf game named Woof or Boo, two golfers are playing a match, with the less-accomplished of the two getting to use his handicap. But that golfer doesn't get his traditional handicap. No, instead he gets to distract his more-accomplished foe at critical moments in the match. He does this by invoking his "woof handicap" or "boo handicap" — literally by shouting "woof!" or "boo!" just as his opponent is about to strike the ball.

The Walker Cup is a biennial (every other year) competition for top amateur men golfers, one team representing Great Britain & Ireland, the other representing the United States. The 2023 Walker Cup was the 49th time the event was played. After Team USA's victory, the overall standings (the tournament dates to 1922) were 39 for the American side, nine wins for Team GB&I, with one tie.

"Dormie" is a term used in match play in golf, and it means that the golfer or side that is leading the match is ahead by the same number of holes as remain to be played. A golfer who is 1-up with one hole to play, for example, is dormie.

The 2023 Ryder Cup was the 44th time this biennial competition was played. It matched a team of male professional golfers representing Europe against one representing the United States, in several forms of match play over three days. It was the first Ryder Cup played in Italy.

The 2022 Presidents Cup is the 14th time this tournament has been played. Following the Team USA victory, the all-time standings are 12 wins for the U.S., one win for Team International, and one tie.

Beatrix Hoyt was the best woman golfer in America in the 1890s. But when the century turned, so did her golf success. Hoyt won three consecutive U.S. Women's Amateur Championships, but her entire golf record happened before she was 21, from age 16 to age 20.

Imagine you are playing a match with money on the line. But it hasn't been your day, and your opponent beats you, 6 and 5. The match is over, yet there are five holes on the golf course you haven't yet played. Do you just walk in to the clubhouse? Wouldn't you rather go ahead and play those remaining holes — and with a chance to win back at least part of the betting amount you just lost to the opponent who beat you 6 and 5?

Below is the list of golfers who were most successful in Ryder Cup play — at least as measured by their total number of matches won. So far in Ryder Cup history, there are nine golfers who have won 20 or more of their matches played.

Which golfers have led the PGA Tour's Scrambling statistic each year? The list is below. But first, let's explain what the Scrambling stat actually tracks.

Total Strokes Gained (officially named "Strokes Gained: Total") is a PGA Tour scoring statistic. It was introduced only in 2016, but has been calculated back to the 2004 season. The Tour's own definition of Total Strokes Gained is this:

On this page, we'll look at the golfers on the PGA Tour who make the most birdies, but we'll consider that question in two different ways. Or, rather in two different PGA Tour statistical categories: Birdie Average and Total Birdies.

Marvin "Bud" Ward was an American golfer who won big amateur titles in the 1930s and 1940s, including two U.S. Amateur Championships. He later turned pro and won multiple state and regional pro tournaments, but never played on the PGA Tour. He was a legend in his time in his home region, the Pacific Northwest.

In the history of the Solheim Cup, which golfer has won the most matches? Two golfers share the record, and those two are both from Team Europe.

The Hennessy Ladies Cup was a top tournament on the Ladies European Tour in the first couple decades of that tour's existence. It was first played in France before moving to Germany.

Hitting a "banana ball" is something no golfer wants to do. You might even say that the banana ball is a golf shot that is very, ahem (forgive us) una peel ing. That's because a banana ball is a very bad slice.

Who holds the record for most losses in Solheim Cup singles matches? Which golfer has suffered the most singles defeats in the biennial Team USA vs. Team Europe competition?

Which golfer holds the record for most wins in singles matches at the Solheim Cup? The all-time Solheim Cup record for most wins in singles matches is six, and that record is shared by Juli Inkster (pictured above/Team USA) and Catriona Matthew (Team Europe).

Charlie Ward was an English golfer who began winning pro tournaments in the 1930s, and had his biggest wins from the mid-1940s through the early 1950s. He also represented Team Great Britain & Ireland in three Ryder Cups and was the first back-to-back winner of the Harry Vardon Trophy.

In 1945, British pro golfer Charlie Ward won a tournament. And for his efforts, he was punished by the Royal Air Force.

The 2022 Curtis Cup was the 42nd time this international, amateur team competition was played. A team of women amateurs representing Great Britain & Ireland plays a team of women amateurs representing the United States every two years in the Curtis Cup. The event is jointly run by the USGA and R&A. The all-time standings after the American sides' victory in 22 was 31 wins for Team USA, 8 wins for Team GB&I, plus three ties.

"All square," sometimes shortened to just "square," means that a golf match is tied. The term is used in match play, in which a golfer or team is playing against another golfer or team, rather than trying to achieve a lower stroke total than the full field of golfers (which is stroke play).

Tiger Woods appeared in multiple PGA Tour tournaments before he turned pro, beginning when he was 16 years old. How did he do in those tournaments? Below, we list them — all the PGA Tour events Woods played as an amateur, including his scores and where he finished.

The list of Solheim Cup captains goes back to 1990, the year the competition was first played. It was launched that year to give the world's best women golfers a competition modeled after the Ryder Cup, with teams representing Europe and the United States.

The Curtis Cup is the name of the biennial golf tournament that pits teams of women amateurs representing Great Britain & Ireland and the United States. It has been played since 1932. ( View the results of every Curtis Cup match ever played .) But who put the "Curtis" in Curtis Cup? Why is the competition named that?

Harvie Ward was one of the greatest amateur golfers of the 1950s, winning both the U.S. and British amateur championships. He played in the Walker Cup several times and posted a perfect record, and achieved Top 10 finishes in two of the four professional majors (he didn't play the other two). Ward also was one of the four golfers who played what has become one of the most-famous matches in golf history.

The Mobile Bay LPGA Classic (known by multiple names, including Airbus LPGA Classic in its last year) was an LPGA Tour golf tournament in Mobile, Alabama. It was played six times in the early years of the 2000s.

"Back It Up" is the name of a variation of a skins game in which a golfer who wins a hole can then double the value by winning the next hole as well — by, in other words, backing up the first win with a second.

Do golf courses paint their fairways and greens to make them that perfect shade of green? Some do! Many do, in fact, and it is a groundskeeping tactic that is growing in use.

Elsewhere, we've told you about those golfers with the longest time between their first and last wins on the PGA Tour . In this article, we're talking about the biggest gap between consecutive wins: Which golfers won a tournament, then won another tournament, and had the longest gap between those two wins?

What is a "lunch ball"? It's a mulligan — a do-over. Yes, in golf, "lunch ball" is another term (one of many) for the mulligan, which is a stroke that a golfer replays without penalty when his or her group has agreed to allow it. But there are some interesting nuances to the lunch ball.

Al Watrous was a professional golfer who won multiple PGA Tour tournaments in the 1920s and 1930s, and played in the first two Ryder Cups. He was a long-serving pro at a famous golf club, and continued winning as a senior golfer, including three senior majors.

The Women's British Open dates to 1976, when the Ladies Golf Union created it to carry on what had previously been the Ladies Amateur Stroke Play Championship. There were only a handful of women professionals in Britain at the time, so amateurs had very strong showings (including a few wins) for years to come.

How many golfers have won both the U.S. Amateur Championship and the British Amateur Championship? Not many! It's tough to win just one of these prestigious amateur golf titles, after all, much less both of them. But 13 golfers have managed to pull off this feat. Some of those who did it are very big names in golf history, and others are ... not.

What is the PGA Tour record for most Top 10 finishes by a golfer in a single season? That record is 31 — one golfer in PGA Tour history finished in the Top 10 in 31 tournament during a single season. And that golfer was named Jug.

In the 1927 Shawnee Open golf tournament, played one week after he won the U.S. Open, Tommy Armour set a record that is still cited today. He made a score of 23 on a single hole. If you are a student of golf history or a fan of unusual golf records, you've probably heard about Armour's 23 many times. It's a score that shows up on lots of lists of the highest single-hole scores in PGA Tour history , usually regarded as the all-time record for that stat.

The Shawnee Open was part of the PGA Tour for a couple decades during the earliest years of the professional tour's existence. Its roster of winners includes many of the biggest names from that era in American golf.

DeWitt Weaver was a PGA Tour golfer primarily in the 1970s, then had a second career on the Champions Tour primarily in the 1990s. He was never a big winner, but did snag several tour wins and was particularly known as a strong match player.

In the golf game named Rotation, a group of four golfers takes turns playing each stroke: Golfer A plays, then B, then C and D, then back to A. But there's a twist: Each golfer has only one club, and must use that club for every stroke played.

Where is Briana Vega today? Vega (who also goes today by her married name, Bri Vega Blakefield) was a competitor on two different seasons of the Golf Channel television series The Big Break . And she was the champion on one of those seasons, The Big Break VI: Trump National . Today, Vega is a PGA Professional at a golf club in Florida.

What is a private course, or private golf course? If you said, "it's the opposite of a public course ," you are right. Private golf courses are those golf courses that are (mostly) inaccessible to the general public and are played (mostly) only by those who have paid money for membership and access privileges.

The Big Break VI: Trump National was the sixth season of the Golf Channel's reality/competition television series, in which golfers competed in challenges and matches for prizes including money and exemptions into tour events. Big Break VI: Trump National , unlike earlier seasons of The Big Break franchise, featured a mixed cast of men and women, and also had the largest number of cast members.

Betty Hicks was an early professional in the women's game in the United States. But only after she had won a U.S. Women's Amateur Championship in the early 1940s, the biggest golf title available to women at that time in America.

The Catalan Open was a European Tour golf tournament that was played from the late 1980s into the mid-1990s. It took place at different golf courses in the Catalonia region of Spain.

The last golfer to shoot his age on the PGA Tour was Arnold Palmer, and it happened in 2001. There is a good reason it's been so long since anyone did it: It is rare these days for golfers old enough to shoot their age to start in a PGA Tour event.

Kevin Sutherland was the first golfer in Champions Tour history to shoot 59 in competition. The senior tour's first sub-60 round happened in 2014, 34 years after the tour was founded — and it was almost a 57.

If you want to become a great putter — or even just improve from bad to average — you'll have to spend time on the practice green, bent over your putter, making strokes. Developing feel and touch in putting requires plenty of practice, but the long hours standing in a bent-over position on the practice green can wreak havoc on your back, hips and neck. Most golfers understand the need to stretch and warm-up before hitting full swings on the practice range. But did you know that it is just as important to warm up and stretch before practicing putting?