What Is 'Golf Course Furniture'?

Let's start defining the term "golf course furniture," often shortened to just "course furniture," by first telling you what it is not: It is not that sofa in the clubhouse or the card table inside the locker room. Course furniture is a catch-all term that refers to those manmade items around a golf course designed for the golfer's comfort, convenience or informational purposes.

Golf course furniture includes such essentials things as flagsticks, and, yes, actual furniture, too, such as benches that might be found near a tee box.

More examples of course furniture are the signs at the teeing areas informing golfers of the hole number and yardages, and yardage markers that appear in or beside the fairways.

Tee markers, ball washers and waste bins are all golf course furniture, along with any other signage used to direct golfers around the course or remind golfers of a course's rules and regulations.

When you think about it, many golf clubs have to put quite a bit of effort into outfitting their courses with all that ... stuff. (Many other courses prefer a minimum of course furniture, but even the minimalists need hole signs, tee markers and flagsticks.)

If a golf facility has multiple golf courses, then varying the design of the course furniture for each of those courses is one way to give each its own look, its own feel and fashion.

"Golf course furniture" is a term that originated in Britain but is now used worldwide. There are wholesale industry supply companies that specialize in course furniture, and some retail golf shops also offer some of it.

Photo credit: "Cameron Hills GC" by Stacey Huggins is licensed under CC BY 2.0