Golf Compendium

Is there a person in your regular golf group who, when he thinks nobody is watching, like to, ahem, "improve" the lie of his ball bit by bumping it with his foot? Or even outright kicking his golf ball into a better spot? That golfer is using his "foot wedge."

The British Open, officially named the Open Championship , dates to 1860. It is the oldest major championship, and longest-running pro tournament of any kind, in golf history. How long did it take before a golfer who was not British won the Open? It took a long time — nearly 50 years.

The British Open debuted all the way back in 1860, and Willie Park Sr. was its very first champion. He won the tournament three times in its first seven years, and later added a fourth victory.

Who is the oldest golfer in the history of the men's professional majors to make the cut? The record-holder is one of the giants of the game, and he was 67 years old when he set the record.

The SBS Open at Turtle Bay was an LPGA Tour golf tournament in Hawaii played in the mid- to late 2000-aughts. It was 54 holes in duration, stroke play.

All the golfers competing in the U.S. Senior Open are aged 50 and up. But how much older than 50 is the tournament's oldest winner? Has anyone 60 years old won it? Yes — but just one. And that one is Bernhard Langer.

The LPGA Tour created the LPGA Championship, the flagship tournament of the LPGA, in 1955. For six decades, it was one of the major championships of women's golf. In 2014, the LPGA Championship was played for the 60th time. But the "LPGA Championship" hasn't been played since. What happened?

If you are just a casual golfer, or casual golf fan, you might not be familiar with the term "overclub" or its meaning. "Overclub" is a word we sometimes hear on broadcasts of golf tournaments, or that one golfer might use describing his own shot or another golfer's shot. What does it mean?

Maureen Orcutt was an American amateur golfer who won golf tournaments in seven decades, starting in the 1920s. She won dozens of tournaments, by most counts more than 60, but the biggest one got away: Orcutt is arguably the greatest American golfer of the pre-World War II era who never won the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship. Throughout most of her career, she also was a journalist, a pioneer as a woman in sports reporting.

Who are the best golfers all-time at playing the British Open — those golfers who most excelled in this particular major championship? In this article we rank the Top 10.

Bobby Jones shared the U.S. Open tournament record of four wins . He also, at one time, shared the U.S. Open record of four second-place finishes. In other words, Jones was very, very good in the U.S. Open.

How do you hold the putter? It's not something you think about before you putt: You just grip the putter instinctively. You've placed your hands on the putter handle thousands of times, it's something you just do . A friend of mine has a dirty trick he sometimes plays on me when I'm about to attempt a key putt during one of our friendly-but-intense matches. He asks me, "How do you hold the putter?" And I am momentarily flummoxed because he has made think about my putting grip. Most golfers know that overthinking while playing golf is a bad idea.

A "proxy marker" or "proximity marker" in golf is a small marker or sign that can be staked into the ground to signify the position of the leader in a proxy contest.

What happens when you win a Tombstone Tournament? You'll feel like you died and went to pro shop heaven. How do you win a Tombstone Tournament? By taking an allotment of strokes you are given by tournament organizers and making it farther around the golf course than anyone else. And where your round dies (you run out of strokes) is where your "tombstone" is erected.

The U.S. Open golf tournament dates to 1895. Looking back over the history of the tournament, which golfers have recorded the most high finishes — the most Top 5s? Most Top 10s? Most Top 25s? That's what the lists below show.

Fred McLeod was a Scotsman by birth but lived most of his life in the United States, where he won a U.S. Open in the first decade of the 20th century. He almost won two other majors, and took part in a couple international match-play tournaments that led to the creation of the Ryder Cup. And in his 80s, McLeod was one of the first honorary starters at The Masters Tournament.

"Shotgun start" is the term for a method of beginning a golf tournament with all the groups of golfers teeing off at the same time, from different holes around the course. Each hole on the golf course is occupied by a group of four golfers — one group on the first tee, one on the second tee, one on the third tee, and so on — and at the signal or at the designated time, all those golfers begin playing simultaneously.

The Spalding Tournament was a golf tournament for professional male golfers, played in the United Kingdom from the mid-1940s into the 1960s. It was won by some big names of that era on the British PGA circuit that was the ancestor of the modern European Tour.

How many times has a golfer won the premiere tournament in boys' junior golf, the U.S. Junior Amateur, and then gone on to win the American national championship in professional golf, the U.S. Open? Not many!

Have there ever been two golfing sisters who both played in the Curtis? Have there been any mother-and-daughter pairs who both played in the Curtis Cup? The answers are yes and yes. But it's rare.

The 2024 Curtis Cup Match is the 43rd time this tournament is being played. The Curtis Cup is a team, match-play tournament contested by two squads of amateur women golfers, one representing the United States (USA), one representing Great Britain & Ireland (GB&I).

Alex Ross was a U.S. Open champion in the first decade of the 1900s, and in two other early American pro tournaments still holds the tournament records for most wins. An immigrant from Scotland, he is the very rare major championship winner who, today, isn't nearly as famous as his brother.

The 2023 U.S. Women's Open was the 78th edition of this major championship. The champion was a golfer who had never before won on the LPGA Tour.

The LPGA Tour record for longest winning streak — the golfer who won the most tournament starts in a row — is five. Three players — Nancy Lopez, Annika Sorenstam and Nelly Korda — share this record.

The U.S. Women's Open is the biggest tournament in women's golf, so earning low amateur honors there is a big achievement. A true open, many golfers get into the field by playing their way in through qualifying tournaments. That opens the door for many amateurs to get into the field.

There is a golf club that is part of the wedge family and that goes by several different names, one of which is "attack wedge." The attack wedge is high-lofted, used for shots into the green when precision is key — when you want to attack the pin position. In a set of golf irons/wedges with graduated lofts, the attack wedge falls in-between the pitching wedge and sand wedge.

The men's college golf championship today is awarded at the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championship tournament. That event takes place in May or June every year following a series of regional tournaments that whittle the field.

The 2020 U.S. Women's Open was the 75th time this major championship was played. The winner earned her trophy by birdying the final three holes of the tournament.