Golf Compendium

The Ube Kosan Open, which, for many years, had Pepsi as a title sponsor, was a men's professional golf tournament in Japan. Part of the Japan Golf Tour, it was played for 40 years. Among its winners were Hall of Famers and two pairs of brothers. The tournament is most-famous for being the site of the longest sudden-death playoff in pro tour history .

What is the longest playoff in the history of professional tournament golf? When golf fans talk about playoffs, we are mostly thinking of sudden-death playoffs. And the longest "sudden"-death playoff on any of the world's top golf tourns lasted a whopping 14 holes.

Did you just "overcook" a shot? Overcooking is something golfers sometimes do on the course, and, just like in the kitchen, it's not a good thing.

In the golf game known as Umbriago, a group of four golfers divides into two teams of two golfers each. Then they play stroke play, 2-vs.-2, with six points at stake on each hole.

Ralph Guldahl was one of the best golfers of the 1930s. He won 16 times total (including a couple wins in the 1940s), and three of those victories were in major championships. On this page we'll take a closer look at those wins, plus his other close calls in majors.

The Lawrence Batley Seniors was a golf tournament for 50-and-over golfers on the European Senior Tour. It was part of that tour's very first schedule when the tour launched in 1992 and was a mainstay event for 11 years.

Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods are standing at the throne of heaven. God looks at them and says, "Before granting you a place at my side, I must ask you what you have learned, what you believe in."

A "double hit" is an embarrassing thing that rarely happens at the top levels of the game, and isn't all that common for recreational golfers either. But it happens. And when a double hit does happen, what, exactly, is taking place? And is there a penalty?

As golf fans we sometimes hear that a golfer needs to "par-in" or that another has already "parred-in." What do these golf expressions mean? Let's define the terms.

Hubert Green was one of the stars of the 1970s, with all but three of his 19 career PGA Tour wins happening during that decade. He even once won three tournaments in three weeks. Green was a two-time major championship winner, a three-time Ryder Cup player, and a World Golf Hall of Fame inductee. And he did it all with a homemade and unorthodox swing.

Hubert Green was a force on the PGA Tour in the 1970s, and he kept winning into the 1980s. Then he won a few more times in senior golf.

Double eagles ( also called albatrosses ) are rarer scores than holes-in-one. In the history of The Players Championship, there have only been six double eagles so far — far fewer than the number of aces scored in the tournament .

What are the lowest scores recorded in The Players Championship for nine holes, 18 holes, 36 holes, 54 holes and 72 holes? All those tournament scoring records follow.

Have you ever seen a brand-name golf ball — say, a Titleist or TaylorMade ball — that had the word "Practice" stamped on it? What does it mean when a manufacturer does that? Are "Practice" balls just as good as "regular" balls? Let's answer these and other questions.

Are you an animal lover? The golf game called Zookeeper (also known as Zoo, Dr. Doolittle, Animals or "the animal game") might make you question just how much you love those cuddly and not-so-cuddly critters. Because in this game "winning" an animal is a bad thing.

Malcolm Gregson was an English golfer who turned pro in the early 1960s and had one glory year: From 1967 into 1968, he won four times and played in the Ryder Cup and World Cup. Gregson later went on to record multiple victories in senior golf.

Sometimes in golf we hear that one golfer "closed out" another, or closed out a match. What does that mean? Simple: "Closed out" means beat or won. But when the expression closed out is used, it is almost always accompanyied by information about how a match was won.

The Epson Grand Prix of Europe was a golf tournament on the European Tour during parts of the 1980s and 1990s. It began as a match-play tournament but ended as a stroke-play event.

We hear about golf tournaments called Opens (e.g., U.S. Open, The Open Championship) all the time. But what about the rarer tournament that has Closed (or Close) in its name? What does the "closed" mean?

Ugo Grappasonni was one of the leading Italian golfers in the 1940s and 1950s, and a prominent player in the post-war European professional circuit. He won multiple national opens in those decades prior to the existence of today's European Tour, including his home Italian Open twice, plus the French, Dutch and Swiss opens.

Every year since 1952, former Masters Tournament winners who are in attendance at Augusta National Golf Club gather for the "Champions Dinner." It takes place on the Tuesday evening of tournament week, and the defending champion decides what the menu will be.

Benjamin the golfer sets off on an around-the-world trip in his new boat, but he winds up veering off course and gets lost. He drifts onto a deserted island, where he is stranded, all alone.