GOLF CURIOSITY
Golf, one of the oldest sports in history, is famous in every corner of the planet, there are many fans who practice it and watch it on TV or live. Let’s see together some curiosities about the world of golf.
THE FIRST 18-HOLE COURSE WAS IN A FARM
We are used to 18-hole golf courses in enchanting landscapes, immersed in the hills or along the cliffs overlooking the sea, but the first real golf course took place in Illinois, almost in the center of the United States, more precisely. in Downer’s Grove, on Charles Blair McDonald’s farm and sheep farm. In 1982 he moved to this place and created the first 18-hole course in history.
GOLF HAS ARRIVED ON THE MOON
Incredible. Only two sports have been practiced by man on lunar soil: golf and javelin throwing.
On July 20, 1969, when the Apollo 11 mission landed on the moon, it is said that the astronaut Alan Shepard held a 6 iron and hit two balls: the first ended up in a nearby crater, but the second was a nice launch, helped obviously, from the low lunar gravity.
Both balls are still up there, somewhere on the moon.
WHY IS THE SURFACE OF THE GOLF BALLS LUGGED?
The “dimples” present on the balls exploit aerodynamics or the science centered on the study of air dynamics and the ways in which the latter interacts with solid bodies. A smooth sphere could certainly fly, but it could not generate great distance due to the strong resistance of the air and its different types of vortices. The golf ball has dimples (usually for 80% of the surface, up to 100%), in the shape of a pentagon or hexagon and of different sizes precisely to reduce resistance in flight. In fact, their choice is very important in terms of distance and touch.
The curious thing is that at first you played golf with smooth balls, only to realize that the bruised ones went further! So at the beginning of the twentieth century our balls with dimples were introduced.
THE FIRST GOLF COURSES HOW MANY HOLES DID THEY HAVE?
Since golf began around 1400, for at least 350 years golf courses have had a number of holes other than 18. Which one? In reality, it is impossible to answer because there was no real standard.
We don’t have a lot of information about it … we played golf with what we had available, depending on the size of the terrain and the conformation, we created a course with an ad hoc number of holes. As a result, each golf course had its own number of holes. If for any reason the association obtained an extra piece of land, nothing prevented it from adding a hole or two to the course.
It is true that there are golf courses with 12 holes, 9 holes, even 3 holes. Nonetheless, the ubiquitous standard in the common imagination remains that of 18 holes.