All stories

Every reel, with its sources.

Courses

Famous holes and the stories behind them.

• PUTTING GREENS · THE STIMPMETER Green speed is measured with a ramp and a tape.
• THE OPEN · CARNOUSTIE · 1999 He needed a six to win the Open.
• LEGEND GOLF · THE EXTREME 19TH This tee can only be reached by helicopter.
• MERION GOLF CLUB · EAST COURSE At Merion, the flagsticks have no flags.
• THE OLD COURSE · ST ANDREWS The most famous course in golf is closed on Sundays.
• TPC SAWGRASS · HOLE 17 Around 100,000 balls a year end up in this lake.

History

Why golf is played the way it is.

• ROYAL LYTHAM · 1935 Some golfers carried more than 25 clubs.
• APOLLO 14 · FRA MAURO · 1971 The first golf shot on the Moon went about 24 yards.
• RYDER & SON · ST ALBANS The Ryder Cup began with penny seed packets.
• MUSSELBURGH · 1829 Every hole in golf is 4¼ inches wide.
• PRESTWICK · AYRSHIRE · 1871 In 1871, there was no Open.
• LEITH LINKS · 1744 Golf's first rule said to tee up next to the last hole.
• SCOTLAND · KING JAMES II In 1457, Scotland made golf illegal.
• ST ANDREWS · THE OLD COURSE · 1764 In 1764, golf lost four holes.

Countries

Where the world plays golf.

• COOBER PEDY · SOUTH AUSTRALIA Here, golfers carry their own grass.
• JAPAN In Japan, golfers insure against a hole in one.
• MONGOLIA · 18 HOLES · PAR 11,880 One man golfed across Mongolia.
• GREEN ZONE GOLF · HOLE 3 Here a ball can land an hour before it was hit.
• GOLF COURSES BY COUNTRY 42% of the world's golf courses are in one country.

Tips

The physics behind the shot.

• THE GEAR EFFECT · RIGHT-HANDED Hit a driver off the toe and the ball curves back.
• PUTTING · SPEED · DOWN THE LINE The best putts roll 17 inches past the hole.
• GREENSIDE BUNKER · SLOW MOTION On a good bunker shot, the club never touches the ball.
• SAME DRIVE · SMOOTH VS DIMPLED Without dimples, a ball would fly about half as far.
• WEDGE SHOTS · TOUR PROS · SLOW MOTION A tour wedge shot spins over 150 times a second.
• HEADWIND VS TAILWIND · A TOUR 6-IRON Into the wind, a ball loses more than it gains downwind.
• APPROACH SHOTS · TOUR PROS · FROM ABOVE From 150 yards, tour pros miss by about 9 yards.
• THE SLICE · RIGHT-HANDED · FROM ABOVE A slice is a clubface pointing right of the path.