Golf is played in 208 countries and territories. And this does not mean that there are no golfers in other countries. They can be found even among the cardinals of the Vatican.
It is incredibly difficult to count the fans of this game. An approximate figure that appears in all rankings – 450 million people are able to hold a stick in their hands and conduct a round of golf at least once a year. It is truly one of the most popular sports in the world. There are about 33,000 golf courses in the world!
In terms of the number of athletes, golf lags slightly behind such sport disciplines as tennis, hockey, volleyball, boxing, car racing, basketball and football. But there is one interesting nuance. It was well formulated by the famous sports journalist Rick Woodson.
What are the health benefits of golf?
Regardless of handicap, gender or distance, players take more than 10,000 steps during a standard golf round, which is in line with the recommendations of many medical and clinical physicians.
When playing 18-hole game, blood glucose levels drop by 20% in young people, 10% in middle-aged people and 30% in older players.
The total caloric expenditure for 18 holes is about 2000 calories when walking and 1300 calories while driving a golf cart.
What are the most interesting facts about golf?
It is known that in the first years of the sport there were 22 holes on the field. However, in 1764 their number decreased to 18. Since then, this figure remains unchanged.
- The first American 18-hole golf course was built on a sheep farm in Downers Grove, Illinois, in 1892. Businessman and amateur sportsman Charles Blair MacDonald moved to this unusual town and together with his colleagues began to build a golf course.
- The available facts about this sport are sometimes surprising and have many questions. Impressive, but the ball for this game for many years was made in different shapes. Only in the 1930s was a single standard introduced in the United States. This decision was made in order to stabilize the speed of the ball. As we are used to seeing it, it accelerates to a speed of 250 feet in one second.
- Golf cars are considered to be vehicles for comfortable movement in the playing area with all the accompanying equipment. However, the first years since the creation their appearance was different. Golf cars were designed for the disabled, who found it difficult to move around the site on their own.
- Professional golfers hit the ball with a stick at a speed of 42 meters per second. However, the famous professional Tiger Woods manages to do the almost impossible – his impact force is 56 meters per second.