Fun Golf Facts

8 Fun Golf Facts You May Have Never Heard Before

Golf is an ever-growing sport. Almost 26 million Americans participated in the sport in 2017 alone. More people are coming to golf every year, and it's engaging viewers as a spectator sport as well.

Golf has roots in societies that are hundreds of years old, and several golf facts have compiled over that time. Here, we'll take a look at some of those interesting facts so you can learn a bit more about the game.

Hole in One

A hole in one is one of the most elusive statistics in all of golf. One interesting fact about golf is how frequent this can happen.

Courses report around 25,000 to 30,000 rounds of golf a year. They each report anywhere from 10 to 15 hole in ones during that time.

On average, a course sees a hole-in-one every 3,500 matches, so your chances of making a hole in one are around 1 in 3,500.

If you're still searching for your first hole in one, you probably only need to play a few thousand more matches.

What about two hole-in-ones in a single round of golf? You're approaching the near impossible. You have about a 67 million to 1 chance of hitting two holes in ones in a single round.

Water Hazard

This is one of the fun facts about golf that is never too fun. The water hazard on the 17th hole of TPC Sawgrass claims 125,000 balls every year. That's a lot of shouting and snapped clubs.

Banning Golf

Everyone knows golf is a great time, but sometimes it can be too much fun. Scotland has banned golf multiple times throughout history, including bans in 1457, 1471, and 1491.

Apparently, golf was taking too much time away from the important tasks of the country.

Birdie

Another of the interesting facts about golf includes the origin of the term "birdie." Ab Smith coined the term in 1889 when he described one of his shots as a "bird of a shot."

The Original Tee

Tees weren't always a part of golf, but golfers still needed something to hit their ball off of. Back in the day, golfers used piles of sand when they wanted to drive their ball.

World's Fastest Round

Golf is an old sport, but the world's fastest round is a relatively recent record. Alice Miller set the record in 1997 with an 18-hole round lasting only one hour, 26 minutes, and 44 seconds.

Phil Mickelson

Another of the golf fun facts involves Phil Mickelson. You probably know that he's a lefty, but did you know he's a natural righty?

Mickelson copied his dad's swing as a youth, so he learned how to swing left-handed when he started golfing.

Golf Ball Regulation

It might not seem like a big deal, but a regulation golf ball has 336 dimples. Any more or less, and your ball will fly differently.

Fun Golf Facts

Hopefully, you learned a thing or two about the game we all love. There are thousands of facts about golf, but these are just a few of our favorite golf facts we know.