The second weekend of April brings golf’s most prestigious event: The Masters Tournament. What makes the Masters so special? Well, pretty much… everything.
From its founding by legendary amateur Bobby Jones to its unmatched setting to the gripping back-nine drama that unfolds each year, the Masters boasts a tradition — as CBS loves to note — unlike any other. Here’s a rundown of the things that make the Masters so beloved by golf fans around the world.
Most golfers pay little attention to who designed the courses they play. There’s a small but rabid sect, however, who are practically obsessed with the art of course architecture.
While these aficionados admire the works of legends like Donald Ross and A.W. Tillinghast, and appreciate such modern masters as Tom Doak, one architect elicits more reverence than any other: Alister MacKenzie.
Like any sport, golf provides great fodder for debate. In fact, the sheer variety of its elements – from courses to clubs to players to tournaments – makes golf the most argued-about of them all.
Arguably, anyway.
The discussion you’re most likely to hear at the 19th hole: Who’s the greatest golfer of all time?
Like tennis, golf has acquired the reputation of being a sport for the rich and the well connected. The ordinary people feel that they are excluded from this sport and that they have no interest in participating in it or supporting it. When they look at the people who watch the sport and who play it, the clarity about the elitism becomes even starker. The efforts to make it more inclusive have ended up being arbitrary or just a plain joke. If you try to persuade some poor boy on the council estate about the need to play golf when they are looking for their next meal, then you are onto a definite loser. The reputation has grown and grown that normal people have no business trying to get involved with golf.
There are not much clear evidences for the sport of golf. But, many believe that golf is originated from a game played on the eastern coast of Scotland during 15th century period. Even, the word ‘golf’ is said to be evolved from a Scots word ‘goulf’ which means ‘to strike’. Netherlands has a drawn record of this game being played during 1927. In that picture, the Dutch seemed to play with a stick and a leather ball. The target was placed around 100 yards away. Recent evidences also say that golf like game was played in China around 500 years ago.