How golf will be played at the 2016 Summer Olympics

For a long time golf has not been featuring in the Summer Olympics. Golf in the Summer Olympics last featured is the 1904 St. Louis edition of the games held in USA. It will feature in the Rio Summer Olympics; this is a break of 112 years. Golf (gawf as Scots initially called it) is originally a Scottish game; however it has spread throughout the world and is associated with the elites. There are several known professional players; key among them is Tiger Woods among others. Read and Understanding the Summer Olympics Golf Sport

Golf at the Summer Olympics requires clubs, a large area and it’s usually a summer sport and an outdoor one. It’s a cross country event requiring large track of land. Besides the clubs and a larger area, it also played using a small white hard ball, which is hit with the clubs across the field marked with holes. It is the act of putting the ball to the holes that gives the scores. It’s that simple in explanation but it’s quite a different ball game and if you want to know it can be difficult, just ask any golfer. Golfers will tell you how it’s a great task to put that ball into the holes.

Player will roll the ball by hitting it with the club across the field on an 18 holes’ course, which is the Olympics Standard Golf Course, just the newly built at the Reserva de Marapendi in Rio’s Barra da Tijuca for the 2016 Summer Olympics Golf sport.

These holes are specifically spread and cover a number of kilometers. Please note that the holes covers several hundreds of meters with each hole assigned specific starting point and end point. At the end point is where the hole is actually located on the ground. The winner is the one who plays each hole, covering all the eighteen or nine holes with as few strokes as humanly possible. To play each hole, a player will go through three sections, as follows:-

• the initial drive,

• the approach,

• the green.

The initial drive or the starting point is on a flat ground, but raised on the edges or the ground’s surrounding and the golf player is supposed to ‘tee up’ the golf ball on small piece of rubber known as tee. It’s common to see golf players carrying around these tees. If tees are not available, small amount of heap of soil or sand is used.

After teeing the ball, the player hits the ball hard towards the hole distance, with an objective of being close to the hole as possible on this smooth ground, but not as smooth as you may expect with the ‘fairway’; this is the distance from the tee to the hole having some small ‘hills’, as well as other obstacles like trees, raised grounds, some bunkers and sand traps all put there to trap the ball. These obstacles are known as hazards.

Besides, this fairway, from the tee to the hole is not of a definite width with the ground on each end rough and hence it’s a daunting task to reach each of the 18 holes. The fairways rough edges is sometimes unkempt long grass, shrubs, trees and some golf courses have rivers, dams, paths and roads.

The golf ball has this tendency to go to the wrong place increasing the number of shots for the player as he or she struggle to put the ball in the hole in as much accuracy as possible. Besides this rough fairway, the hole and its surrounding poses another challenge as it is set on a green environment made of rough circle, but this circle is well kept and tended grass. A cup is usually placed in the hole, and it’s marked using a small white or red triangular flag. I do not know which flags they will be using at the Reserva de Marapendi, Olympics Golf Course.

This flag is essential as the golf player targets it as he or she hits the ball using a specific golf club. One flag color is used to mark the first nine holes, while other color marks the reaming nine holes. The first nine holes are known as ‘out’ while the second nine holes are known as ‘home’. The final or the third stage or section is where the player homes the ball referred to as ‘putting’; this is the final stroke of the entire golf play.

The winner of the gold medal in the 2016 Summer Olympics will be the player who completes the 18 holes with the fewest shots. Lets all be ready to see the world's golf heavy weights outwit each other at the Reserva de Marapendi golf course in Rio de Janeiro come August.