Understanding the Summer Olympics Golf Sport

Summer Olympics Golf competitions winning or losing is all tied to how fast a player completes the holes in the fewest shots possible. In the Olympics Golf competition, the golf course is made up of 18 holes. These holes of varying distance with the game played 4 times during the entire Olympics competition. If you want to understand golf at the Summer Olympics, then there some terms in the sport that you need to learn. First of all, there are two types of golf plays. These two ways of playing golf are known as match play while the other is known as medal play.

Match play

Match play is all about golf course holes and the winner or the player who completes the first hole is referred to as 1 up and if in the next hole the two players completes with the same number of shots then it is halved with the 1st player remains 1 up and if the other player completes the third hole first the match is referred to as ‘squared’ and this maybe expected to continue indefinitely but no, that is not the case because over time one player will have many ups than there are holes to play and in cases where are still more holes to play all the 1st player need to do is get ‘halved’ and when that happens, then the player is said to be ‘Dormy’ so many

Medal play

In medal play, the holes are what matters, it’s the player who completes the holes with fewer strokes, and medal play does not put into consideration of the player performance per hole but counts the strokes taken to finish the entire course of 9 or 18 holes. Medal play is strenuous to player as it requires high level of consistency as compared to match play. In the match play if a player takes lets say 6 strokes to complete a hole and he/she was supposed to take 3 strokes, then such a player only loses in that hole, however there is a lot of time to regain the lost position. I am not sure if the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics Golf sport will be match or medal play, we will know as time progresses and more details come to light.

That is not the case with medal play; the 6 will be recorded and may come to haunt him/her destroying the whole competition. Besides, in match play, when a player’s ball goes a hazard or other difficulty areas and many strokes are required to get the ball back to a part of the freeway, all the player needs is to give up that hole by picking his or her ball from the difficult position, but in a medal play that choice is not there, he/she will have to play all the strokes and they will be recorded in the players card and if he/she were to pick up the ball like in match play, the whole competition is lost to the player at that moment.

For the match play, it’s the hole winner who droves first from the next start or tee as its referred in golf and such player is said to have the honors, while if the last hole results were halved, it’s the player with the last up who retains the ‘honor’. If the play is away or out of the hole, it’s the farthest player who plays, this does not take into account if it’s the third or fourth play while the other plays after him/her. Therefore in a match play, ‘putting in the green’ is complicated by ‘stimie’; this is when a player is forced to putt despite the ‘opponent’ ball being on the way to the hole.

Understanding a Summer Olympics golf terms

A golf course has fixed symbols commonly known as ‘bogey’ some golf courses also have ‘par’. Both Bogey and Par are used to judge a player’s performance especially among good players as they measure number of stroke such a player need to play to finish a hole or the entire competition. In a club, member as said to be given handicaps; which are the difference between the average strokes and that of a better rated player. When players are in possession of these handicaps and they need them reviewed, they are required to apply for review of course with evidence showing the players improvement or decline and as such the club ensures that players compete more by arranging competition to ensure strokes are awarded and these strokes are obviously subtracted from actual scores or strokes from specific holes, but this subtraction is based on prior arrangements that is regulated by the said club. In such instances, the player is restricted to getting any advice except from his/her caddie. The Summer Olympics will not have any handicaps, this more of a club thing.

A caddie is the golfer assistant who carries the golfer’s clubs around during competition.

The Caddie's advice is critical because for one, they have seen many competitions, two they know the course very well and three they could be good golfers all together. Therefore, a new player or even a professional one should take caddies advice very seriously as they can help one performs better in a competition. Some may advice by speaking to a golfer while others their face expression can tell a lot. Each club or golf course has their local rules.

Golf in games like Summer Olympics, a case in mind Rio 2016 Summer Olympics where there will be a number of players competing for a Gold, Silver and bronze medal. In such a case, 2 players are drawn against each other with the winners progressing to the next stage or round but it depends if it’s a match play or a medal play.

In match play, the scenario above is used, 2 players compete and the winner progresses to the next round and so forth. While in medal play, the opponents play around with each other but in pairs. In championship, there can be team plays, one team play another team, not in ‘singles’ where only two players compete with each other. A team can have single plays or foursome play.

In foursome 2 players plays against another set of two players where each team/side player plays his/her side shots in turn. Threesome is also done but not in championship but maybe to familiarize with the golf sport. In threesome and even foursome it maybe decided its all against all. There is ever four-ball foursome with each of the four players playing his/her own ball. Besides it can be decided it’s what is known as the ‘Best Ball’. In the best ball, a team of 4 players first split into sets of 2 players on each side and these players drive at each others tee.

After this stage each side continues to play with one best ball, commonly known as the best drive just the same way it was mentioned for foursome initially.

It is important to understand how golf is played in championships, besides the Summer Olympics; there are thousands of other championships throughout the world.

You may have heard open i.e. US Open, Kenya Open etc. Golf championships are either for professional or Armature. Another key aspect is the diversity of golf courses from one country to another. This diversity is either in terrain as well as ‘local rules’ so in whichever course you decide to play, take time and more importantly talk to or observe the caddie expression. Some courses could have wider fairways and with less hazards and obstacles, while others could just be opposite and hence golf players are required to make adjustments from course to course.