GOLF FACTS
 
"Golf has overtaken baseball and hockey in popularity in television ratings (in the U.S.) and is on par with basketball and sometimes equals viewership of football."  And "ratings rise 40 percent when Tiger Woods is playing."   Bob Williams at Burns Sports, a Chicago sports marketing company.
 
Around 50 course operators operators in Japan filed for bankruptcy in 2001. This is a record.  The number of players in this once golf-mad country is plunging because of the nation's continuing economic troubles.  In the economic boom of the late 1980s, the costs of games and golf club memberships skyrocketed. The memberships themselves became targets of investment and speculation.
(Source: AP, December 31, 2001)
 
The odds of making two holes-in-one in a round of golf are 67 million to one.
(Source: GolfDigest.com)
 
On an average, Tour players hit only seven fairways per round. They hit 12 greens in regulation. They only make 50 percent of their six footers.
(Source: GolfDigest.com)
 
Better leave the pin in when hitting short shots from off the green. Dave Pelz and his research team hit thousands of balls with the pin in and out. If you leave the pin in, you'll improve your chance of a hole-out by 34 percent.
(Source: Golf Magazine, October 2001)
 
The odds of beating your handicap by three shots are 200-1, Dean Knuth, a former statistician with the United States Golf Association, worked out.  To beat it by five shots are 500-1. To beat it by ten shots is more than 1,000,000-1.
(Source: The Guardian, October 19, 2001)
 
Until World War II, about 750 golf books were written. In the past 40 years that number has soared to more than 10,000 titles.  Currently, it is estimated that more than 200 golf books are published out each year.
(Source: GolfJournal.com)
 
Hickory clubs date from when golf was first played and their range is only 5 per cent less than modern ones.
(Source: The Times, September 1, 2001)
 
The average golf handicap has not improved in the past 20 years, despite advanced golf intructors, instruction videos and books, improved courses, and improved golf balls and equipment.
(Source: National Golf Foundation, 2001)
 
* There are something like 50 million golfers in the world. (Elsewhere, we have read 27 million.)
* The average gross score: 107 shots.
* Eighty percent of the golfers do not achieve a handicap of less than 18.
 

WOMEN'S GOLF TERMS

CADDY:  2 women talking about a 3rd who isn't there to defend herself
CHIPPING:  time to get our nails done again
DOUBLE BOGIE:  "Casablanca" followed by "African Queen"
FAIRWAY:  splitting the bill when the girls go to lunch
GOOD LIE:  weight on our driver's license
GREENS:  lunch we eat when we really want a cheeseburger
IRON:  what guys need to learn to do their own shirts
ROUGH:  getting a guy to understand, well, pretty much anything
SHAFT:  you watch the kids while he gets to go golfing
SLICE:  "No, thanks ..... just a sliver"
TEES:  putting on that Victoria Secret Negligee
WATER HAZARD:  giving the kids too much to drink before a road trip
WEDGE:  bathing suit that's too tight.

 

NEW GOLF BOOK

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Chapter 1     How  To Properly Line Up Your Fourth Putt

Chapter 2     How To Hit a Nike From The Rough When You Hit a Titleist From The Tee

Chapter 3     How To Avoid The Water When You Lie 8 In a Bunker

Chapter 4     How To Get More Distance Off The Shank

Chapter 5     When To Give The Ranger The Finger

Chapter 6     Using Your Shadow On The Greens To Maximize Earnings

Chapter 7     When To Implement Handicap Management

Chapter 8     Proper Excuses For Drinking Beer Before 9am

Chapter 9     How To Rationalize a 6 Hour Round

Chapter10    How To Find That Ball That Everyone Else Saw Go In The Water

Chapter11    Why Your Spouse Doesn't Care That You Birdied The 5th

Chapter12    How To Let a Foursome Play Through Your Twosome

Chapter13    How To Relax When You Are Hitting Three Off The Tee

Chapter14    When To Suggest Major Swing Corrections To Your Opponent

Chapter15    God And The Meaning Of The Birdie-to-Bogey Three Putt

Chapter16    When To Re-grip Your Ball Retriever

Chapter17    Can You Purchase a Better Golf Game

Chapter18    Why  Male Golfers Will Pay $5 a Beer From The Cart Girl and Give Her a $3 Tip, But Will Balk At $3     And Stiff The Bartender on The 19th Hole