Golf Compendium

When a group of golfers is playing a hole, "order of play" is ruled by the concept of "away": The golfer who is away — meaning her golf ball is farthest from the hole — plays first. For much of golf's history, this order of play was either enforced in the rules (for match play) or through the dictates of golf etiquette (stroke play). What about today? Is it a penalty to play out of order — for a golfer to play out of turn — when playing a hole?

Sometimes golfers who are interested in the game's history or the origins of the game's clubs run across the term "grass club." Grass club was an early term for the earliest versions of the clubs that we now call drivers.

The LPGA's rookie of the year award was first handed out in 1962. Today, its official title is Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year. Not surprisingly, the list of winners belows includes some very big names — including a double-digit number of LPGA rookies of the year who went on to earn Hall of Fame membership.

Shelley Hamlin won several tournaments in her LPGA career, which stretched from the 1970s into the 1990s. And twice she won tournaments shortly after receiving a cancer diagnosis.

Every golfer knows who Bobby Jones was: A legend in golf, one of the greatest players of all-time. But do you know how to play the golf game known as Bobby Jones? The Bobby Jones golf game is a fun format for two golfers who have different skill levels, one being better than the other.

Have to admit, I have no recollection of this series of Nike TV commercials made in the late 1990s, featuring Tiger Woods doing a comical "Golf's Not Hard" instructional series.

Which golfers have led the Champions Tour in scoring average each year? That's the question we answer here, and the full list of the tour's annual scoring leaders is below. First, let's point out a few facts about the senior tour's best scorers:

The Glasgow Herald Tournament was a golf tournament in Scotland in the 1920s that was won by some of the biggest names of British golf from that era.

The basic format for the Presidents Cup tournament, between Team USA and Team International, is four days of match play, 30 points total at stake, with the first three days doubles match play (2-vs.-2) and the final day singles match play.

All the matches are over at the USA-vs.-International golf competition called the Presidents Cup, and the score is tied, 15 points to 15 points. What happens? In the Presidents Cup, unlike at the Ryder Cup, a tie really is a tie, and the two sides are co-champions and share the cup until the next competition in two years.

Reg Whitcombe (also known as R.A. Whitcombe) was part of a trio of English brothers who were big stars in the U.K. from the 1920s into the 1940s. But of the three, Reg was the only one who won the British Open.

(Note: The 2020 Ryder Cup will be postponed until 2021, according to reports .) The 2020 Ryder Cup will be the 43rd time the tournament is played. Team United States and Team Europe face off, each comprised of 12 male professional golfers. The all-time standing of the matches is 26 wins for Team USA, 14 for Team Europe, two ties.

The 2021 Solheim Cup was the 17th time the competition was played . Following the European victory, the all-time standings were 10 wins for Team United States, seven wins for Team Europe.

The Presidents Cup teams — United States and International — are made up of 12 golfers per side. How are those golfers selected? What are the qualifying criteria? For both teams, it's a combination of points lists and captain's choice.

The Invesco QQQ Championship was a golf tournament on the Champions Tour, the U.S.-based circuit that is the world's top-level tour for 50-and-over golfers.

Who are the longest drivers in the history of the Champions Tour? Let's take a look at the list of golfers who've led the senior circuit in driving average each year. The Champions Tour has kept this statistic since 1988, so that is how far back the list below goes.

Gardner Dickinson won tournaments on the PGA Tour from the 1950s into the 1970s. But he is best-known for his devotion to Ben Hogan and his stellar Ryder Cup record.

What is the best possible record a golfer can have in the Presidents Cup? Five wins, zero losses, zero draws: 5-0-0. For individual golfers playing the USA vs. International event, five matches is the maximum. So going 5-0-0 is Presidents Cup perfection. And in the history of the tournament, which goes back to 1994, only six golfers (so far) have achieved that perfection:

Which team, and which golfers, have won by the biggest margins in the Presidents Cup? The team record for margin of victory is 11 points, and the golfers' record for margin of victory in a match is 7-and-6.

Below is the list of Presidents Cup captains, all the golfers who've served in that role for Team USA and Team International going back to the first tournament in 1994.

"The Five Founding Clubs" refers to the five golf clubs that, in 1894, got together to create the United States Golf Association (USGA). Those clubs are Newport Country Club, Chicago Golf Club, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, The Country Club (in Brookline, Mass.) and Saint Andrew's Golf Club (in New York, not Scotland).

Cut Throat is the name of a golf game that takes place entirely on the tee box, and should be reserved for rounds played on a mostly empty golf course; or rounds played on a packed golf course where play is very slow and your group is waiting on every tee. Before we get into the details,

Virginia Van Wie was one of the best women golfers of her era (the late 1920s/early 1930s). She won the biggest tournament then open to women three years in a row and then, like her contemporary Bobby Jones, walked away — at the top of her game, but just in her mid-20s.

The 2019 Presidents Cup was the 13th time the tournament was played. It resulted in another win for Team USA, although it required a final-session comeback from the American side. The standings following this event were 11 wins for Team USA, one win for Team International, and one tie.

The whiff. Ouch. It hurts to even say the word. The whiff is one of the most dreaded "shots" in golf, certainly the most-embarrassing. But at least you can always find your golf ball when you whiff! Of course, that's because your ball is still right where it was. You missed. You swung, and you missed the golf ball — that's a whiff. While the whiff itself isn't fun, the lingo that golfers use often is. So here are 13 other terms that golfers use for the dreaded whiff: