How Amateurs Can Qualify for Professional Golf Events
Some of golf's biggest stories involve amateurs playing alongside professionals. While most professional events are for tour members, there are several routes for top amateurs to qualify or be…
Category
Tournaments & Pro Golf
How professional golf works — tours, formats, team events and what to watch for.
Who Runs Golf? Governing Bodies and Organisations Explained
Golf has a layered structure: global rules bodies that write the rules, national associations that run amateur golf and handicaps, regional associations, professional associations, tours and…
Golf Leagues Explained: Weekly Golf for Fun and Competition
Golf leagues offer regular, structured golf with the same group of players over a season. Many play nine holes on a weekday evening, making them perfect for busy golfers. They combine competition…
Club Championships: How They Work and How to Prepare
The club championship is the highlight of many golf clubs' calendars. It crowns the club's best golfer, often over several rounds or through match play, and usually includes handicap events so…
Senior Competitive Golf: Events and Opportunities for Over-50s
Competitive golf doesn't stop at 50. Many golfers play some of their best and most enjoyable competitive golf in later life, through seniors' sections, senior amateur championships, age-group events…
How Golf Courses Are Set Up for Tournaments
When professionals play a course, it rarely looks or plays like it does for everyday golfers. Greens are faster, rough is thicker, fairways may be narrower and pin positions more challenging. Club…
Modified Stableford Explained: Points That Reward Aggressive Golf
Modified Stableford is a variation of Stableford scoring that rewards birdies and eagles more heavily and penalises bogeys and worse. It encourages aggressive, attacking golf and has been used in…
Shotgun Starts Explained: How They Work and What to Expect
A shotgun start is a way of starting a golf event with every group teeing off at the same time, each on a different hole. It's common at golf days, charity events, society outings and some…
Golf Prize Money Explained: How Professionals Get Paid
Headlines about huge winner's cheques suggest every professional golfer is wealthy. In reality, prize money is concentrated at the top, most professionals have significant expenses, and many earn a…
Watching Golf on TV: How to Follow and Enjoy the Coverage
Golf coverage has never been better. Shot tracers show the flight of the ball, statistics reveal how players are performing, and streaming lets you follow individual groups or holes. But if you're…
Golf Playoffs Explained: How Ties Are Decided
When two or more golfers finish level at the top of a leaderboard, something has to separate them. Professional tournaments usually use playoffs, either sudden death or over several holes. Match play…
Team Golf Competitions Explained: Formats, Points and Strategy
Golf is mostly an individual game, but team competitions produce some of its most exciting moments. International team matches between continents and nations draw huge crowds, while club matches…