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28 interesting golf facts you may not have heard before

1 Golf was banned in Scotland not once but three times as the government believed it interfered with military training

2 Golf was invented in Scotland in the Middle Ages…1457 to be precise !!!

3 Tiger Woods made his first hole in one when he was 8

4 Tiger has 81 PGA wins but Sam Snead has 82

5 Phil Mickelson is right handed but only plays golf left handed

6 Most golfers never break 18 handicap

7 The first round of Womens golf was played in 1867 in Musselburgh

8 There is a 12,500 to 1 chance of making a hole in one

9 Early golf balls were leather and feathers

10 Some early golf balls were made of wood

11 Golf was played on the moon – Alan Shepard hit two balls during the Apollo 14 mission in 1971 with a modified 6 iron

12 Origin of birdie – originated in 1899 when a golfer described an exceptional shot as a bird of a shot

13 The longest hole in golf 1000 yards in the Satsuki GC in Japan

14 Longest drive was 515 yards by Mike Austin in 1974

15 The longest putt was 375 feet by Fergus Muir in Scotland in 2001

16 Modern golf balls have 336 dimples

17 Walking 18 holes can burn off 1000 calories

18 Youngest hole in one was Coby Orr at the age of 5 in 1975

19 The highest golf course is the Yak GC at 14000 feet based at an Indian military base in the Himalays

20 The king of Aces is Mancil Davis with 51 PGA Aces, The first in 1967 and the 51st 40 years later

21 Three aces in one round – belongs to Patrick Wills of Laurel Hill GC USA, achieved in 2015

22 The aptly named Furnace Creek GC in Death Valley at 214 feet below sea level is the hottest Golf Course in the world

23 In 1889 William Boxsom and Arthur Douglas first patented a reuseable golf tee. Its estimated that 1.5 billion tees are sold every year with a value of $100 million 

24 McDonalds v Golf Courses in US 14000 v 15500

25 66million people play golf, 29% female 71% male

26 The original Old Course at St Andrews had 22 holes

27 1.2 billion golf balls are made every year. Golfers lose on average 1.3 per round

28 A Condor is holing out in 4 shots under par – basically a hole in one on a par 5 – 6 recorded