National Golf Day

What the day is

National Golf Day is observed on October 4. It marks the game in general rather than any tournament, and October suits it: in much of the northern hemisphere the fairways are still in good condition, the air is cool, and tee times are easier to get than at any point in summer.

Golf carries a reputation for exclusivity that its actual playing population does not entirely match. Municipal courses, public links and pay-and-play clubs account for a large share of rounds, and green fees at those are closer to a cinema ticket than a membership.

Origin and background

The date is not arbitrary. The PGA of America has sponsored National Golf Day since 1952 as a charity event, timed to the anniversary of the first U.S. Men's Open Championship, played October 4, 1895. The arrangement is simple: PGA professionals play rounds with contributors, and entry fees go to charity, a model many courses still run their own version of locally. A separate, more recent 'National Golf Day' is a golf-industry advocacy event held on Capitol Hill each spring, on a date the organizers set fresh every year; it shares a name with this one and nothing else.

The game's own history is firmly Scottish. A recognizable form of golf was played on the Scottish east coast by the fifteenth century, sufficiently popular that parliament tried to ban it for distracting men from archery practice. St Andrews became the game's governing center, and it is from there that the eighteen-hole round became standard, a convention rather than a rule that the rest of the world adopted.

Equipment changed the game more than technique did. Featherie balls gave way to gutta-percha and then to wound and solid-core balls; hickory shafts gave way to steel and then graphite; and clubface design advanced enough that courses have been lengthened repeatedly to keep professional scoring in check.

How to take part

• Play nine rather than eighteen if time is the obstacle. Nine-hole rounds are increasingly promoted and take about half the afternoon.
• Go to a driving range if you have never played. It costs little and answers the question of whether you enjoy hitting a ball.
• Take a beginner with you. The game is losing players at roughly the rate it gains them, and most people start because someone invited them.
• Walk instead of riding if the course allows it. An eighteen-hole walk is around four to five miles.
• If golf is not for you, mini golf is a legitimate substitute and considerably cheaper.