Basics

Golf words, etiquette and the kinds of courses, for anyone new to the game.

• Explainer

  Golf Terms for Beginners: Birdie to Bogey, Explained

  Par is the score an expert golfer is expected to make on a hole. One under par is a birdie, two under an eagle, three under an albatross. One over is a bogey, two over a double bogey. Your gross score is the strokes you took; your net score is that minus your handicap strokes.

• Guide

  Golf Etiquette for Beginners: The Unwritten Rules

  Golf etiquette comes down to three things the Rules of Golf actually ask of you: keep up the pace, look out for the people around you, and leave the course as you found it. In practice that means being ready when it's your turn, staying still and quiet while others swing, shouting "fore" if your ball heads toward someone, and fixing your divots, ball marks and bunker footprints.

• Explainer

  Types of Golf Courses: Par-3 to Private Clubs

  Golf courses differ in three ways: size (from par-3 and executive courses to full regulation 18-hole layouts), who can play (municipal and daily-fee courses are open to anyone, private clubs only to members and their guests), and style (links, parkland, desert and more). About 72% of US courses are open to the public.