4 Interesting Golf Facts
Alright, if there’s one thing that we know applies to us and very likely applies to you too it’s that we’re all pretty much mad about golf. We’re blessed to have all the great golf in Palm Desert all around us, and we imagine there’s plenty of good golf courses near where you are in the country too. The thing about golf is that it becomes more than a hobby, and like so many other favorite activities if it’s something you’re into then it’s something you’re really into.
We’re talking about dreaming about eagles after eagles, putting in LONG from the fringe, and twirling your club like a swashbuckler after hitting the perfect approach shot. If you’re hear reading this blog about golf in Palm Desert then we imagine we’re preaching to the choir, as the expression goes. And if you live in our neck of the woods here in California you likely know that golf in the Coachella Valley is an all year thing.
We definitely are fortunate that way, as for many golf enthusiasts elsewhere in America the coming end of September means the end of golf season. It is what it is, but might we recommend coming out and visiting us here in Palm Desert for a round of golf? Highly recommended if you can afford to do so, and the accommodations and hospitality for guests here IS first rate.
Again though, when you’re an avid golfer you just can’t get enough of everything related to golf. So for everyone who doesn’t have an office practice putter or something similar, we thought we could cater to your love of golf in Palm Desert or elsewhere by making today’s blog entry about Interesting and Strange golf facts that might surprise even the most dedicated of golf nuts.
So here they are!
Craters as Sand Traps
Most golfers don’t have much of a dual-sport identity with track and field, but we have to imagine there are a few golfers out there who’ve thrown a javelin or hurled a shotput in their day. If there’s one of you out there we do admire your feats of strength, and hope your experience with a javelin went better than this one for an athlete at the University of Georgia.
Alright, enough about javelins. Where are we going with this? Turns out that javelin throwing is one of only TWO sports that have been played on the moon. The other, as you probably would have guessed, is golf!
In 1971, the land here at our Palm Desert Golf and Country Club wasn’t even developed, but that’s when US astronaut and Apollo 14 flight member Allan Sheppard put a ball down and went through it with his 6-iron. He had to do so one-handed on account of all the cumbersome-ness of his space suit, but yes – he played golf on the moon.
Kindergartner Hole-in-1
While it’s true that the majority of golfers get their first hole in one on a par 3 and ones with a flat green, most of us still haven’t got one and when we do we’re usually fully grown adults if not downright old. It isn’t easy to do for anyone, but if you’re still looking for your first one then you might not want to know the following; Coby Orr is now in his mid-forties, but in 1975 he became the youngest person to ever get a hole in one when he did it at the age of 5!
It happened on the 103 yd fifth at the Riverside Golf Course in San Antonio, TX, but it doesn’t matter where you are – if you’re 5 and you can go 100+ yards and drain it right off the tee then you deserve a LOT of fanfare!
LONG off the Tee!
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the longest field goal in NFL history was kicked by Matt Prater of the Denver Broncos IN Denver at Mile High in 2013. 63 yards is one heck of a kick, and there’s no doubt a major factor in that pigskin splitting the uprights form as far as it did was the thin air up there.
Now I will freely admit that I would struggle to kick a 30-yard field goal in any conditions, but put a quality driver in my hands at the range and I can go really long pretty consistently. Well, some of you may have even hit some pretty impressive drives up there in the Rockies yourselves, and that’s something those of us playing golf in Palm Desert know nothing about.
But have you ever thought about how far you could smash that ball if you were 14,355 feet above sea level? Well give it some thought, but unfortunately even if you were able to get down to South America and visit the Tactu Golf Club in Morococha, Peru you’ll find it’s no longer operational and overgrown with weeds now.
Imagine John Daly on the tee box there if it wasn’t though.
17 at TPC Sawgrass – Underwater Bounty
The 17 at TPC Sawgrass is arguably the most iconic hole in all of golf, and really there’s no other that quite tests a golfers ability to have control with approach shots and the ability to ‘stick’ on the green. Fail to do so, and you know what’s going to happen.
Splash!
But just how many times does that happen? Well, it’s reported that some 125 thousand golf balls go ‘into the drink’ there each year! Yep, there’s that many balls that meet the murk at the bottom of that pond. And no, you’re not able to bring all your scuba gear and go to retrieve them.
Even just during the final round of last year’s PGA tour event the PROS put 17 of them in the water. 17 for 17, how about that?
Now of course we don’t have any hole quite so challenging at our Palm Desert golf course, but it’s a challenging course in it’s own right. If you’d like to book a tee time or get golf lessons in Palm Desert, please go ahead and do so and take advantage of the fact that you can golf year-round here in the Coachella Valley. In our opinion, it’s one of the biggest perks of living here in this part of California.
