Golf:

Golf is a precision club-and-ball sport in which competing players (golfers), using many types of clubs, attempt to hit balls into each hole on a golf course while employing the fewest number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that does not require a standardized playing area. Instead, the game is played on golf "courses", each of which features a unique design, although courses typically consist of either 9 or 18 holes. Golf is defined, in the rules of golf, as "playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules". Golf competition is generally played for the lowest number of strokes by an individual, known simply as stroke play, or the lowest score on the most individual holes during a complete round by an individual or team, known as match play.

Golf

A golfer in his backswing
Highest governing body R&A
USGA
First played 15th century
Characteristics
Contact No
Categorization Outdoor
Equipment Golf ball, Golf Clubs
Olympic 1900, 1904

Origin of Golf:

The origin of golf is unclear and open to debate. Some historians trace the sport back to the Roman game of paganica, in which participants used a bent stick to hit a stuffed leather ball. One theory asserts that paganica spread throughout Britain and Europe as the Romans conquered much of the continent, during the 1st century B.C., and eventually evolved into the modern game. Others cite chuiwan ("chui" means striking and "wan" means small ball) as the progenitor, a Chinese game played in the 8th - 14th centuries. The game is thought to have been introduced into Europe during the Middle Ages. Another early game that resembled modern golf was known as cambuca in England and chambot in France. This game was, in turn, exported to the Low Countries, Germany, and England (where it was called pall-mall, pronounced “pell mell”). Some observers, however, believe that golf descended from the Persian game, chaugán. In addition, kolven (a game involving a ball and curved bats) was played annually in Loenen, Netherlands, beginning in 1297, to commemorate the capture of the assassin of Floris V, a year earlier.

According to the most widely accepted account, however, the modern game originated in Scotland around the 12th century, with shepherds knocking stones into rabbit holes on the current site of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.

Football:

Football is the word given to a number of similar team sports, all of which involve to varying degrees kicking a ball with the foot in an attempt to score a goal. The most popular of these sports worldwide is association football, more commonly known as just "football" or "soccer". However the word football is applied to whichever form of football became most popular in each particular part of the world. Hence the English language word "football" is applied to "gridiron football" a name associated with the North American sports, especially American football and Canadian football, Australian football, Gaelic football, rugby league, rugby union, and related games.

These games involve:

  • Two teams of usually between 11 and 18 players; some variations that have fewer players (five or more per team) are also popular
  • a clearly defined area in which to play the game;
  • scoring goals or points, by moving the ball to an opposing team's end of the field and either into a goal area, or over a line;
  • goals or points resulting from players putting the ball between two goalposts
  • the goal or line being defended by the opposing team;
  • players being required to move the ball—depending on the code—by kicking, carrying or hand passing the ball; and
  • players using only their body to move the ball.

In most codes, there are rules restricting the movement of players offside, and players scoring a goal must put the ball either under or over a crossbar between the goalposts. Other features common to several football codes include: points being mostly scored by players carrying the ball across the goal line; and players receiving a free kick after they take a mark or make a fair catch.

Peoples from around the world have played games which involved kicking or carrying a ball, since ancient times. However, most of the modern codes of football have their origins in England.

 

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