Golf
Golf was one of the first modern sports to codify its rules in 1754, in the town of St Andrews in Scotland. However, the origins of this sport date back even further, as there are traces of a similar sport played in the Netherlands that arrived in the British Isles in the 15th century. At the end of the 19th century, the first women’s tournaments were established. Today, there are more than 60 million golfers and over 30,000 golf courses worldwide.
Brief overview of the rules
Golf is a straightforward game in principle and is quite effectively set out in its first rule: “the Game of Golf consists of playing a ball with a club from the teeing ground into the hole by a stroke or successive strokes in accordance with the Rules.” Players use different clubs depending on the type of ground they are hitting the ball from.
The format of golf at the Olympic Games is stroke play, which consists of counting the number of strokes a golfer takes to complete an 18-hole course – played four times over four days. The player with the lowest number of strokes at the end of the four rounds wins the tournament.
Olympic history
Prior to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, golf had featured on the Olympic programme on just two occasions: in 1900 and 1904. The sport made its Olympic comeback in Brazil and was contested again at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021.
Events in 2024
The golf events will take place between the 1st and the 10th of August.
- Individual golf tournament (women’s / men’s)
Venue in 2024
Discover the competition venue concept
International organisation
© Photo by Marcelo Endelli/Getty Images
The pictogram
