Golf Course Features Guide: Learn All the Different Parts of a Golf Course

Are you ready to move from golf novice to golf expert? One of the first steps that you should take is to learn the parts of a golf course. You're going to be spending a lot of time on the course as you refine your play, so it's a good idea to become familiar with its components. The following guide to golf course features can help you get started.

The Whole Thing Is the Hole

An 18-hole golf course doesn't just have 18 little cups to catch the balls. It also has 18 playing areas. Each of them ends with one of those cups, but to get there, you must navigate a series of grassy stretches that are lined with hazards.

Altogether, these playing areas make up the holes of a golf course. So when you think of the word "hole," remember that doesn't refer to just the termination of each section but its full stretch from beginning to end.

The Starting Point: The Tee

Most golfers set their balls on tees before taking their first shots. This is done in the teeing ground or teeing box. More specifically, a teeing box is a larger area that holds multiple teeing grounds. There are multiple teeing grounds for each hole in order to accommodate players of different skill levels.

Don't forget to bring your own tees! They aren't built into the teeing box. Learn more about golf essentials in the video below:

Some courses have a starter's shack near the first tee. Golfers should check in at this station before beginning a round and should wait until the attendant tells them it is their turn to proceed to the first teeing box.

Head Here Next: The Fairway

The fairway is like a path that leads from the teeing box to the putting green, which is the end point of the hole. This stretch is often 30 to 50 yards long.

To help you move the ball along, the grass in the fairway is kept short. If you hit the ball onto the fairway with your first shot, you'll be in a good position to make it to the green on your next shot.

One thing to note: If you're playing a par-3 hole, there may not be a fairway. Since this is a shorter hole than a par-4 or par-5, you can hit straight from the teeing ground to the putting green.

Try to Stay out of Here: The Rough

In general, the shorter the grass on the course is, the easier it is to hit the ball. Therefore, maintenance teams keep the fairways and greens closely cropped. The same can't be said of the roughs, however.

These are the areas alongside the fairways and greens where the grass is allowed to grow longer. Hit your ball into the rough, and you're going to be in for a bit of a challenge as you try to get it back out. On many courses, the farther you've gone off the main pathway, the wilder and more challenging the rough becomes.

Here's a handy hint: When you find yourself in the rough, your best bet is to meet the ball with as much clubface as you can manage.

Stay Far Away from These: The Hazards

What's golf without a few challenges? The hazards are features on the course that are designed to up the challenge level of the game.

Bunkers are one common type of hazard. These are depressions or cut-out areas that are filled with sand or another material. Golf courses often add trees, plants, small walls or other features to add to the visual appeal and playing complexity of bunkers.

Hitting your golf ball into a bunker is easy. Getting it out can be quite a challenge. The sandy surface makes the task a tricky one, and specific rules about bunker play can further complicate the job.

In addition to dry, sandy bunkers, golf courses also feature water hazards. These may be creeks, ponds, retention basins or any other bodies of water on the course. Water hazards are marked with yellow or red stakes.

You can't usually hit your ball out of the water; in fact, trying to do so could prove to be a miserable experience. Therefore, you have to take a penalty stroke to lift your ball out of the water.

Almost to the Hole: The Green

After the fairway comes the putting green, which is the last section of a hole. This area of the course may be 6,000 square feet or more.

The green has very closely trimmed grass so that you can control your putts. That doesn't make the green easy, however. Greens have slopes and curves that can make getting your ball toward its ultimate goal a challenge.

Good players learn to read the green. This means that they analyze the putting green in order to determine the best shots for getting the ball into the hole. Learn more in the video below:

The Final Step: The Hole

The goal of golf is to get your ball into the cup that is positioned on the green. Once you complete that mission, you are finished with that hole.

Ideally, you'll stay within par as you do this. In other words, you'll take only the recommended number of shots to get your ball into the hole. It can take a lot of practice to get to that point, however.

Regulation golf holes must conform to exact specifications. They must be 4.5 inches in diameter and a minimum of 4 inches in depth.

Golf courses regularly adjust the position of the holes on a course, so even if you played the course yesterday, you might need to aim for a slightly different end goal today. Rearranging their position helps keep the course in good shape. The holes should be marked with flags, so keep your eyes open for those as you play.

The golf course is this sport's playing field. To excel at the game, you must become closely acquainted with the various features of the course and learn how to read them. The better you understand the course, the more your shots will improve.

Now that you're familiar with the basic parts of a golf course, be sure to study up on the different types of courses.