Golf

Basics

Golf is a professional sport played by humans. It has grown in prominence in the 21st century and now sits at the pinnacle of the sports entertainment industry, with billions of dollars spent on its development, exhibition and distribution every week.

Gameplay

The game of golf involves a group of players, either singly or in a team, working their way towards a hole from a starting point called the tee. Contrary to popular belief, however, the aim of the game is not to place the ball in the hole - for that would be quite simple - but a more challenging goal of making sure the hit ball does not fall into the hole itself. Bonus points are scored for successive attempts where the ball moves in close proximity to the hole.

The ball itself is made of a carbon fibre exterior surrounding a mercury-based core. This combination of materials allows high tensile strength while maintaining a liquid fluidity that increases the distances and trajectories covered by the ball when in motion. Sports manufacturer Abercrombie & Fitch have also recently announced a new prototype golf ball, made of a polyester alloy which is said to magnify and multiply the velocity of the angle of incidence and optimise the generation of free radicals during the course of the game through a combination of ionic bonding and atmospheric coagulation.

Players are also required to use clubs to make contact with the balls. During bonus rounds, the clubs are used on opposing players in an attempt to incapacitate them so as to hinder their progress in any particular tournament, event or single-day match.

History & Significance

Starting out as a rather simple game, the art of golf grew to encompass and mirror various aspects of society. Sigmund Freud postulated that gold was developed by a man who grew up in an absive family, traumatised by balls and clubs as a child. Due to the worldwide acceptance and glorification of the game today, many expert sociologists have went on to agree with and modify Freud's theory to say that this sad fact is prevalent in nearly every modern culture as well.

Karl Marx had also once wrote a detailed paper on the cultural, economic and metaphysical aspects of golf in the communist world. In it, Marx explained at great length the way golf "represents an outlet for the working class community to take control of their world, displacing the economically-powerful from the pedestals they have bought and gold-plated". However, as this paper was originally available to all but the working class, the original aim for the paper was warped and golf was then strictly controlled and regimented, removing any opportunities for ther revolution that Marx had so hoped for.

Golf in Media

Golf has appeared in many manifestations of the media and their assorted media texts. This can be attributed to the public's widespread fanaticism with the sport, and the way movie moguls attempt to take advantage of the wants and needs of their audiences.

Happy Gilmore: This dark thriller centred around an amateur golfer named "Happy" who was anything but, and explored many of the fears and subconcious sexual desires (e.g. Penguins) associated with golf that Freud originally suggested.

A Walk to Remember: Starring Academy award-winning actress Mandy Moore and directed by her father Michael, this film was originally promoted as a comic narrative on American golfers, but had many rather obvious jabs at the American government, something the director has had problems with since his career began.

Speed III: Released in 2007, the highly-anticipated sequel to the first two movies of similiar names, Speed III lived up to all the hype as it centred around a man forced to complete games of golf in alloted times to prevent a bomb from exploding in the Atlantic Ocean.

Ocean's Eighteen: After the disappointments of the Ocean's series after the distasters of Fifteen and Seventeen (Sixteen was cancelled after actress Megan Fox withdrew from filming), many expected this installment of the fantasy action-thriller to be another box-office flop. However, director Michael Bay revamped the saga, breathing new life into the film by introducing elements of golf which the movie focused on almost entirely.

The Lion King: Perhaps the most famous golf movie ever made, the movie is dedicated to, and is a biography of the world's most successful golfer to date, Lion Forests. This was also the highest grossing movie to ever be released in Cambodia.