These days you can play a round on the ice floes in the Arctic, in the war zones of Afghanistan and Iraq and on the plains of Africa.
The rich history of the sport has produced a wealth of screwball, outlandish and just plain weird tales:
• Golf was invented in Scotland over 500 years ago, but the Chinese claim a similar game as far back as 943 AD. • In a three-day span on a course in Wales, a mother, father and son each made a hole-in-one; the odds of this feat are at least 10,000,000 to one. • The Toonik Tyme Festival in Nunavut features a nine-hole golf tournament on sea ice with fluorescent balls and parka-clad golfers at Temperatures of-50 degrees Celsius. • Four-time long-drive champion Jason Zuback once drove a golf ball over 700 yards on an airport runway. • Eight of the world's oldest golf clubs owned by the Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland are worth at least $5 million.
