If you don’t follow golf you probably had no idea there was a tournament called “Masters” going on at the beginning of April. Master of what? Well it could be anything, but you’ve definitely figured out by now that the Masters Tournament is a golf one. Which seems a little pretentious (by little, we mean lot), but also it kind of perfectly fits the vibe for golf, doesn’t it? Anyway, unless you’re already super into golf, you’re probably not going to be competing at the Masters Tournament anytime soon. But with zero investment, you can be a golf trivia master, and you can start doing that with golf trivia facts here.
Golf Trivia Facts
1. The Masters Tournament was once called the Augusta National Invitation Tournament when it started in 1934. “Masters” was on the table from the beginning, but co-founders Bobby Jones and Clifford Roberts fought over it because Jones thought “Masters” was too presumptuous.
2. Want to know why the Masters Tournament started getting called the Masters Tournament? Well turns out the media called the then Augusta National Invitation Tournament anyway from 1934-1938. The name was officially changed to Masters in 1939.
3. “Golf” is derived from the mid-15th century Scottish gouf, which is probably an altered version of the Middle Dutch colf. It roughly refers to a club.
4. Unfortunately, trivia fact three does also mean that golf is not an acronym that stands for “Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden.”
5. Speaking of ladies, though, golf might as well be an acronym. The Augusta National Golf Club didn’t admit its first two women members until 2012. They’re Darla Moore and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
6. In 2003 Martha Burk tried to protest at that year’s Masters Tournament to pressure the club into accepting more women into its membership. She was denied a permit to protest.
7. You know that weird, green jacket Masters Tournament champions wear? There are a lot of weird rules about them. You can only keep the jacket for one year, afterwards the custom jacket has to stay at Augusta. Then, past champions can only wear the thing at the club.
8. The modern sand wedge was invented in 1930 by Gene Sarazen.
9. Golf balls do in fact go farther when it’s hot out. But not by a lot, so you’re doing poorly blaming the humidity probably isn’t the play.
10. Patty Berg won the first winner of the US Women’s Open in 1946. She’s also the founder of the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).
11. Jack Nicklaus has the moniker “The Golden Bear,” and is widely considered one of the best golfers of all time. That’s because he has 117 professional tournaments in his career, and 18 major championship wins (three more than Tiger Woods).
12. The odds of a professional golfer getting a hole-in-one on a par-3 hole are 2,500 to 1. The odds of an average amateur-hobby-golfer doing that? 12,500 to 1.
13. Golf balls used to be made of feathers and leather during the 17th century.
14. Golf was played on the Moon during the Apollo 14 mission.
See if you know how golf is scored here.
