As spring sports are underway, The Chronicle is back with our breakdown of every sport, including key rules, terminology, tournament formats and more. Click here to access our beginner's guide to all other sports. This is our golf edition:
Overview
While nothing matches cheering for the Blue Devils inside Cameron Indoor Stadium, the women’s golf team at Duke boasts seven NCAA championships, the greatest number in Duke athletics. Many sports tend to rely on a team working together and players feeding on one another to lead the team to success; however, golf is much more of an individualized sport. Collegiate and professional golf players require an outstanding ability to hit different clubs, assess the terrain and mental toughness to push through even if they are not playing their best round of golf.
As opposed to other sports, there is no clock in golf that dictates when the match will be over. Instead, once all of the individuals on both teams have finished playing and the scores are tallied, then the winner will be decided. Additionally, a player hopes to obtain a low score after playing in a match, not a high score. Teams compete with each other by having individuals play 18 holes, where holes Nos. 1-9 are called the “front nine,” and Nos. 10-18 are referred to as the “back nine”. Each hole varies in the way that it is designed, including whether it has a sand trap, water and short or long yardage.
Terminology
Stroke: A stroke is any attempt to hit the golf ball while it is in play. Almost every collegiate golf tournament is in stroke-play format, where the number of strokes is the only number that counts when assessing competition.
Match play: This format is a tally of what holes a golfer “wins”. A golfer wins a hole by scoring better than the other person in the pair. Whoever wins the most holes wins the match. The winning player will have a score denoted by a “number&number." The first number denotes how many holes ahead they won by, and the second number is how many holes were left in the match. The team's score is a combination of all points, or holes, that player won.
Par: The number of strokes expected for a skilled golfer to get the ball in the hole. Holes may be par 3, par 4 or par 5. This is determined mainly by length of the hole and any hazards on the course.
Bogey: A bogey is any score on a hole that is 1-over par. Double and triple bogeys are 2- and 3-over par, respectively, and so on. These on the scorecard are denoted by a box on the scorecard
Birdie: Birdies are the opposite. This is when a golfer gets the ball into the hole at 1-under par.
Eagle: On the topic of birds, an eagle represents 2-under par.
Ace: Also known as a hole in one, this is any score where the golfer gets the ball into the hole in one stroke.
Tee box: This is where the hole begins. Most courses have different tee markers that represent different yardage starting points. Reds are towards the front and are for beginners, whereas collegiate players start at the black tees in the back, otherwise known as championship tees. This is the only place where a player can put their ball on a tee.
Fairway: This is the area between the tee box and the green. This can be recognized as it is where the grass is closely mown. A big objective in golf is to get the ball off the tee shot into the fairway, as it usually gives the best approach and visual onto the green.
Green: This is the end of the hole where the pinned flag is located. Players putt their balls here and it is the smoothest and shortest grass anywhere on the golf course. Different courses will have different slope ratings, which means the grass is manipulated differently to where the ball will either roll faster or quicker.
Fore: If you hear the players yell this word, you should probably duck, because it means that a ball is in danger of hitting fans.
Hazard: These are obstacles throughout the golf course designed to give the golfer a challenge. These may include water hazards such as rivers or streams. Sand bunkers are designed for a more meticulous exit shot. Out of bounds is signified mainly by red stakes.
Rules and penalties
Players are seeded by coaches and will tee off with the same seed from other teams. A "shotgun start" occurs when every player starts their round simultaneously at different holes. For all stroke-play events, five players play and only the top four scores will be counted towards the team totals.
Once play begins, the player that is furthest from the hole hits first. With regards to the order on the next tee box, the player who had the best score in the previous hole has “honors” and can choose to tee off first. If scores were the same on that hole, the order is repeated from the previous tee box.
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Players are usually accountable for their own penalties and keep track of the score of other golfers in the group. Players must sign both their own card and the card they were keeping track of.
Clean and replace: After heavy rain, tournament officials may enact a clean-and-replace policy where a golfer may pick up their resting ball, clean it up and place it back on the ground no closer to the hole.
Water hazard: If a golfer’s ball ends up in the water and is not playable, that individual may drop a replacement ball near the water, but no closer to the hole. Some holes may have a “drop zone,” which is a white circle. No matter what, they will still receive a one-stroke penalty.
Provisional ball: If a player hits a ball to where they believe is a non-playable area, a player may announce they are hitting a provisional ball. Once the provisional ball is hit, it is not in play unless the original ball is not found within the three-minute search time. If a provisional ball is in play, one stroke shall be added. This is the general rule, but it may differ by course or tournament.
Out of bounds: If a ball lands out of bonds, the player will hit a new ball from the original location where it was hit.
Season format
Teams play year-round, with seasons often starting in September for both men’s and women’s programs. Postseason play kicks off at the end of the spring, with the 2025 ACC and NCAA Championships scheduled for April and May, respectively.
Men’s golf
As of the 2024-25 season, there are 307 Division I men’s golf programs. Twelve ACC schools have made their return, and three new teams — Stanford, Cal and SMU — have joined the conference in both men’s and women’s golf. Duke plays 12 tournaments in the regular season, with five in the fall and seven in the spring.
ACC Tournament: All conference teams qualify for the championship, regardless of season performances. The tournament is structured with three rounds of stroke play before the field gets cut to the top four scoring teams. After the 54 holes, the top individual scorer is crowned the conference individual champion. The top four teams then enter a single-elimination match-play bracket, with their position determining their seed and the winner of the bracket earning the ACC title. The 2025 ACC Championship will take place April 24-28.
NCAA Tournament: Like in-conference, the NCAA Championship uses a combination of match play and stroke play competition to determine its team winner.
The NCAA organizes six regional tournaments, and each field consists of 13-14 teams and five to 10 individuals. After three rounds of stroke play at a regional tournament, the top five teams from each location advance to the national championship. The top individual on a non-advancing team from each regional site advances as well.
At the national championship, the 30 teams and six participants face off, beginning with another three rounds of stroke play. The field is then nearly halved: Only the top 15 teams and top nine individuals on a non-advancing team advance to a fourth round. Results from the fourth round of stroke play competition determine match play seeding. The top individual through 72 holes is crowned the NCAA individual national champion.
The top eight teams then enter a single-elimination match-play bracket, with their order of finish determining their seed. The team that survives three rounds of match play, beating opponents in rounds of quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, becomes the NCAA national champion.
The 2025 NCAA Championship is scheduled for May 23-28.
Women’s golf
As of the 2024-25 season, there are 282 Division I women’s golf programs. Duke plays eight tournaments in the regular season, with half in the fall and half in the spring.
ACC Tournament: All conference teams qualify for the championship, regardless of season performances. The tournament is structured with three rounds of stroke play before the field gets cut to the top four scoring teams. After the 54 holes, the top individual scorer is crowned the conference individual champion. The top four teams then enter a single-elimination match play bracket, with their position determining their seed and the winner of the bracket earning the ACC title. The 2025 ACC Championship will take place April 16-19.
NCAA Tournament: Like in-conference, the NCAA Championship uses a combination of match play and stroke play competition to determine its team winner.
The NCAA organizes six regional tournaments, and each field consists of 12 teams and six individuals. After three rounds of stroke play at a regional tournament, the top five teams from each location advance to the national championship. The top individual on a non-advancing team from each regional site advances as well.
At the national championship, the 30 teams and six participants face off, beginning with another three rounds of stroke play. The field is then nearly halved: Only the top 15 teams and top nine individuals on a non-advancing team advance to a fourth round. Results from the fourth round of stroke play competition determine match play seeding. The top individual through 72 holes is crowned the NCAA individual national champion.
The top eight teams then enter a single-elimination match-play bracket, with their order of finish determining their seed. The team that survives three rounds of match play, beating opponents in rounds of quarterfinals, semifinals and finals, becomes the NCAA national champion.
The 2025 NCAA National Championship is scheduled for May 16-21.
Coaching staff and recent trends
Men’s golf
Duke men’s golf is led by head coach Jamie Green. Green began his tenure with the Blue Devils in 2009, and has helped guide them to a pair of ACC championships as well as eight NCAA Championship appearances. In the 2023-24 season, Duke placed sixth in the ACC Tournament before the Blue Devils finished their season with an exit in the third round of the NCAA Championships.
Women’s golf
Duke women’s golf is led by head coach Dan Brooks. He has won seven national titles in 40 years with the Blue Devils, as well as 21 ACC Championships. Their most recent ACC title came in 2021, and last season, they finished fifth in the competition. In the NCAA Tournament, Duke placed a respectable 14th, but this year Brooks’ squad will look to improve on both finishes in their quest for an eighth NCAA title.
Ryan Kilgallen is a Trinity sophomore and an associate news editor for the news department.