Today is about the game of golf.

QUOTE from Mark Twain: "Golf is a good walk spoiled.."
QUOTE from Winston Churchill: "I could never believe in a game where the one who hits the ball least wins."

Golf season has arrived and I'm anxious to get started  I like to know where things originated so today I'll write about some interesting facts I LEARNED about the game of golf.

Golf got its name from KOLF (meaning "club"), a game similar to golf that was played in 13th century Holland. KOLF, which used clubs and counted  the number of times the ball was struck, made its way to Scotland in the 1400s. The Scots added the hole  - perhaps the key and crowning ingredient - and continued to make refinements until the game evolved into what it is today.

The Scots are credited for setting the standard round of golf at 18 holes.

The word "caddie" was coined by Mary, Queen of Scots, who was an avid golfer as a young girl. When she was away at school, she had young men, "cadets" (pronounced "cad-day"), carry her clubs for her.

Before the invention of rubber, golfers used a "feathery ball", a fragile leather pouch filled with boiled goose feathers.

William Howard Taft was the nation's first golfing president.

The PGA was founded in 1916 in New York. Today, there are over 23,000 men and women golf professionals in the world.

There are over 11,000 golf courses in North America. There are over 50 million golfers in the world. Eighty per cent of them will never achieve a handicap of less than 18. (I'm one of them)

There are over 336 dimples on a regular golf ball. The odds of a hole in one are one in 40,000.

One of the longest shots ever driven was 2,400 feet, nearly one-half mile. Who shot it? Astronaut Alan Sheppard while teeing it up on the moon.

HUMOR for today: I read the PICKLES comic every day. It is the story of Earl and Opal, a couple of senior citizens - it starts my day with a good laugh.

Nelson, the eight year old grandson, is talking to Grandma Opal:
Nelson says, "Grandpa said its important to have a thick skin. He said it keeps you from getting your feelings hurt when people say mean things. I think Grandpa has a really thick skin, don't you?

Grandma responds: I suppose, but that's nothing compared to his thick skull."

Grandma says, "