Enchanting Golf Traditions (From Around the Globe)

[Nave]

Having had the opportunity to live and work in a few different countries, I've encountered some golf traditions, whether they are well-established customs or unique experiences at local courses. While not all of these are widely practiced, they highlight the diversity and creativity in the golfing world.

1. Japan - The O-Bon Golf Festival
In Japan, during the O-Bon (lantern) Festival, I've seen golf courses hosting night golf events with glowing balls and lantern-lit fairways. It's a serene and beautiful way to combine golf with culture. 

2. Scotland - The Guising Golfers
In Scotland, around Halloween, I've come across golfers participating in "guising," where they dress up in costumes and play a round of golf. It adds a festive twist and a lot of fun to the game.

3. South Korea - The New Year's Honbae
In South Korea, golfers play a round of golf on New Year's Day, followed by a celebratory meal and drinks (9th hole and after the game). It's a time for camaraderie and positive intentions for the year ahead. Besides new year's, on higher end courses, they often break on the 9th hole for some light food and drinks like fancy ramen and makgeolli rice wine (ordered in advance).

4. Australia - The Outback Golf Challenge (I have not experienced this one myself)
In Australia, there is apparently an Outback Golf Challenge, where golfers navigate rough terrain and face unconventional obstacles. It's considered a true test of skill and adaptability (but hasn't produced many PGA golfers 😉 ).

5. Finland - The Midnight Sun Golf Tournament (I have not experienced this one myself)
In Finland, the Midnight Sun Golf Tournament is where golfers play late into the evening under the perpetual twilight of the summer months. The endless daylight makes it a truly unique event.

While these traditions may not be universally established, they represent the variety of golfing experiences around the world.
I'm curious if any of you have encountered or participated in unique or local golf traditions, whether internationally or closer to home.

[ChetlovesMer]

1 hour ago, Nave said:

Having had the opportunity to live and work in a few different countries, I've encountered some golf traditions, whether they are well-established customs or unique experiences at local courses. While not all of these are widely practiced, they highlight the diversity and creativity in the golfing world.

1. Japan - The O-Bon Golf Festival
In Japan, during the O-Bon (lantern) Festival, I've seen golf courses hosting night golf events with glowing balls and lantern-lit fairways. It's a serene and beautiful way to combine golf with culture. 

2. Scotland - The Guising Golfers
In Scotland, around Halloween, I've come across golfers participating in "guising," where they dress up in costumes and play a round of golf. It adds a festive twist and a lot of fun to the game.

3. South Korea - The New Year's Honbae
In South Korea, golfers play a round of golf on New Year's Day, followed by a celebratory meal and drinks (9th hole and after the game). It's a time for camaraderie and positive intentions for the year ahead. Besides new year's, on higher end courses, they often break on the 9th hole for some light food and drinks like fancy ramen and makgeolli rice wine (ordered in advance).

4. Australia - The Outback Golf Challenge (I have not experienced this one myself)
In Australia, there is apparently an Outback Golf Challenge, where golfers navigate rough terrain and face unconventional obstacles. It's considered a true test of skill and adaptability (but hasn't produced many PGA golfers 😉 ).

5. Finland - The Midnight Sun Golf Tournament (I have not experienced this one myself)
In Finland, the Midnight Sun Golf Tournament is where golfers play late into the evening under the perpetual twilight of the summer months. The endless daylight makes it a truly unique event.

While these traditions may not be universally established, they represent the variety of golfing experiences around the world.
I'm curious if any of you have encountered or participated in unique or local golf traditions, whether internationally or closer to home.

Finland: I've played Mid-Night Golf in Finland. Really cool. I looked at the schedule for my week out there and I saw that we were teeing off at 9PM... Feels weird, 9 PM tee time. But it was really great. We finished well after 1AM and sat around and drank on the golf course terrace. It was cool. It's really easy to loose track of time when the sun doesn't set. 

Here's a picture of me in Finland hitting my approach on the final hole. It's roughly 1:30AM in this photo. 

Egypt: Another cool experience was playing golf in Egypt. The entire course is sand. The greens are called browns, cuz they are just sand with oil poured on them and pounded down a bit. Your ball gets kind of oily when you putt, but the caddy cleans it for you after each hole. You carry around a little piece of fake grass (maybe 2 foot square) and place your ball on it each time before you hit. That is except when you go into a sandtrap. The sandtraps are just areas marked off where you don't get to use your little piece of astro-turf. Sometimes they are dug down a bit to make a bunker, sometimes not. 

Spain: No special events or anything, but I played a bunch of golf in Spain in the mid-1990's. At that time Spain's economy wasn't doing the best and Europe hadn't quite switched to the Euro. So Spain was using the Peseta. The country of Spain has some incredibly breathtaking courses. (incredible scenery in general) But because of the conversion from the dollar to the Peseta (If memory serves it was 150 to 1), I got to play them for what I remember as being incredibly inexpensive prices. Gorgeous country and really nice people. 

Holland or The Netherlands: I lived for a couple of years in what's called The Flevoland in Holland. It's one of the Dutch provinces and it's all land that was recovered from the sea. So, it's all under sea-level. One of the courses I played a few times out there had flags on every hole to show just how deep the water would be if it wasn't for the dams. 

Edited February 17, 2025 by ChetlovesMer
I added Holland

[p1n9183]

Argentina: I read about the 3 or 4 clubs challenge in several countries. Here in Argentina, once a year, on several clubs, "Torneo de Brujas" (The witches tournament) is played. It consist on the same concept, only 4 clubs are allowed but the difference is that only woman can play it.
What amaze me is that the winning scores are almost the same as if they were playing with all 14 clubs. Seems like sorcery to me..