A hole of golf basically consists of hitting a golf ball from a tee on the teeing ground called a tee box, and once the golf ball comes to rest, striking it again, and repeating this technical process until the ball at last comes to rest in the cup. The aim of holing the ball in as few strokes as possible may be impeded by various obstructions, such as bunkers and water hazards.On longer holes the green is too far away to reach with the first stroke, so that one or more strokes are played from the fairway where the grass is cut so low that most balls can be easily played or from the rough, grass which is cut much longer than fairway grass, or which may be uncut. "Rough" also may be ground which is not prepared at all.

In most cases in golf, the rough continues along both sides of the fairway. Many holes include hazards, namely bunkers or sand traps, from which the ball is more difficult to play than from grass or fairway, and water hazards lakes, ponds, rivers, and such!. Special rules apply to playing balls that come to rest in a hazard, which make it highly undesirable to play a ball into one.

A ball in a water hazard may be played as it lies or may be replaced by dropping another ball outside the water, but a stroke penalty occurs in the latter case. The grass of the putting green is cut very very short so that a ball can roll easily over distances of several metres with out a bobbel or infringment. To putt the golf ball means to play a stroke, usually but not always on the green, where the golf ball does not leave the ground. The direction of growth of individual blades of grass affects the roll of a golf ball and is called the grain of the green. The hole must have a diameter of 108 mm and a depth of at least 100 mm. Its pin position on the green is not always the same and may be changed many times. This hole on the green has a flag on a pole positioned in the center. This flag is often called "the pin".