118-695: Obuasi is a gold mining town and is the capital of the Obuasi Municipal District in the Ashanti Region of Ghana . It lies in the southern part of the Obuasi Municipal and is located about 39 mi (63 km) from Kumasi . As of 2012, the town has a population of 175,043 people. The current mayor (executive chief) of the town is Hon. Elijah Adansi-Bonah. Obuasi is home to the Obuasi Gold Mine , one of
236-399: A fault . Water often lubricates faults, filling in fractures and jogs. About 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) below the surface, under very high temperatures and pressures, the water carries high concentrations of carbon dioxide, silica, and gold. During an earthquake, the fault jog suddenly opens wider. The water inside the void instantly vaporizes, flashing to steam and forcing silica, which forms
354-477: A mayor–council form of government . The mayor, or executive chief, is appointed/approved by the town council, the Obuasi Municipal Assembly and the president of Ghana . The current mayor of the town is Hon. Elijah Adansi-Bonah. About 81.7% of the population is Christian, of which 33.2% are Pentecostal/Charismatic, 19.7% are Protestant, 14% is Catholic while 14.8% are other Christians. This
472-538: A "Pay and Play" course open to the general public. Notable examples include Pinehurst in the US and Gleneagles in Scotland. A municipal course is owned and managed by a local government body for the benefit of residents and visitors. Some of the historic Scottish golf courses, including St Andrews and Carnoustie fall into this category along with Bethpage and Pebble Beach in the US and many others of less renown. It
590-542: A 21-hole golf course, for instance, will have three additional holes that can be used for practice or as substitutes for a flooded or otherwise damaged hole. Many golf courses have what may be referred to as a "signature hole". This will commonly be the most memorable, aesthetically pleasing or photogenic hole. Links is a Scottish term, from the Old English word hlinc : "rising ground, ridge", describing coastal sand dunes and sometimes similar areas inland. It
708-459: A costly and time-consuming weed. Augusta National is one of many golf courses to use this type of green. The original design of Augusta National did not include bent grass greens, but in the early 1980s the greens were converted from Bermuda to bent grass. This affected the speed of the greens, making them too quick, and several areas were subsequently remodelled to reduce the slopes and make them more playable. Many other golf courses subsequently made
826-477: A device that removes a plug of the turf from the ground, and the reinforced cup is then moved, before the old hole is filled in with the plug cut from the new hole and levelled. The hole has a flag on a pole positioned in it so that it may be seen from a distance, but not necessarily from the tee. This location marker is officially called the "flagstick" but is also commonly referred to as the "pin". Flagsticks are made of either coated fiberglass, metal, or wood and have
944-483: A dilute solution of gold(III) chloride or chlorauric acid . Unlike sulfur, phosphorus reacts directly with gold at elevated temperatures to produce gold phosphide (Au 2 P 3 ). Gold readily dissolves in mercury at room temperature to form an amalgam , and forms alloys with many other metals at higher temperatures. These alloys can be produced to modify the hardness and other metallurgical properties, to control melting point or to create exotic colors. Gold
1062-579: A gold-from-seawater swindle in the United States in the 1890s, as did an English fraudster in the early 1900s. Fritz Haber did research on the extraction of gold from sea water in an effort to help pay Germany 's reparations following World War I . Based on the published values of 2 to 64 ppb of gold in seawater, a commercially successful extraction seemed possible. After analysis of 4,000 water samples yielding an average of 0.004 ppb, it became clear that extraction would not be possible, and he ended
1180-830: A golden hue to metallic caesium . Common colored gold alloys include the distinctive eighteen-karat rose gold created by the addition of copper. Alloys containing palladium or nickel are also important in commercial jewelry as these produce white gold alloys. Fourteen-karat gold-copper alloy is nearly identical in color to certain bronze alloys, and both may be used to produce police and other badges . Fourteen- and eighteen-karat gold alloys with silver alone appear greenish-yellow and are referred to as green gold . Blue gold can be made by alloying with iron , and purple gold can be made by alloying with aluminium . Less commonly, addition of manganese , indium , and other elements can produce more unusual colors of gold for various applications. Colloidal gold , used by electron-microscopists,
1298-492: A golf course, where players may simply hit balls into the range for practice or enjoyment. There may even be a practice course (often shorter and easier to play than a full-scale course), where players may measure the distance they can obtain with a specific club, or in order to improve their swing technique. Practice courses often consist of old holes of a previous design that are kept and maintained for practice purposes or as substitute holes if one or more holes become unplayable;
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#17327652968281416-471: A hazard the player must play the ball as it lies. The area between the tee box and the putting green where the grass is cut even and short is called the fairway . The area between the fairway and the out-of-bounds markers, and also between a mowed apron surrounding the green and out of bounds, is the rough ; the grass there is cut higher and is often of a coarser strain than on the fairways, making roughs disadvantageous areas from which to hit. On par-3 holes,
1534-567: A large alluvial deposit. The mines at Roşia Montană in Transylvania were also very large, and until very recently, still mined by opencast methods. They also exploited smaller deposits in Britain , such as placer and hard-rock deposits at Dolaucothi . The various methods they used are well described by Pliny the Elder in his encyclopedia Naturalis Historia written towards the end of
1652-417: A long distance; conversely, on a slow green a stronger stroke is necessary to roll the ball the same distance. The exact speed of a green can be determined with a stimp meter . By collecting sample measurements, golf courses can be compared in terms of average green speed. It is, however, illegal by the rules of golf to test the speed of a green while playing by rolling a ball on it, or by feeling or rubbing
1770-407: A metal or synthetic bottom (called a ferrule) that is designed to fit in the hole cup. Putting greens are not all of the same quality. The finest-quality greens are well-kept so that a ball will roll smoothly over the closely mowed grass. Excess water can be removed from a putting green using a machine called a water hog . Golfers describe a green as fast if a light stroke on the ball makes it roll
1888-553: A non-standard number of holes, such as 12 or 14. The vast majority of golf courses have holes of varying length and difficulties that are assigned a standard score, known as par , that a proficient player should be able to achieve; this is usually three, four or five strokes. Par-3 courses consist of holes all of which have a par of three. Short courses have gained in popularity; these consist of mostly par 3 holes, but often have some short par 4 holes. Many older courses are links , often coastal . The first golf courses were based on
2006-462: A novel type of metal-halide perovskite material consisting of Au and Au cations in its crystal structure has been found. It has been shown to be unexpectedly stable at normal conditions. Gold pentafluoride , along with its derivative anion, AuF − 6 , and its difluorine complex , gold heptafluoride , is the sole example of gold(V), the highest verified oxidation state. Some gold compounds exhibit aurophilic bonding , which describes
2124-490: A professional football club , is located in the town and is based at Len Clay Stadium . Obuasi sister cities is of the following: 06°12′N 01°41′W / 6.200°N 1.683°W / 6.200; -1.683 Gold Gold is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Au (from Latin aurum ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a bright , slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable , and ductile metal . Chemically, gold
2242-443: A raised lip or barrier. It is more difficult to play the ball from sand than from grass, as the ball may embed itself into the sand, and the loose nature of the sand and more severe sloping of many bunkers make taking one's stance more difficult. As in any hazard, a ball in a bunker must be played without touching the sand with the club except during the stroke, and loose impediments (leaves, stones, twigs) must not be moved before making
2360-480: A redevelopment project began to help increase production at the site. It is currently in its 3th phase and is expected to be completed by late-2024. Other major economic sectors in the town include timber , blacksmithing , and small-scale agriculture . Obuasi train station is on the Ashanti railway line to and from Kumasi (59.4 km (36.9 mi) or 1 hour 2 minutes south-west of Kumasi). The only airport in
2478-401: A sheet of 1 square metre (11 sq ft), and an avoirdupois ounce into 28 square metres (300 sq ft). Gold leaf can be beaten thin enough to become semi-transparent. The transmitted light appears greenish-blue because gold strongly reflects yellow and red. Such semi-transparent sheets also strongly reflect infrared light, making them useful as infrared (radiant heat) shields in
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#17327652968282596-520: A solution of Au(OH) 3 in concentrated H 2 SO 4 produces red crystals of gold(II) sulfate , Au 2 (SO 4 ) 2 . Originally thought to be a mixed-valence compound, it has been shown to contain Au 4+ 2 cations, analogous to the better-known mercury(I) ion, Hg 2+ 2 . A gold(II) complex, the tetraxenonogold(II) cation, which contains xenon as a ligand, occurs in [AuXe 4 ](Sb 2 F 11 ) 2 . In September 2023,
2714-751: A traditional 18-hole course, and the artificial nature and single-minded putting focus of miniature golf . Pitch and Putt, specifically its governing association the IPPA, has received financial support and logo rights from the R&;A. In 2014, the PGA Tour held a Champions Tour event on a nine-hole par-3 course, the Big Cedar Lodge Legends of Golf in Ridgedale, Missouri , with four (regular division) or three (over-65 division) rounds played over
2832-417: A traditional full round of 18 distinct holes. Many older executive courses have been upgraded "in-place" to 18 holes and a traditional par score, or the original course was sold for other development and new land was acquired and built into an 18-hole course. By contrast, par-3 courses, especially Pitch and Putt, are rising in popularity as a compromise between the long play time and high skill levels required of
2950-470: Is Au with a half-life of 2.27 days. Gold's least stable isomer is Au with a half-life of only 7 ns. Au has three decay paths: β decay, isomeric transition , and alpha decay. No other isomer or isotope of gold has three decay paths. The possible production of gold from a more common element, such as lead , has long been a subject of human inquiry, and the ancient and medieval discipline of alchemy often focused on it; however,
3068-696: Is Au , which decays by proton emission with a half-life of 30 μs. Most of gold's radioisotopes with atomic masses below 197 decay by some combination of proton emission , α decay , and β decay . The exceptions are Au , which decays by electron capture, and Au , which decays most often by electron capture (93%) with a minor β decay path (7%). All of gold's radioisotopes with atomic masses above 197 decay by β decay. At least 32 nuclear isomers have also been characterized, ranging in atomic mass from 170 to 200. Within that range, only Au , Au , Au , Au , and Au do not have isomers. Gold's most stable isomer
3186-669: Is a transition metal , a group 11 element , and one of the noble metals . It is one of the least reactive chemical elements, being the second-lowest in the reactivity series . It is solid under standard conditions . Gold often occurs in free elemental ( native state ), as nuggets or grains, in rocks , veins , and alluvial deposits . It occurs in a solid solution series with the native element silver (as in electrum ), naturally alloyed with other metals like copper and palladium , and mineral inclusions such as within pyrite . Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium ( gold tellurides ). Gold
3304-648: Is also known, an example of a mixed-valence complex . Gold does not react with oxygen at any temperature and, up to 100 °C, is resistant to attack from ozone: Au + O 2 ⟶ ( no reaction ) {\displaystyle {\ce {Au + O2 ->}}({\text{no reaction}})} Au + O 3 → t < 100 ∘ C ( no reaction ) {\displaystyle {\ce {Au{}+O3->[{} \atop {t<100^{\circ }{\text{C}}}]}}({\text{no reaction}})} Some free halogens react to form
3422-520: Is also used in infrared shielding, the production of colored glass , gold leafing , and tooth restoration . Certain gold salts are still used as anti-inflammatory agents in medicine. Gold is the most malleable of all metals. It can be drawn into a wire of single-atom width, and then stretched considerably before it breaks. Such nanowires distort via the formation, reorientation, and migration of dislocations and crystal twins without noticeable hardening. A single gram of gold can be beaten into
3540-427: Is always richer at the exposed surface of gold-bearing veins, owing to the oxidation of accompanying minerals followed by weathering; and by washing of the dust into streams and rivers, where it collects and can be welded by water action to form nuggets. Gold sometimes occurs combined with tellurium as the minerals calaverite , krennerite , nagyagite , petzite and sylvanite (see telluride minerals ), and as
3658-525: Is around 1,270 millimetres or 50 inches and the average temperature 26.5 °C or 79.7 °F with highs of 30 °C or 86 °F and lows of 23 °C or 73.4 °F. Relative humidity is around 75% - 80% in the wet seasons . Obuasi is the site of Obuasi Senior High Technical School , a coeducational second cycle public high school. Christ the King Catholic Senior High School, St. Margaret Senior High School, and
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3776-517: Is attributed to wind-blown dust or rivers. At 10 parts per quadrillion, the Earth's oceans would hold 15,000 tonnes of gold. These figures are three orders of magnitude less than reported in the literature prior to 1988, indicating contamination problems with the earlier data. A number of people have claimed to be able to economically recover gold from sea water , but they were either mistaken or acted in an intentional deception. Prescott Jernegan ran
3894-448: Is followed by Islam (13.3%), traditional religions (0.2%), other religions (0.7%), and people who don't reside with any religion (4.1%). Obuasi is known for the Obuasi Gold Mine , one of the largest underground gold mines in the world. It is operated by AngloGold Ashanti . Gold has been mined on the site since the late 19th century. Most of the production at the mine stopped in 2014 after being placed under care and maintenance. In 2018,
4012-470: Is found in ores in rock formed from the Precambrian time onward. It most often occurs as a native metal , typically in a metal solid solution with silver (i.e. as a gold/silver alloy ). Such alloys usually have a silver content of 8–10%. Electrum is elemental gold with more than 20% silver, and is commonly known as white gold . Electrum's color runs from golden-silvery to silvery, dependent upon
4130-591: Is increasingly common for the management of municipal courses to be contracted out to commercial or other organisations or the course to be sold or shut down completely. Many commercial and municipal establishments have associated golf clubs , who arrange competitions for their members on the courses and may provide clubhouse facilities. In the UK particularly, some older private members clubs have an associated "Artisan" club, originally established to provide low-cost golf with limited playing rights in exchange for unpaid work on
4248-472: Is most often called the oldest since this treasure is the largest and most diverse. Gold artifacts probably made their first appearance in Ancient Egypt at the very beginning of the pre-dynastic period, at the end of the fifth millennium BC and the start of the fourth, and smelting was developed during the course of the 4th millennium; gold artifacts appear in the archeology of Lower Mesopotamia during
4366-500: Is naturally treeless and this combined with their coastal location makes wind and weather an important factor in links golf. Traditional links courses are often arranged with holes in pairs along the coastline; players would play "out" from the town through a series of holes to the furthest point of the course, and then would return "in" along the second set of holes. The holes may share fairways and sometimes greens (such as at St Andrews to economize on land use, but in modern times this
4484-542: Is now questioned. The gold-bearing Witwatersrand rocks were laid down between 700 and 950 million years before the Vredefort impact. These gold-bearing rocks had furthermore been covered by a thick layer of Ventersdorp lavas and the Transvaal Supergroup of rocks before the meteor struck, and thus the gold did not actually arrive in the asteroid/meteorite. What the Vredefort impact achieved, however,
4602-505: Is on links land near the towns of central eastern Scotland that golf has been played since the 15th century. The shallow top soil and sandy subsoil made links land unsuitable for the cultivation of crops or for urban development and was of low economic value. The links were often treated as common land by the residents of the nearby towns and were used by them for recreation, animal grazing and other activities such as laundering clothes. The closely grazed turf and naturally good drainage of
4720-615: Is partially represented by the American Society of Golf Course Architects , the European Institute of Golf Course Architects , and the Society of Australian Golf Course Architects , although many of the finest golf course architects in the world choose not to become members of any such group, as associations of architects are not government-sanctioned licensing bodies, but private groups. While golf courses often follow
4838-531: Is played from raised artificial teeing surfaces using a tee and it has its own handicap system. There are three main categories of ownership and management of a golf course: private, commercial, and municipal. A private course is owned and managed by a golf club on behalf of its members, on a non-profit basis. Many of the courses opened during the golf booms in the late 19th and early 20th centuries are of this type. Some courses, such as Augusta National , are highly exclusive and will only allow visitors to play at
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4956-491: Is rare due to the potential for injury from balls coming the other way. Famous links courses include the Old Course at St. Andrews , often described as the "Home of Golf", and Musselburgh Links , which is generally regarded as the first recorded golf course. The Open Championship , the oldest of golf's major championships, is always played on a links course. Links and links-style golf courses have been developed throughout
5074-427: Is red if the particles are small; larger particles of colloidal gold are blue. Gold has only one stable isotope , Au , which is also its only naturally occurring isotope, so gold is both a mononuclidic and monoisotopic element . Thirty-six radioisotopes have been synthesized, ranging in atomic mass from 169 to 205. The most stable of these is Au with a half-life of 186.1 days. The least stable
5192-553: Is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia (a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid ), forming a soluble tetrachloroaurate anion . Gold is insoluble in nitric acid alone, which dissolves silver and base metals , a property long used to refine gold and confirm the presence of gold in metallic substances, giving rise to the term ' acid test '. Gold dissolves in alkaline solutions of cyanide , which are used in mining and electroplating . Gold also dissolves in mercury , forming amalgam alloys, and as
5310-484: Is similarly unaffected by most bases. It does not react with aqueous , solid , or molten sodium or potassium hydroxide . It does however, react with sodium or potassium cyanide under alkaline conditions when oxygen is present to form soluble complexes. Common oxidation states of gold include +1 (gold(I) or aurous compounds) and +3 (gold(III) or auric compounds). Gold ions in solution are readily reduced and precipitated as metal by adding any other metal as
5428-589: Is the soluble form of gold encountered in mining. The binary gold halides , such as AuCl , form zigzag polymeric chains, again featuring linear coordination at Au. Most drugs based on gold are Au(I) derivatives. Au(III) (referred to as auric) is a common oxidation state, and is illustrated by gold(III) chloride , Au 2 Cl 6 . The gold atom centers in Au(III) complexes, like other d compounds, are typically square planar , with chemical bonds that have both covalent and ionic character. Gold(I,III) chloride
5546-657: Is thought to have been delivered to Earth by asteroid impacts during the Late Heavy Bombardment , about 4 billion years ago. Gold which is reachable by humans has, in one case, been associated with a particular asteroid impact. The asteroid that formed Vredefort impact structure 2.020 billion years ago is often credited with seeding the Witwatersrand basin in South Africa with the richest gold deposits on earth. However, this scenario
5664-511: Is thought to have been produced in supernova nucleosynthesis , and from the collision of neutron stars , and to have been present in the dust from which the Solar System formed. Traditionally, gold in the universe is thought to have formed by the r-process (rapid neutron capture) in supernova nucleosynthesis , but more recently it has been suggested that gold and other elements heavier than iron may also be produced in quantity by
5782-416: Is unaffected by most acids. It does not react with hydrofluoric , hydrochloric , hydrobromic , hydriodic , sulfuric , or nitric acid . It does react with selenic acid , and is dissolved by aqua regia , a 1:3 mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid . Nitric acid oxidizes the metal to +3 ions, but only in minute amounts, typically undetectable in the pure acid because of the chemical equilibrium of
5900-666: The Chu (state) circulated the Ying Yuan , one kind of square gold coin. In Roman metallurgy , new methods for extracting gold on a large scale were developed by introducing hydraulic mining methods, especially in Hispania from 25 BC onwards and in Dacia from 106 AD onwards. One of their largest mines was at Las Medulas in León , where seven long aqueducts enabled them to sluice most of
6018-602: The Old Testament , starting with Genesis 2:11 (at Havilah ), the story of the golden calf , and many parts of the temple including the Menorah and the golden altar. In the New Testament , it is included with the gifts of the magi in the first chapters of Matthew. The Book of Revelation 21:21 describes the city of New Jerusalem as having streets "made of pure gold, clear as crystal". Exploitation of gold in
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#17327652968286136-658: The Varna Necropolis near Lake Varna and the Black Sea coast, thought to be the earliest "well-dated" finding of gold artifacts in history. Several prehistoric Bulgarian finds are considered no less old – the golden treasures of Hotnitsa, Durankulak , artifacts from the Kurgan settlement of Yunatsite near Pazardzhik , the golden treasure Sakar, as well as beads and gold jewelry found in the Kurgan settlement of Provadia – Solnitsata ("salt pit"). However, Varna gold
6254-446: The green , is an area of very closely trimmed grass on relatively even, smooth ground surrounding the hole, allowing players to make precision strokes on it. To "putt" is to play a stroke on this surface, usually with the eponymous " putter " club, which has very low loft so that the ball rolls smoothly along the ground, and hopefully into the cup. The shape and topology of the green can vary almost without limit, but for practical purposes
6372-470: The reducing agent . The added metal is oxidized and dissolves, allowing the gold to be displaced from solution and be recovered as a solid precipitate. Less common oxidation states of gold include −1, +2, and +5. The −1 oxidation state occurs in aurides, compounds containing the Au anion . Caesium auride (CsAu), for example, crystallizes in the caesium chloride motif; rubidium, potassium, and tetramethylammonium aurides are also known. Gold has
6490-416: The teeing ground , or tee-box. There is typically more than one available box where a player places his ball , each one a different distance from the hole (and possibly with a different angle of approach to the green or fairway) to provide differing difficulty. The teeing ground is generally as level as feasible, with closely mown grass very similar to that of a putting green, and most are slightly raised from
6608-583: The College of Integrated Health Care are other schools that can be found in the town. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology also has a campus in the town. The town is home to numerus healthcare facilities, such as the AGA Hospital, owned and operated by AngloGold Ashanti, and St. Jude Hospital, owned by Dr George Owusu-Asiedu. Obuasi has a golf course , which hosts the annual Obuasi Captain's Golf Tournament. The Ashanti Gold Sporting Club ,
6726-589: The Satsuki golf course in Sano , Japan, are the only courses with par-7 holes. Par is primarily determined by the playing length of each hole from the teeing ground to the putting green . Holes are generally assigned par values between three and five, which includes a regulation number of strokes to reach the green based on the average distance a proficient golfer hits the ball, and two putts . On occasion, factors other than distance are taken into account when setting
6844-517: The Southern and Southwestern United States) are bent grass greens. A green may consist of a thin carpet so that bad weather is not allowed to become a serious factor in maintaining the course. These are considered the best greens because they may be cut to an extremely low height, and because they may be grown from seed. Bent grass does not have grain, which makes it superior as a putting surface. However, bent grass may become infested with Poa annua ,
6962-424: The ability of the player to "take a divot" (effectively, the ability to hit down into the ball, hitting the ball first, then hitting the turf and removing a portion of it as the club continues its arc). Fairways on prestigious tours, like the PGA Tour, are cut low. Mowing heights influence the play of the course. For example, the grass heights at U.S. Open events are alternated from one hole to the next in order to make
7080-425: The appearance and feel of real grass compared to a sand surface. Holes often include hazards, which are special areas that have additional rules for play, and are generally of two types: (1) water hazards, such as ponds, lakes, and rivers; and (2) bunkers, or sand traps. Special rules apply to playing a ball that falls in a hazard. For example, a player may not touch the ground or water with their club before playing
7198-401: The ball may be supported by a manufactured tee (limited to a height of four inches), or by any natural substance, such as a mound of sand placed on the teeing surface. After the first shot from the tee ("teeing off"), the player whose ball is farthest from the green hits the ball from where it came to rest; this spot is known as its "lie". When the ball is in play and not out of bounds or in
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#17327652968287316-471: The ball, not even for a practice swing. A ball in any hazard may be played as it lies without penalty . If it cannot be played from the hazard, the ball may be hit from another location, generally with a penalty of one stroke. The Rules of Golf specify exactly the point from which the ball may be played outside a hazard. Bunkers are small to medium areas, usually lower than the fairway but of varying topography, that are filled with sand and generally incorporate
7434-574: The club, as then it is easier to play just a 9-hole round, if preferred, or stop at the clubhouse for a snack between the front 9 and the back 9. A successful design is as visually pleasing as it is playable. With golf being a form of outdoor recreation, the strong designer is an adept student of natural landscaping who understands the aesthetic cohesion of vegetation, water bodies, paths, grasses, stonework, and woodwork, among many other elements. Most golf courses have only par-3, −4, and −5 holes, although some courses include par-6 holes. The Ananti CC and
7552-402: The clubhouse, and thus the front 9 is referred to on the scorecard as "out" (heading out away from clubhouse) and the back 9 as "in" (heading back in toward the clubhouse). More recent courses (and especially inland courses) tend to be routed with the front 9 and the back 9 each constituting a separate loop beginning and ending at the clubhouse. This is partly for the convenience of the players and
7670-1409: The corresponding gold halides. Gold is strongly attacked by fluorine at dull-red heat to form gold(III) fluoride AuF 3 . Powdered gold reacts with chlorine at 180 °C to form gold(III) chloride AuCl 3 . Gold reacts with bromine at 140 °C to form a combination of gold(III) bromide AuBr 3 and gold(I) bromide AuBr, but reacts very slowly with iodine to form gold(I) iodide AuI: 2 Au + 3 F 2 → Δ 2 AuF 3 {\displaystyle {\ce {2Au{}+3F2->[{} \atop \Delta ]2AuF3}}} 2 Au + 3 Cl 2 → Δ 2 AuCl 3 {\displaystyle {\ce {2Au{}+3Cl2->[{} \atop \Delta ]2AuCl3}}} 2 Au + 2 Br 2 → Δ AuBr 3 + AuBr {\displaystyle {\ce {2Au{}+2Br2->[{} \atop \Delta ]AuBr3{}+AuBr}}} 2 Au + I 2 → Δ 2 AuI {\displaystyle {\ce {2Au{}+I2->[{} \atop \Delta ]2AuI}}} Gold does not react with sulfur directly, but gold(III) sulfide can be made by passing hydrogen sulfide through
7788-413: The course (a ravine or creekbed may be termed a "water hazard" even if completely dry) Often, a golf course will include among its facilities a practice range or driving range , usually with practice greens, bunkers, and driving areas. Markers showing distances are usually included on a practice range for the golfer's information. Driving ranges are also commonly found as separate facilities, unattached to
7906-545: The course more difficult. One example of this is the infamous roughs at U.S. Opens, which are often 3 to 5 inches high, depending on how close to the fairway or green the section of grass will be. This makes it difficult for a player to recover after a bad shot. Variants of grass used for fairways and roughs include bent grass , Tifway 419 Bermuda grass , rye grass , Kentucky bluegrass , and Zoysiagrass . As in putting-green grass types, not every grass type works equally well in all climate types. The putting green , or simply
8024-455: The course on a long lunch or as part of a meeting. They are also popular with young professionals, because during the normal golf season, the course can usually be played in the time between the end of the work day and sundown. The popularity of the 9-hole course has waned in recent decades; a full 18-hole course still allows for the player to play only the "front nine" or "back nine" as a shorter game, while attracting more golfers seeking to play
8142-444: The decision to change from Bermuda to bent grass when they observed increased business at courses that had already changed over. Another type of grass common for greens is TifDwarf Hybrid Bermuda (other variants exist, but TifDwarf is one of the most common), or simply Bermuda grass. Bermuda is more common in regions that have very warm summers and mild winters, such as the Southern and Southwestern United States. Red Bridge Golf Course
8260-424: The densest element, osmium , is 22.588 ± 0.015 g/cm . Whereas most metals are gray or silvery white, gold is slightly reddish-yellow. This color is determined by the frequency of plasma oscillations among the metal's valence electrons, in the ultraviolet range for most metals but in the visible range for gold due to relativistic effects affecting the orbitals around gold atoms. Similar effects impart
8378-689: The early 4th millennium. As of 1990, gold artifacts found at the Wadi Qana cave cemetery of the 4th millennium BC in West Bank were the earliest from the Levant. Gold artifacts such as the golden hats and the Nebra disk appeared in Central Europe from the 2nd millennium BC Bronze Age . The oldest known map of a gold mine was drawn in the 19th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt (1320–1200 BC), whereas
8496-565: The first century AD. Golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box , a fairway , the rough and other hazards , and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". The cup holds a flagstick, known as a "pin". A standard round of golf consists of 18 holes, and as such most courses contain 18 distinct holes; however, there are many 9-hole courses and some that have holes with shared fairways or greens. There are also courses with
8614-591: The first written reference to gold was recorded in the 12th Dynasty around 1900 BC. Egyptian hieroglyphs from as early as 2600 BC describe gold, which King Tushratta of the Mitanni claimed was "more plentiful than dirt" in Egypt. Egypt and especially Nubia had the resources to make them major gold-producing areas for much of history. One of the earliest known maps, known as the Turin Papyrus Map , shows
8732-403: The gold acts simply as a solute, this is not a chemical reaction . A relatively rare element, gold is a precious metal that has been used for coinage , jewelry , and other works of art throughout recorded history . In the past, a gold standard was often implemented as a monetary policy . Gold coins ceased to be minted as a circulating currency in the 1930s, and the world gold standard
8850-404: The grass which are raked out at the sod farm), which are laid out on the green. Two downside factors of Bermuda greens are cost of maintenance, and also the existence of grain (the growth direction of the blades of grass), which affects the ball's roll and which is called "the grain of the green" and not to be confused with "the rub of the green" which are idiosyncrasies encountered getting through
8968-411: The green is usually flatter than other areas of the course, though gentle slopes and undulations can add extra challenge to players who must account for these variations in their putting line. The green typically does not include any fully enclosed hazards such as sand or water; however, these hazards can be — and often are — placed adjacent to the green, and depending on
9086-414: The green on the line of the putt. Most putts are not struck directly at the hole, instead they must be struck to take into account the characteristics of the green to arrive at the hole at the proper angle and speed. The best players will read the green by walking around the green and studying the characteristics of the green before addressing the ball. Many golfers consider reading the green and putting to be
9204-418: The green. The cost of installing and maintaining grass greens constitutes a considerable proportion of the expense of installing and maintaining a golf course. To save money, many low budget courses catering to casual players have sand greens instead of real grass. In recent years, artificial turf has also become an increasingly popular surface as a less costly alternative to grass which more closely resembles
9322-503: The higher grass can interfere with the path of the ball, so players often choose to use a lofted club such as an iron to make a " chip shot " or a "bump and run", where the ball carries in the air for a few yards and then rolls along the green like a normal putt. The grass of the putting green (more commonly just "green") is cut very short so that a ball can roll for a long distance. The most common types of greens are for cold winter, but warmer summer regions (i.e., not extremely warm, as in
9440-563: The highest electron affinity of any metal, at 222.8 kJ/mol, making Au a stable species, analogous to the halides . Gold also has a –1 oxidation state in covalent complexes with the group 4 transition metals, such as in titanium tetraauride and the analogous zirconium and hafnium compounds. These chemicals are expected to form gold-bridged dimers in a manner similar to titanium(IV) hydride . Gold(II) compounds are usually diamagnetic with Au–Au bonds such as [ Au(CH 2 ) 2 P(C 6 H 5 ) 2 ] 2 Cl 2 . The evaporation of
9558-426: The hole. The slope or break of the green also affects the roll of the ball. The hole, or cup, is always found within the green and must have a diameter of 108 millimeters (4.25 in) and a depth of at least 10 centimeters (3.94 in). Its position on the green is not fixed and typically is changed daily by a greenskeeper in order to prevent excessive localized wear and damage to the turf. A new hole will be cut by
9676-459: The invitation of and alongside a member of the club. Others allow visitors at certain times but may insist on advance booking and proof of golfing competency. A commercial course is owned and managed by a private organization and is operated for profit. They may be constructed to provide a core or supplementary attraction for visitors to a hotel or commercial resort, as the centrepiece to a real estate development, as an exclusive Country Club , or as
9794-420: The largest known gold deposits on Earth. The Gold Coast region was named after the large amount of gold mined, historically at Obuasi and the bordering Ashanti Region. The area which makes up Obuasi have historically been mined for multiple centuries. The town became an important economic center after the discovery of a large gold deposit in 1897 and the building of a railway from Sekondi in 1902. Obuasi has
9912-431: The links was ideal for golf, and areas of longer grass, heather, low growing bushes and exposed sand provided the hazards that are familiar on modern courses. Although early links courses were often close to the sea it was rarely used as a hazard, perhaps due to the instability of the dunes closest to the water and the high cost of hand-made golf balls precluding anything that could result in their irrecoverable loss. The land
10030-547: The mineral quartz, and gold out of the fluids and onto nearby surfaces. The world's oceans contain gold. Measured concentrations of gold in the Atlantic and Northeast Pacific are 50–150 femtomol /L or 10–30 parts per quadrillion (about 10–30 g/km ). In general, gold concentrations for south Atlantic and central Pacific samples are the same (~50 femtomol/L) but less certain. Mediterranean deep waters contain slightly higher concentrations of gold (100–150 femtomol/L), which
10148-439: The most difficult part of the game. The green is typically surrounded by slightly higher grass, cut at a height between that of the green and fairway, and then by the fairway and/or rough. This longer grass surrounding the green is known as the fringe and is designed to slow and stop balls rolling along the green from an approach shot or errant putt, preventing them from exiting the green. Though putting strokes can be made on it,
10266-411: The noble metals, it still forms many diverse compounds. The oxidation state of gold in its compounds ranges from −1 to +5, but Au(I) and Au(III) dominate its chemistry. Au(I), referred to as the aurous ion, is the most common oxidation state with soft ligands such as thioethers , thiolates , and organophosphines . Au(I) compounds are typically linear. A good example is Au(CN) − 2 , which
10384-474: The number of holes of each par value per course. It is also preferable to arrange greens to be close to the tee box of the next playable hole, to minimize travel distance while playing a round, and to vary the mix of shorter and longer holes. Combined with the need to package all the fairways within what is frequently a compact square or rectangular plot of land, the fairways of a course tend to form an oppositional tiling pattern. In complex areas, two holes may share
10502-437: The original landscape, some modification is unavoidable. This is increasingly the case as new courses are more likely to be sited on less optimal land. Bunkers and sand traps are always built in by architects unless the formation of such items is already in the course's natural terrain. The layout of a course follows certain traditional principles, such as the number of holes (nine and 18 being most common), their par values, and
10620-549: The par for a hole; these include altitude, terrain and obstacles that result in a hole playing longer or shorter than its measured distance, e.g. route is significantly uphill or downhill, or requiring play of a stroke to finish short of a body of water before hitting over it. Under the United States Golf Association , the typical distances for the various holes from standard tees are as follows: Men Women The first section of every hole consists of
10738-418: The par-3 course, and one round played on a nearby regulation 18-hole course with par of 71. Pitch and putt is an amateur sport , similar to golf and is also known as chip and putt. The maximum hole length for international competitions is 90 metres (100 yd) with a maximum total course length of 1,200 metres (1,310 yd). Players may only use three clubs ; one of which must be a putter . The game
10856-576: The plan of a gold mine in Nubia together with indications of the local geology . The primitive working methods are described by both Strabo and Diodorus Siculus , and included fire-setting . Large mines were also present across the Red Sea in what is now Saudi Arabia . Gold is mentioned in the Amarna letters numbered 19 and 26 from around the 14th century BC. Gold is mentioned frequently in
10974-404: The player is expected to be able to drive the ball to the green on the first shot from the tee box. On holes longer than par 3, players are expected to require at least one additional shot to reach their greens. While many holes are designed with a direct line-of-sight from the teeing ground to the green, a hole may bend either to the left or to the right. This is called a "dogleg", in reference to
11092-464: The project. The earliest recorded metal employed by humans appears to be gold, which can be found free or " native ". Small amounts of natural gold have been found in Spanish caves used during the late Paleolithic period, c. 40,000 BC . The oldest gold artifacts in the world are from Bulgaria and are dating back to the 5th millennium BC (4,600 BC to 4,200 BC), such as those found in
11210-690: The r-process in the collision of neutron stars . In both cases, satellite spectrometers at first only indirectly detected the resulting gold. However, in August 2017, the spectroscopic signatures of heavy elements, including gold, were observed by electromagnetic observatories in the GW170817 neutron star merger event, after gravitational wave detectors confirmed the event as a neutron star merger. Current astrophysical models suggest that this single neutron star merger event generated between 3 and 13 Earth masses of gold. This amount, along with estimations of
11328-620: The rare bismuthide maldonite ( Au 2 Bi ) and antimonide aurostibite ( AuSb 2 ). Gold also occurs in rare alloys with copper , lead , and mercury : the minerals auricupride ( Cu 3 Au ), novodneprite ( AuPb 3 ) and weishanite ( (Au,Ag) 3 Hg 2 ). A 2004 research paper suggests that microbes can sometimes play an important role in forming gold deposits, transporting and precipitating gold to form grains and nuggets that collect in alluvial deposits. A 2013 study has claimed water in faults vaporizes during an earthquake, depositing gold. When an earthquake strikes, it moves along
11446-420: The rate of occurrence of these neutron star merger events, suggests that such mergers may produce enough gold to account for most of the abundance of this element in the universe. Because the Earth was molten when it was formed , almost all of the gold present in the early Earth probably sank into the planetary core . Therefore, as hypothesized in one model, most of the gold in the Earth's crust and mantle
11564-935: The reaction. However, the ions are removed from the equilibrium by hydrochloric acid, forming AuCl − 4 ions, or chloroauric acid , thereby enabling further oxidation: 2 Au + 6 H 2 SeO 4 → 200 ∘ C Au 2 ( SeO 4 ) 3 + 3 H 2 SeO 3 + 3 H 2 O {\displaystyle {\ce {2Au{}+6H2SeO4->[{} \atop {200^{\circ }{\text{C}}}]Au2(SeO4)3{}+3H2SeO3{}+3H2O}}} Au + 4 HCl + HNO 3 ⟶ HAuCl 4 + NO ↑ + 2 H 2 O {\displaystyle {\ce {Au{}+4HCl{}+HNO3->HAuCl4{}+NO\uparrow +2H2O}}} Gold
11682-473: The rest of the gold on Earth is thought to have been incorporated into the planet since its very beginning, as planetesimals formed the mantle . In 2017, an international group of scientists established that gold "came to the Earth's surface from the deepest regions of our planet", the mantle, as evidenced by their findings at Deseado Massif in the Argentinian Patagonia . On Earth, gold
11800-486: The same result and showing that the isotopes of gold produced by it were all radioactive . In 1980, Glenn Seaborg transmuted several thousand atoms of bismuth into gold at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Gold can be manufactured in a nuclear reactor, but doing so is highly impractical and would cost far more than the value of the gold that is produced. Although gold is the most noble of
11918-502: The same tee box, fairway, or even green. It is also common for separate tee-off points to be positioned for men, women, and amateurs, each one respectively lying closer to the green. Eighteen-hole courses are traditionally broken down into a "front 9" (holes 1–9) and a "back 9" (holes 10–18). On older courses (especially links courses, like the Old Course at St. Andrews), the holes may be laid out in one long loop, beginning and ending at
12036-417: The shape of the green and surrounding hazards, and the location of the hole (which often changes from day to day to promote even wear of the turf of the green), there may not be a direct putting line from a point on the green to the cup. Golfers use a method known as "reading" the green to enhance their chances of making a putt. Reading a green involves determining the speed, grain, incline, decline and tilt of
12154-486: The silver content. The more silver, the lower the specific gravity . Native gold occurs as very small to microscopic particles embedded in rock, often together with quartz or sulfide minerals such as " fool's gold ", which is a pyrite . These are called lode deposits. The metal in a native state is also found in the form of free flakes, grains or larger nuggets that have been eroded from rocks and end up in alluvial deposits called placer deposits . Such free gold
12272-402: The similarity to a dog's ankle. The hole is called a "dogleg left" if the hole angles leftwards, and a "dogleg right" if the hole angles rightwards. A hole's direction may bend twice, which is called a "double dogleg". Just as there are good-quality grasses for putting greens, there are good-quality grasses for the fairway and rough. The quality of grass influences the roll of the ball as well as
12390-450: The south-east corner of the Black Sea is said to date from the time of Midas , and this gold was important in the establishment of what is probably the world's earliest coinage in Lydia around 610 BC. The legend of the golden fleece dating from eighth century BCE may refer to the use of fleeces to trap gold dust from placer deposits in the ancient world. From the 6th or 5th century BC,
12508-448: The stroke. Courses may also have other design features which the skilled player will avoid; there are earth bunkers (pits or depressions in the ground that are not filled with sand but require a lofted shot to escape), high grass and other dense vegetation, trees or shrubs, ravines and other rocky areas, steep inclines, etc.; while disadvantageous to play from, these are typically not considered "hazards" unless specifically designated so by
12626-411: The surrounding fairway. Each tee box has two markers showing the bounds of the legal tee area. The teeing area spans the distance between the markers, and extends two-club lengths behind the markers. A golfer may stand outside the teeing area, but the ball must be placed and hit from inside it. A golfer may place his ball directly on the surface of the teeing ground (called hitting it "off the deck"), or
12744-436: The tendency of gold ions to interact at distances that are too long to be a conventional Au–Au bond but shorter than van der Waals bonding . The interaction is estimated to be comparable in strength to that of a hydrogen bond . Well-defined cluster compounds are numerous. In some cases, gold has a fractional oxidation state. A representative example is the octahedral species {Au( P(C 6 H 5 ) 3 )} 2+ 6 . Gold
12862-461: The topography of sand dunes and dune slacks with a ground cover of grasses, exposed to the wind and sea. Courses are private, public, or municipally owned, and typically feature a pro shop . Many private courses are found at country clubs . The golf course has its roots dating to the 18th century. The 18-hole course Old Course was established in 1764 at St Andrews , Scotland and has existed under its name since 1895. In 2009, Nullarbor Links ,
12980-553: The town is the Obuasi Airport . It has a runway length of 1,600 by 30 m (5,249 by 98 ft) and was developed from a former airstrip. It was inaugurated on 30 August 2012 and is operated by Gianair on behalf of the owners. Obuasi is located in the Obuasi Municipal which has a total land mass of 220.7 km (85.2 sq mi). The municipal is bordered by Adansi South to the south, Amansie West to
13098-403: The transmutation of the chemical elements did not become possible until the understanding of nuclear physics in the 20th century. The first synthesis of gold was conducted by Japanese physicist Hantaro Nagaoka , who synthesized gold from mercury in 1924 by neutron bombardment. An American team, working without knowledge of Nagaoka's prior study, conducted the same experiment in 1941, achieving
13216-417: The visors of heat-resistant suits and in sun visors for spacesuits . Gold is a good conductor of heat and electricity . Gold has a density of 19.3 g/cm , almost identical to that of tungsten at 19.25 g/cm ; as such, tungsten has been used in the counterfeiting of gold bars , such as by plating a tungsten bar with gold. By comparison, the density of lead is 11.34 g/cm , and that of
13334-453: The west and northwest, and to the east and northeast, Adansi North . Obuasi has a semi-equatorial tropical savanna climate ( Köppen climate classification Aw ) with two rainy seasons. The main rainy season is from March to July, with May and June being typically the year's wettest months, whilst a lighter rainy season occurs from September to November. The average annual rainfall in Obuasi
13452-766: The world's longest golf course spanning 1,365 kilometres, was established along the Eyre Highway , in Australia. In 2023, the golf course at Moundbuilders Country Club , was integrated into the world heritage-listed Hopewell Culture National Historical Park . Although a specialty within landscape design or landscape architecture , golf course architecture is considered a separate field of study. Some golf course designers become celebrities in their own right, such as Alister MacKenzie ; others are professional golfers of high standing and demonstrated appreciation for golf course composition, such as Jack Nicklaus . The field
13570-414: The world, reproducing the broken, treeless terrain with deep bunkers of their Scottish prototypes. An executive course or short course is a course with a total par significantly less than that of a typical 18-hole course. Two main types exist: These types of courses provide a faster pace of play than a standard course, and get their name from their target patronage of business executives who would play
13688-787: Was abandoned for a fiat currency system after the Nixon shock measures of 1971. In 2020, the world's largest gold producer was China, followed by Russia and Australia. As of 2020 , a total of around 201,296 tonnes of gold exist above ground. This is equal to a cube, with each side measuring roughly 21.7 meters (71 ft). The world's consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments , and 10% in industry . Gold's high malleability, ductility, resistance to corrosion and most other chemical reactions, as well as conductivity of electricity have led to its continued use in corrosion-resistant electrical connectors in all types of computerized devices (its chief industrial use). Gold
13806-493: Was the first course in North Carolina to utilize a special Bermuda called Mini Verde. A green is generally established from sod which has had the soil washed off of it (to avoid soil compatibility problems) and which is then laid tightly over the green, then rolled and topdressed with fine sand. Another common and more economical approach for establishing a putting green is to introduce hybrid Bermuda sprigs (the stolon of
13924-621: Was to distort the Witwatersrand basin in such a way that the gold-bearing rocks were brought to the present erosion surface in Johannesburg , on the Witwatersrand , just inside the rim of the original 300 km (190 mi) diameter crater caused by the meteor strike. The discovery of the deposit in 1886 launched the Witwatersrand Gold Rush . Some 22% of all the gold that is ascertained to exist today on Earth has been extracted from these Witwatersrand rocks. Much of
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