Why 18 Holes?

[Jonathan Cummings]

Why do full-length golf courses have 18 holes, and not 20, or  10 or an even dozen?

During a discussion among the club's membership board at St. Andrews in 1858, one of the members pointed out that it takes exactly  18 shots to polish off a fifth of Scotch.  By limiting himself to only  one shot of Scotch per hole, the Scot figured a round of golf was finished  when the Scotch ran out.

I guess we were lucky the Scots didn't bottle in gallon jugs!

JC

[A_Clay_Man]

We must also be lucky the scots' didn't mind drinking alone.

If one had to share a bottle with a playing partner, the courses would all be nine holers.

Whenever I tell this justification I always feel as though it's more lore than fact. For the simple reason that if I had 18 shots of booze over a 3 hr period I wouldn't be able to do too much but pass-out.

Perhaps when in mid-season form, drinkingwise, 18 shots would be doable? any Pro's out there know capacity that well?

[Michael Dugger]

Based on what I've read....which always must be taken with a grain of salt......when Allan Robertson undertook his "remodeling" of the old course he changed it from 22 to 18 holes.  From thereafter it became the standard which all other links courses emulated.

[TEPaul]

I'm sure the lore that the standard 18 holes of golf did emanate from TOC is accurate. I'm almost as sure though that when that happened, for whatever arcane reasons (probably well lost in the mists of time), that those responsible had little to no inclination at all as to what precedent they may have been setting.

Such seems to be the case with so much about golf and architecture, so be careful what you do and say--you very well may be changing the world for the rest of time without knowing it!  

[Bob_Huntley]

Why is a football field 100 yards, a soccer sward 120 yards, a cricket pitch 22 yards and the mound sixty feet away?

[Mike Benham]

... and the mound sixty feet away?

It isn't ... it's 60 feet 6 inches ...

(Bob - I apologize for being a PITA)

[RJ_Daley]

That brings to mind a question of why can't we have a PGA tournament with more than 18 holes?  The places where they already have more than one course, and some places where they use composite courses for the tournment routing would certainly offer such an option.  Wouldn't it be interesting if a round consisted of say 24 holes over a 4 day period?  Would the same players still be the dominant players?  Probably the fittest like Tiger would always dominate.  But, that also may bring the concept of luck either running out for a front runner, or some one catching fire at the end of their traditional length round and jumping out of the pack.  Does this appeal to anyone?

[A_Clay_Man]

Seems like a real positive road to take, Dick. Not only opening up newer venues but somehow taxing man's ability to keep up with himself tecnologically. Pity the poor caddie! But his only saving grace is that I think it's a good idea to explore.

[Bob_Huntley]

Mike.

Having played the other games but not baseball, I goofed. I grovel in mortification. The trouble is, I asked a couple of native born jocks who agreed with my sixty-feet and they let me down!

[Jonathan Cummings]

Tom - I have an indisputable source for my posted fascinating fact on the origin of 18 holes (I read it inside a Snapple cap   )

[tonyt]

Dick,

I like the 20-24 hole idea, but it would have to be a limited field event.

Daylight allows a field of 144-156, 132 out of summer times. And we still don't get done when there's an hour delay or more.

Sounds pretty cool as a one off. Maybe a November-December silly season event, to see how it goes!