Scotland is the home of the world's oldest golf course, St. Andrews. It was first used in 1552, when Archbishop John Hamilton gave permission to the town people of St. Andrews the right to play on the links.
Mary Queen of Scots became the first woman to play golf at St Andrews the same year.
Originally St Andrews had 12 holes, each one leading ever farther away from the club house. Keen golfers did the obvious thing: after having played all of the holes on the way out, they repeated the performance on the way back, merely reversing the direction of play.
St Andrews has no apostrophe as it received its name long before the 16th century when apostrophes started to be used in English.
The oldest English golf club is on the 267 acres of Blackheath Common in London, where James I and his courtiers are believed to have played in about 1606.
In 1764 the members of St Andrews reduced the amount of holes resulting in the first 18-hole (9x2) golf course. The playing of 18 holes became the fashion and later the standard.
The first permanent golf club in North America, Canada's Royal Montreal Club, was founded in 1873.
The first 18-hole course in the United States, the private Chicago Golf Club, was founded near Wheaton, Illinois, in 1893.
The nine-hole Van Cortlandt Golf Course, the oldest public golf course in the USA, opened on July 6, 1895. Within a year, the course became very crowded and disorganized, with crowds behaving poorly. Rules were set in 1896, with golfers paying caddies 15 cents per round or 25 cents per two rounds. The course became 18 holes in 1899.
The composer of the "Colonel Bogey March" was inspired on the golf course when his opponent would sing two notes rather than “fore”.
Clifford Roberts, the founder of the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, blew his own brains out on the golf course in 1977.
Avid golfer Dwight ‘Ike’ Eisenhower was the only US president to have been a club member at the Augusta National in Georgia. Ike’s Pond occupies three acres near hole No.9 on the par-three course and is the site of the traditional par-three contest on Wednesday of Masters week.
The Sioux nation gave Kevin Costner a tract of land after making Dances with Wolves in 1990. The actor/director built a golf course on that land.
China's Communist Party banned its 88 million members from playing golf in a crackdown on discipline, it emerged in 2015. Golf courses were seen as Western and 'elitist.'
It is not possible to apply for membership to Augusta National – it’s an invite-only affair. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and former amateur star and now Senior PGA Tour player John Harris are the only pro golfers who are members.
Donald Trump installed goats on his New Jersey golf courses to get them designated as agricultural properties to lower his property taxes.
Of the 34,000 plus golf clubs worldwide, there are only 246 true links courses - typically those built on coastal dunes.
A golf hole is four inches deep.
The world’s toughest golf hole consisted of a green, which was specially made on a floating pontoon 235 yards off the shore at Dubai’s Atlantis Hotel. Golfers, including Justin Rose and Lee Westwood, began their shots on a 22nd floor balcony of the hotel.
There is only one par-7 golf hole in the world. It is the third hole of a course in South Korea and is 1,100 yards (1006 metres) long.
The longest golf hole in the world is the 7th hole (par 7) of the Sano Course at the Satsuki Golf Club in Japan. It measures an exceedingly long 909 yards.
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| The clubhouse of the R&A. By Gordon McKinlay, Wikipedia |
Mary Queen of Scots became the first woman to play golf at St Andrews the same year.
Originally St Andrews had 12 holes, each one leading ever farther away from the club house. Keen golfers did the obvious thing: after having played all of the holes on the way out, they repeated the performance on the way back, merely reversing the direction of play.
St Andrews has no apostrophe as it received its name long before the 16th century when apostrophes started to be used in English.
The oldest English golf club is on the 267 acres of Blackheath Common in London, where James I and his courtiers are believed to have played in about 1606.
In 1764 the members of St Andrews reduced the amount of holes resulting in the first 18-hole (9x2) golf course. The playing of 18 holes became the fashion and later the standard.
The first permanent golf club in North America, Canada's Royal Montreal Club, was founded in 1873.
The first 18-hole course in the United States, the private Chicago Golf Club, was founded near Wheaton, Illinois, in 1893.
The nine-hole Van Cortlandt Golf Course, the oldest public golf course in the USA, opened on July 6, 1895. Within a year, the course became very crowded and disorganized, with crowds behaving poorly. Rules were set in 1896, with golfers paying caddies 15 cents per round or 25 cents per two rounds. The course became 18 holes in 1899.
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| Van Cortlandt lake and golf course at sunset |
The composer of the "Colonel Bogey March" was inspired on the golf course when his opponent would sing two notes rather than “fore”.
Clifford Roberts, the founder of the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, blew his own brains out on the golf course in 1977.
Avid golfer Dwight ‘Ike’ Eisenhower was the only US president to have been a club member at the Augusta National in Georgia. Ike’s Pond occupies three acres near hole No.9 on the par-three course and is the site of the traditional par-three contest on Wednesday of Masters week.
The Sioux nation gave Kevin Costner a tract of land after making Dances with Wolves in 1990. The actor/director built a golf course on that land.
China's Communist Party banned its 88 million members from playing golf in a crackdown on discipline, it emerged in 2015. Golf courses were seen as Western and 'elitist.'
It is not possible to apply for membership to Augusta National – it’s an invite-only affair. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and former amateur star and now Senior PGA Tour player John Harris are the only pro golfers who are members.
Donald Trump installed goats on his New Jersey golf courses to get them designated as agricultural properties to lower his property taxes.
Of the 34,000 plus golf clubs worldwide, there are only 246 true links courses - typically those built on coastal dunes.
A golf hole is four inches deep.
The world’s toughest golf hole consisted of a green, which was specially made on a floating pontoon 235 yards off the shore at Dubai’s Atlantis Hotel. Golfers, including Justin Rose and Lee Westwood, began their shots on a 22nd floor balcony of the hotel.
There is only one par-7 golf hole in the world. It is the third hole of a course in South Korea and is 1,100 yards (1006 metres) long.
The longest golf hole in the world is the 7th hole (par 7) of the Sano Course at the Satsuki Golf Club in Japan. It measures an exceedingly long 909 yards.
The world’s longest golf course is in the scrubland of Australia, The 18-hole par-72 golf course spans 848 miles (1,365 kms) with one hole in each participating town or roadhouse along the Eyre Highway, from Kalgoorlie in Western Australia to Ceduna in South Australia. The course was built to give truckers something to do on this remote stretch of the road.
America's longest golf course is the par 77 International Golf Club in Massachusetts which measures a lengthy 8,325 yards.
The highest golf course in the world is the Tactu Golf Club in Morococha, Peru, which sits 14,335 feet above sea level at its lowest point.
The world's largest non sea-side bunker is Hell's Half Acre on the 585-yard 7th hole of the Pine Valley Course in New Jersey.
Belgian Thomas Detry broke the record for the fastest hole of golf, individual on June 25, 2019 at Real Club de Golf Guadalmina, Marbella, Spain, He completed the 10th hole in 1 min 29.62 sec.
The average American golf course consumes around 312,000 gallons of water per day.
Maricopa County, Arizona golf courses average more than 80 million gallons daily for irrigation, consuming more water than any other place in the country.
Bermuda has more golf courses per person than any other country.
Around 1.042 square miles of land in England are devoted to golf courses.
Golf courses in America take up as much land space as Rhode Island and Delaware combined.
Sources Europress Encyclopedia, Golf Digest
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