What was the first 18 hole golf course in the world?

[diggleblop]

ssia.

[crowmanyclouds]

St Andrews in 1764.

CMC fnord!

[Telemark]

From here:

By 1857 however, St Andrews had put second holes in the 8 double greens of the Old Course, creating a proper round of 18 holes, and in 1858 the St Andrews club laid down a round of 18 holes for matches between its own members.

From first page of Google results from “first 18 hole golf course”.

[rocksolid]

@Telemark

From here:

From first page of Google results from “first 18 hole golf course”.

How does 2 holes in 8 greens make 18 holes?

[Mangetout]

@rocksolid

How does 2 holes in 8 greens make 18 holes?

Presumably there are also 4 single greens.

[Telemark]

From the same link, two paragraphs earlier:

St Andrews (Old Course) had 12 holes by 1764, and probably much earlier. The holes were laid out in a line and 10 holes were played twice - once ‘out’ and once back ‘in’, making a ‘round’ of 22 holes. However, in 1764, the golfers decided to combine the first four holes into two, which produced a round of 18 holes, though it was really 10 holes of which 8 were played twice.

So there were originally 12 holes, and they dropped that to 10. 8 of those ten were played twice, bringing a round to 18. Later, they put a second pin location on those 8 holes that were played twice, making for a full round of 18.

• 2 holes played only once
• 8 holes played twice, but with different pin locations

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• 18 holes

[Baron_Greenback]

@rocksolid

How does 2 holes in 8 greens make 18 holes?

The Old Course demonstrates its antiquity even now with fucking enormous double greens. I suppose it isn’t the hardest course (there are far harder courses in the world), but there aren’t many who have mastered it four days in a row. Ask Tiger how much he’s enjoyed playing it - he’s one of the tiny handful who have coped wonderfully.