Why Are Golf Courses 18 Holes? The History Behind Why Explained

Jeff Scott | Nov 8, 2024

Tina MacIntyre-Yee/USA Today Network / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It’s something you don’t think about - until you do.

Why are golf courses designed to be 18 holes? Well, to begin with, they weren’t. And that story begins right where the great game of golf did - Scotland. 

Of the nearly 39,000 golf courses around the world, The Old Course at St. Andrews is the oldest and renowned as the first golf course ever made. While the course was technically established and opened to the public in 1522, there are records of the game being played on its grounds in Fife, Scotland as far back as the 1400s.

You would think that the development of golf as a sport would lead to the number of holes increasing over time. However, it’s actually the opposite.

Through the majority of the 1700s, The Old Course at St. Andrews touted 22 holes in total. Well, technically, it featured 12. Golfers would play 10 holes going out and then the same 10 holes coming back in. There were two additional holes included on the course that were only played once each.

That changed in 1764 when William St Clair of Rosin determined the first two and final two holes to be too short. St Clair commissioned changes that would see those four holes modified and pared down to two in total. Thus giving The Old Course the 18-hole standard we’re familiar with today. 

"You would think that the development of golf as a sport would lead to the number of holes increasing over time. However, it’s actually the opposite."

It would take some time for other courses to follow suit. The first course to conform to the 18-hole layout following St. Andrews was the United Kingdom’s Royal Montrose. The site regularly hosted 18-hole rounds as of 1863. Following that, 16 different courses would design their site with an 18-hole round in mind. This, of course, would eventually become the typical standard worldwide.

Cameron Smith winning The Open at The Old Course at St. Andrews in 2022. / Michael Madrid-Imagn Images

The move to 18 holes happened centuries ago, so it’s tough to pinpoint exactly why players of that era decided upon the change. But the length of time it takes to complete an 18 hole round seems to be ideal for most golfers. And, for many, an 18-hole course offers a great test of both skill and endurance. 

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