18 holes

while playing golf today someone through a question around and got everybody thinking why do we play golf over 18 holes and who came up with that number ? was it because they played 9 out and just added a further 9 later just to get them back ? i suppose there is a simple answer but we dont know it.............. 

Gerard,you must be an ok golfer if you can ruin your handicap over 4 hours  i can do that over the 1st 2 hours then spend the next 2 trying to get it back

Golf is 18holes because of The Royal & Ancient GC. Up until 1764 the Old Course was 22 holes, using the same greens going out and then back, as now, apart from the 11th and 22nd. In 1764 the Golfers (not members, note) decided that the first four holes (so the last four too) were too short so they changed them into 18 and this form was copied by other groups. When The R&A were given the task of being in sole control of the Rules of Golf in 1879, 18 holes was adopted as the standard.

If you google 'Scottish Golf History' you can find how the game developed.

TheLyth

thanks for that david  you might just have won a pint for me,

of course we understand Scotland as being the most significant "home" of golf but is it actually the historical roots of this wonderful game ?

something tells me it's elswhere ? and if you actually know I'm sure you will let us all know !

I believe it's original roots are in Holland (bizarrely) where shepards played a game of hitting a small rock with their crooks from one end of a field to another, with the winner being the one who got from wall to wall in the least hits.  This is contested by the Scots

If you look into its History, Golf doesn't have a definate beginning. It is believed that Dutch seamen did play a type of Golf and were seen by Scottish shepherds who started hitting pebbles about on what is now the St Andrews Links. I have researched this in the hope of writing a book on how Golf came to Yorkshire. Visit my Blogs and read its opening.

TheLyth