FOR A GAME SO OLD, it’s somewhat puzzling that golf took so long to become formalized. As many followers of its history are well aware, the oldest written mention of golf is dated 1457. At least one authority, however, believed that a crude form of golf was being played as early as 1100 and that students at Scotland’s St. Andrews University were playing the game by 1413. Three hundred years later, though, there were still no written rules. This was rectified in 1744, but not (as you might expect) by players in St. Andrews but by a newly organized club of golfers up the road in Edinburgh. The 13 rules set forth by the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers were soon adopted by other clubs throughout Scotland, among them the Society of St. Andrews Golfers after it was formed in 1754.

Yet while there were now some rules to adhere to, there was still no standard number of holes. On the Links at Leith, where the Edinburgh golfers played (as well as Mary, Queen of Scots), there were only five holes. There were seven at nearby Musselburgh, and 25 at Montrose on the northeast coast. The number of holes on the ancient links at St. Andrews had varied over the centuries but by 1763 there were 11 holes that were played twice for a total of 22. How there came to be 18 holes on the Old Course, and how 18 eventually became the standard number of holes on golf courses throughout the world, is fairly well known. How there came to be 18 different holes on the Old Course is not so well known, nor is the name of the man who may have come up with the concept.

As mentioned, prior to 1764 there were 22 holes on the Old Course. The first green was located about where the 17th is today, and the remaining ten holes were stretched out pretty much in a straight line toward the Eden Estuary to the northeast. The common procedure of the day was to play the 11 holes “out”, then turn around and play those same holes “in”. (Also common was for golfers playing “out” to defer the right of way to golfers coming “in” whenever opposing groups arrived at a hole at the same time. While courteous, the practice also slowed down play.) In 1764, however, the members of the club agreed that four of the 11 holes were no longer as challenging as they once were. After eliminating the four and creating two new ones, there were now a total of 18 holes at St. Andrews. And while all agreed that the change improved the quality of the links, it did nothing to relieve the congestion that was occurring as more and more people took up the game. Nearly a hundred years would go by before anyone found a solution.

No one seems to know exactly when, but sometime between 1764 and 1832 a St. Andrean known as “Auld” Daw Anderson is credited for cutting a second “cup” on the green that was used for the fifth and 13th holes. Anderson was a long-time caddie on the Old Course and his action was no doubt intended to separate two groups of opposing golfers whenever they reached that green at the same time. Why this concept wasn’t carried over to other holes is a mystery, because it wasn’t until 1832 that a proposal to do just that is reported to have been put before the members of the Society of St. Andrews Golfers. Still, nothing was done for another 25 years. In 1857, however, the Society (now known as the Royal and Ancient Golf Club), adopted the idea of creating double greens at eight of the holes on the Old Course. Only the first and the last had single greens.

Today, there are seven double greens on the Old Course at St. Andrews and four single greens. More importantly, there are 18 different holes – just as it is on the golf courses that you play and on most courses throughout the world. Without a doubt it makes the game more fun, and definitely a lot faster than it used to be.

Quite probably, we have “Auld” Daw Anderson to thank for it. .”