Posted in: darrelrussell.com edit
08 Jan 2009
What is the history and reasoning behind the current size of a hole in
the game of golf being fixed at exactly 4 1/4 inches in diameter?Hi awc4,
Interesting question!
"How Did Golf Begin?
Nobody knows exactly how golf started but most scholars say that the
game of golf was from club in German or Dutch, ?Kolbe? or ?Kolf? and
golf started from a man hitting stones with stick instinctively in
ancient days.
W.G.Simpson explained the origin that golf began by a shepherd on a
sheep pasture in Fifeshire, which became the Royal and Ancient Golf
Club of St. Andrews. One day a man was playing with a small stone
hitting by a stick as usual but then the stone fell into a rabbit hole
by chance. When he was trying to put a stone in a hole again, his
friends saw it and joined together.
It also can be said that golf started among the ancient Romans. This
game was played with a bent stick and a leather ball filled with
feathers. The Roman army conquered Europe bringing the sport them and
golf was spread over the European countries.
There is another suggestion that ?Koven?, a Dutch game, is the origin
of golf. The game consisted of people trying to hit a stick with a
minimum of strokes using a ball which was the same size as a
grapefruit. 200 years later, golf was established in Scotland.
Moreover, another opinion is that golf came from the Flemish game of
?Chole? played in 1353. This game was played by two players hitting
the same ball three times each using a stick to reach the far goal.
These games are similar to recent golf but not exactly the same. It is
sure that golf naturally results from such sports as these. Records
say that a kind of golf was played in Scotland in the 15th century,
and it was developed by Scots.
(..)
The Cup
At first, holes had no standard size. The hole's diameter of 4.25
inches was born by chance. Two golfers, who played in the St. Andrews,
found that one holes were terribly damaged so they could not use it.
To repair the hole and continue playing, they looked around and found
that there was a part of drain pipe whose size was 4.25 inches. They
inserted it in the hole and the first cup was introduced."
Source: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/nbyc/MASAHIKO/GOLF.HTM
"The hole is 4.25 inches in diameter, and must be at least 4 inches
deep. (See USGA/R&A Rules of Golf!) The origin of the 4.25" diameter
is an interesting story...seems that holes were originally simple
holes dug in the ground (to form tees, hence the hole grew with play).
The first 'permanent' hole was made by using a section of handy drain
pipe, which happened to have an inside diameter of, you guessed it,
4.25"."
Source: Google Newgroups
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=4fo4r8%249bc%40dmsoproto.ida.org
Another interesting titbit:
"Royal Musselburgh is certainly one of the oldest clubs in the world,
having been constituted in 1774 and has its own place in the history
of golf, being credited with setting the standard in 1829 for the
diameter of the hole (41/4 inches) which exists today."
http://www.eastlothiancourier.com/news/archivestory.php/aid/1251/Best_girl_and_boy_for_Junior_Open.html
Some historical information from the St Andrews official website:
History of the Links - 600 years of golf at St Andrews
http://www.standrews.org.uk/history/history2.htm
I hope you find this information useful!
Search terms:
[ origin golf diameter hole ], [ "st andrews" golf "4.25 inches" ],
["diameter of the hole" 4 inches golf history ]The website you quoted offers a possible answer that is both logical,
practical and probable but it lacks the detail I am looking for. Like
the type of material the drain pipe was made of? Was it metal, like
copper or tin or was it clay, tile or other cement type product? What
use was the pipe originally intended for? A downspout for a roof
drain and gutter system or a water pipe or?
The website also indicated that the golfers inserted the piece of pipe
in "the hole," but it does not have any information regarding what
determined the size of the hole prior to inserting the pipe. Was
there a "standard" size device that was inserted into the ground to
make the hole prior to the use of the pipe?
How is one to determine if this theory is pure conjecture or based on
some supporting information?I was unable to obtain specific detail about the drainpipe, but here's
some more information which should shed some more light on the
subject:
Excerpt from "The Ultimate Golf Book: A History and a Celebration of
the World's Greatest Game" by Charles Mcgrath:
"For hundreds of years, the size of the cavity had been arbitrary,
ranging from three inches to more than five inches in diameter. (At
the Old Course, the hole reportedly matched the diameter of a standard
St. Andrews drainpipe.) The hole?s depth was even less constant. When
a golfer was ready to play his first shot to a new hole, he put his
hand in the hole he had just putted into and took a pinch of sand upon
which to tee his ball. ?It often happened,? the two-time British
Amateur champion Horace G. Hutchinson reported with comic gravity,
?that one had to lie down so as to stretch one?s arm at full length in
order to reach the ball at the bottom of the hole.?
It was not until the nineteenth century that the Scots invented a
device to cut uniform holes?either at Musselburgh in 1829 or at Royal
Aberdeen in 1849, depending on which golf historian you believe. In
1874 the Crail Golf Club introduced the metal liner, which kept the
hole from collapsing and rewarded the player with a pleasing rattle
when his ball fell into the cup. In 1891 the R&A finally proclaimed,
with a confident authority reminiscent of the old monarchs, that the
hole would hence-forth be ?4 1/4 inches in diameter and at least 4
inches deep.?
http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?show=HARDCOVER:USED:061814546x:28.00&page=excerpt
-------
From "East Lothian - a golfing story" By Sarah Powell of Burke?s Peerage & Gentry:
"The Royal Musselburgh Golf Club was also one of the earliest golf
clubs, being founded in 1774. Its Old Club Cup, dated 1774, can be
seen at the St. Andrew?s Golf Museum. The Royal Musselburgh also set a
world standard for hole size with its 108 mm diameter cutter, the
oldest hole cutter in the world."
http://www.prestoungrange.org/prestonpans/archive/golf_article.pdf
(page 3)
------
From the Musselburgh Old Links website:
"The four and a quarter inch diameter hole became standard during the
19th century, its seemingly random size was just that, it happened to
be the width of the implement used to cut the holes at Musselburgh and
in 1893 the R & A made the size mandatory."
http://www.musselburgholdlinks.co.uk/history/
------
From the Moss Golf Tours website:
"Another of Musselburgh's contributions to the game of golf came in
the form of the four and a quarter inch (108mm) diameter cup. Up until
the late 19th century the diameter of the hole was arbitrary, but in
1893 the Royal and Ancient adopted Musselburgh's size, which just
happened to be the width of Musselburgh's greenkeeper's hole-cutter.
Along with the now standard 4-inch depth, it has remained as standard
throughout the world ever since."
http://www.mossgolftours.com/Itineraries/EastLothianHistory.aspx
------#If you have any other info about this subject , Please add it free.# |
|
