Miss Grainger I Presume

Nothing like a dreary Saturday for some dreary golf history, no?

So, where were you on this date in 1764?  Oh, right...well if the rain passes would you have time for a quick twenty-two?  Those two thoughts are in fact connected, as it was October 4, 1764, exactly 250 years to the day, when a round of golf first became comprised of eighteen holes.  

From the R&A's website:

In October 1764, a momentous decision was taken by the Society of St

Andrews Golfers, whichwould become The Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 1834. On the 3rd of October, twelve golfers had played in the Challenge for the Silver Club and the new Captain was William St Clair of Roslyn. The next day, the 4th of October, they decided that the Old Course should be reduced from 22 holes to 18.

It was minuted that:

‘The Captain and Gentlemen Golfers present are of the opinion that it would be for the improvement of the links that the four first holes should be converted into two, they therefore have agreed that for the future, they shall be played as two holes, in the same way as presently marked out.’

The Old Course thus became the first 18 hole course on the 4th of October 1764.

And it's a damn good thing, because "We lost the front eleven" sounds all wrong...

This old piece from the now-defunct Travel & Leisure Golf fills in some of the background:

Some of these decisions traveled far beyond St. Andrews and now define the game in the most fundamental of ways. For example, early courses in Scotland did not have a standard number of holes—some had five, others seven. St. Andrews first had eleven, then twenty-two: Golfers played eleven holes out to the Eden Estuary, then turned around and played back along the same narrow strip of land. This layout began and ended on the hill where the Martyrs’ Monument stands today. In 1764, however, the Society of St. Andrews Golfers passed a resolution that two of the first four holes (and, therefore, two of the last four) would be dropped, thus reducing the links to eighteen holes. (Some part of those holes must have been incorporated into the resulting eighteen—the space on the hill did not accommodate four full holes.) It is unclear exactly why the holes on the hill were removed from play; maybe they were unsatisfactory in length or just too different from the holes down in the sand dunes. Eliminating them did remove an inconvenience for townspeople who wanted to get to the beach, and it also eventually presented the Royal and Ancient Golf Club with a superior location for their clubhouse, built in 1854. At any rate, this change would have a seismic effect on the world of golf: Due to the growing influence of the R&A, eighteen holes became the standard.

And a reminder that until the 1850's the course was played in both clockwise and counter-clockwise directions.  They used to play it "backwards" one day out of the year, but I'm not sure whether that is still done.  

It so happens that on this anniversary I was able to watch golf being played on the Old Course, specifically the third round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.  Rory, playing with his father, shot a 64 that could have been much better, and got himself into contention three shots behind 54-hole leader Oliver Wilson.  He also got himself into the final round of the team event, which will be special because tomorrow is his Dad's 55th birthday.  Quite the cool manner for father and son to share it...

The weather cooperated spectacularly in the broadcast, as the rain gave way to sunshine and shadows.  But it was the late day light that showed set off all the bumps, hillocks and hollows of the ground.  It's really quite a thing, as from even a few feet away the ground looks like it's completely featureless and flat, yet you'll go the entire round with only eighteen flat lies.  I've always said that it's flat as a pancake, excepting inevitably for the two square inches where my ball sat.

And I must compliment the announcers (which you won't hear often from me) for identifying so many of the interesting bunkers and features, explaining how the affect play as well as some of the history of the names.  My favorite of course are the mounds on the 15th hole known as Miss Grainger's bosoms, which are such that it's hard to understand how the lady remained a Miss.

The announcers also noted that its' the 141st anniversary of the first Open Championship to be held at The Old Courses, after the first twelve were held at Prestwick.  This was the first Open at which the Claret Jug was awarded, after the original Championship Belt was retired in the possession of Young Tom Morris.