THE REAL STORY, ACCORDING TO ABSOLUTELY NO RELIABLE SOURCE
Folks often ask why golf courses couldn’t have 10 holes… or 13… or 21… or, for the truly ambitious, “as many as it takes before I lose my ball and my dignity.”
Well, gather round, friends, because the tale goes back to 1858, when the board at St. Andrews in Scotland spent an entire day arguing about how many holes a proper course should have. Back then you could find 7-hole courses, 13-hole courses, 15-hole courses – St. Andrews itself once had 22, and Montrose strutted around with 25. It was chaos. Beautiful, drunken chaos. After hours of debate and presumably several “medicinal consultations,” one distinguished Scottish gentleman finally stood up and delivered the speech that changed golf forever:
“As you know, it has long been my custom to start out for a game of golf with a full bottle of Martin’s Scotch Whisky in my bag… the inclemency of our local climate makes it expedient for me to have a small medicinal nip on each tee.”
He then produced a tiny glass – about an ounce and a half – and explained that a standard bottle of Scotch fills that glass exactly 18 times. And since it would be unhealthy to continue golfing once the bottle ran dry (a medical opinion we will not challenge), he insisted the game must end precisely when the whisky does.
Thus: 18 holes. No more. No less. Not because of tradition… not because of strategy… but because one man’s bottle ran out.
And honestly? That’s the most relatable golf rule ever written.
If you doubt the science, grab an ounce-and-a-half jigger, fill it “full but not too full,” and you’ll get exactly 18 pours from a fifth of Scotch. Just don’t blame us if you forget what hole you’re on.
