Why the Golf Hole Size is 4.25 Inches in Diameter Home of Golf TV Episode 22
Posted on 17. Jan, 2012 by Andy Brown in Golf, Golf History
Today HomeofGolf.TV visits Musselburgh Old Course Golf Club, the oldest surviving golf course in the world. If you’re like me then at some stage in your golfing past you will have lipped out a putt and wished that the size of the hole on the green was just a bit larger. Well, in this episode the secretary Robin McGregor pointed out to me the culprit responsible for the size of standard golf holes – a drainpipe outside the clubhouse!
Robin explained to me the historical significance of the drainpipes in golfing history. Back in 1829 Robert Grey invented the first hole-cutting machine. To do this he used the first thing to hand which happened to be a piece of Musselburgh Clubhouse drainpipe. The drainpipe has affected every golf course that has ever been built, and ever likely to be built in the future as in 1891 the R & A made the four and a quarter inch diameter hole size mandatory by incorporating it into their Rules of Golf.
Prior to the standardization of the hole in 1891 the hole size could be anything depending on the golf course you played on. So if you ever miss a putt because the hole is too small you can blame Musselburgh’s drainpipes for being too small!
