What Makes it a Golf Course?

A golf course is just a golf course right? Not necessarily. Golf courses have been evolving since the 15th century. If you saw one during the 15th century in Scotland, you, like most people, probably would not even recognize it.

Golf courses began as open areas of open area that grew naturally in the country, outside the urban cities and villages. Interestingly, animal trails and fields beaten down by herds of large animals developed into what would be considered today's modern golf courses.

Here are several interesting facts that many people may not know about how golf courses and players.

1. The golf courses first played on.

At first, the golfers' most popular place to play was on flat, open terrain, where horses trod and humans walked and kept the long grass and plants from growing. Golf players struck their first golf balls beside animal footprints and aimed for rabbit holes as their goals.

2. Where did the idea of using sand and water as traps come from?

You may find the original sand traps and bunkers are still used on today's golf courses. Even so, many are improved by adding more sand and having the area landscaped. The sand bunkers that are in between the plush green golf courses of today, give golfers a challenge that has always been part of the game.

Sandy soil was common in the beginning, since the golf courses were close to the sea. As the tides rolled in, they shaped the lower regions and low ground, which may have led to the tradition of playing golf with traps and sand bunkers.

3. What is so special about having 18 holes on a golf course?

How the 18 hole standard was chosen has a long and detailed answer that could possibly fill up a whole book by itself. However, the straight-forward answer is that the initial golf courses had quite a variety of numbers of holes.

Golf courses all over Scotland or even further, may have had 10 holes, while others increased it to 14 or 22, depending on how much ground was available. The general theory is that a well known Scottish golf course might have been the very first to declare that 18 holes was the standard for all the rest of the courses to follow.

Over the centuries, golfers may have had different looking terrain to play on, but some things have never changed. Whether it is hitting the ball far across a grassy knoll, or waking up a rabbit with a hole in one putt, the passion for the game is the same.