Safely ensconced in the 19th hole the conversations often turn to the state of the greens and the state of our putting. On a great day the hole can appear to be the size of a bucket. On other days we just can’t buy a putt. But is the hole the right size? If it was a different size would golfing history be changed? It is fun to speculate.
Imagine a slightly bigger hole. Would Doug Saunders have holed that ‘easy’ downhill three-foot putt, with a left hand borrow, on the last green at St Andrews to win the 1970 Open? It is a moment etched in the memory, which was described by Henry Longhurst as a ‘tragedy’ before he sighed ‘and there but for the grace of God.’ Would Tom Watson, 59 years young, have won his sixth Open at Turnberry in 2009? The list of crucial missed putts is endless and we will never know.
If you imagine a slightly smaller hole then that iconic Tiger Woods moment on the 16th at Augusta in the 2005 Masters might never have happened. It looked like the ball might come up just short, displaying the Nike logo for a perfect split second, but another half rotation was sufficient for it to catch the lip of the cup and drop. Queue fist pumping, ‘in your life, have you seen anything like that?’ commentary and presumably a massive party back at Nike HQ.
Through different eras, the size of the ball has not changed much for obvious reasons and it must have been a major influence on the size of the hole. The ball dropping below ground level into a hole is an essential part of the game but in the past the hole could be a different size on every hole let alone on different courses.
In the early 19thC the holes were cut by hand without any special equipment meaning that the hole size varied. It was cut using a dinner or other knife and sometimes a small earthenware or metal pot was used to cut around. If there wasn’t a pot then it has been suggested that a circle was cut around a clenched fist allowing some leeway for the sleeve of a jacket. (1) The size therefore depended on what was used. The diameter and depth of the hole changed over a few hours based on the turf conditions and on wear and tear. The practice of scooping sand by hand from the bottom of the hole to form a tee mound and then driving off within one to four club lengths of the hole cannot have helped its condition either. Horace Hutchinson, presumably with tongue firmly in cheek, paints a wonderful picture of players lying on the green to scoop out sand at arm’s length. (2) This meant holes became unplayable or even unidentifiable if grazing sheep had perhaps trampled them flat. Cutting a new one fell to the first players out who found a hole untenable (2)
Those greens, such as they were, identified themselves by the natural topography of the land. They were not distinct from the rest of the course nor specially prepared. They were often simply clearings or flatter dunes selected for their prominent position and well grazed turf. Before mowers and rollers were used they were at best areas cut with scythes by hand. Arriving there and surveying the scene, the option of simply cutting another hole – no doubt nearer to our ball -must have been sorely tempting. If your ball was ball stymied then even more so.
The game was very different then. There would be less of a premium on course strategy at least in terms of the greens. No one would be strutting around plumbing lines or trying to determine the subtle borrows, breaks and direction of the grain. The concept of a ‘putting green’ was relatively new until it made its first appearance in 1812 without definition, before being defined in the 1815 Aberdeen code as being within 15 yards of the hole. (3)
How did these earlier players know where to aim especially with a feather acting as the hole marker? Regular players would have used local knowledge and forecaddies waving flags to indicate direction would have helped. (3) Many courses such as Musselburgh only had 7 holes until an 8th was added in 1834 and a 9th in 1870. But the idea of a feather marking the hole on a windswept links is amusing. In 1828 Blackheath indicated that once the hole could be seen no one need stand near it to identify its position or for direction. The flagstick doesn’t appear in any early club rules until 1875 at St Andrews. (4)&(5)
As the game evolved and grew, course maintenance also improved and expectations changed meaning putting increased in importance. Early Greenkeepers were referred to as hole cutters because refilling holes and cutting new ones had now become an important task. The condition of the ‘green’ mattered more.
By 1857 the situation had improved considerably at least at St Andrews. Not surprisingly, it was Old Tom Morris who introduced sperate teeing grounds (6) although there is a reference to ‘golf stones’ in 1781. (7) This was probably to speed up play and to protect the greens. Coloured flags had also appeared and the greens had been re-turfed and overhauled (8)
Although putting must have been important the first instructional book on the topic did not appear until 1920 when Willie Park Junior’s ‘The Art of Putting’ was first published. Park was a renowned putter and twice Open Champion. The first written description of the golf swing was in Kincaid’s diary in 1687 (9) but putting is not mentioned.
The 1850’s and 60’s were a time of rapid change in the maintenance of golf courses with things like Shank’s newly developed grass mower. More attention was being given to the condition and durability of the holes. Hole liners, first mentioned at Montrose in 1825 were in use. (3) Old Tom Morris claimed to have invented metal cups to line the holes at St. Andrews sometime around 1847 with the High Hole the first on the Links to have a sheet-iron case put in to keep it in proper shape (6) So players were obviously beginning to notice and to complain about the state of the holes. Old Tom probably influenced decisions elsewhere because in 1874/75 Crail Golfing Society agreed to use 8 iron rings to protect the holes during the season. It would be interesting to know what diameter those rings and cups were. (3)
At Musselburgh in 1829 the state of the holes had become an increasingly important concern because of the growing number of players.
Presumably the March 1929 ‘Rules to be Observed’ were written before the invention of the hole cutter that same year as there is no mention of the hole size in them. Their concern over the state of the holes was however obvious:
‘Rule 2d. The green shall not be dug up for a tee, nor shall turf, sand, or clay, be taken from any part of it, within ten yards of the hole .’ (10) ‘In the club minutes of 1829 “Sergeant Scott is directed to “pay more attention to forming the holes and that he be occasionally on the Links when matches are played”. ‘They also state that ‘the Secretary was authorised to pay Robert Gay’s account for the instrument for forming the holes, the sum of £1.00.’
‘Unfortunately, there is no mention in the minutes of the order given to Robert Gay (a local blacksmith) so there is no way of knowing why he designed the device in the way he did.’ Gay was also a publican and adjuster of weights and measures, working from his forge at 83, High Street.’ (12)
Gay invented and produced an instrument that would cut holes that were 4¼ inch in diameter. He must have been given some instruction about size or had some local knowledge. Like many of these things there is myth mixed with fact surrounding the invention including the idea of it being based on a standard soil pipe that was either lying around in the workshop or out on the links. We may wish he had used something bigger but would it have been accepted? Whatever the truth, the diameter of hole it cut in time became the world standard.
‘There is no proof of this but it is likely that this size of pipe, which is commonly used in the building industry, was the predecessor of what is now a British Standard. In part of this Standard, a nominal 4 inch pipe has an outside diameter of approximately 4¼ inches.’ (12)
The original hole cutter that Gay produced exists to this day. It sits in a floor level glass display cabinet in the clubhouse of Royal Musselburgh Golf Club alongside one of the earliest golf bags full of hickories. Sadly, for something of such worldwide golfing significance, there is no interpretation.
Gay’s invention was not patented and it was copied. The earliest patent for a hole cutter appears to be in 1894 (30) . There have been many patents lodged since although the basic design has changed little. Gay’s hole cutter has its own story.
‘It was made in 1829 and kept in constant use until the 1860s, when it was acquired by an un-named friend of Harry Wood. (author of ‘Golfing Curios and the Like’). This friend kept the cutter in a ‘lumber room’ and used it to cut practice holes on his lawn. In the 1890s, the friend gave the hole cutter to Harry Wood ‘knowing of his craze for the acquisition of golf relics.’ It remained in Wood’s collection until 1908 when he presented it back to the Musselburgh Golf Club.(by now The Royal Musselburgh Golf Club). For this generous gesture, he was given honorary membership of the Club.’
It must be assumed that because the original hole cutter was out of use from the 1860s onwards many replicas were made and used by other clubs. Sadly, there is no record of these but their very existence would have undoubtedly helped to establish the standard of 4¼ inches for the diameter of the hole.’ (12)
The hole cutter cannot have solved all of the problems. By the time that ‘The Regulations 1834’ appeared, there was still with no mention of the hole size but they did have an amendment to include further instructions about the role caddies must play in helping to protect the greens.
Rule 2d. ‘The turf of the putting green shall not be raised up for a tee nor shall sand or clay be taken from any part of it; and no Caddy shall be employed who does not carry a bag with moist sand or clay for the tees.’ (11)
Musselburgh had standardised the cutting of its own holes in 1829 and other clubs followed suit but the first recorded mention of a rule or definition for the size of the hole was not until 1886 at The Royal Isle of Wight Golf Club, and it was for a smaller hole.
‘The Holes are circular, four inches in diameter, and about six inches deep; lined inside by an iron pipe, to preserve their shape, the upper edge of which should be half an inch below the surface of the ground. There should be a small flag in each, to mark its position; white going out and red coming in.’
They also prefaced their rules by calling for ‘a unified set of rules for all golf clubs.’ They were not the only club asking for this. ‘in 1885 the secretary of the Royal Wimbledon G.C. wrote to the R&A urging them to ‘form an association of clubs bound to accept one uniform code of rules.’ (13)(14 footnote 2)
The condition of the hole might have been improving with tins, hole cutters, teeing grounds and better maintenance of greens but until standardisation in 1891 there is evidence of confusion based at least on perception, if not fact, about the size of the hole. Those variances in the diameter of the hole from one course to another, according to various sources, might have been as much as 2 inches!
Larger holes were mentioned at Royal Aberdeen where they were obviously keen to speed up the game because they became the first to introduce the 5 minute limit on searching in 1873. (15). Their minutes refer to the use of 6 inch holes (3)
‘Peter Davies cites an 1858 newspaper article that refers to a six inch hole’ (16) Others with apparently bucket sized holes included Luffness where ‘a fair player will generally hole out from any distance short of three yards’ (17). At Carnoustie and Perth (for centuries) the holes were thought to be over 4¼ inches. (18) At St Andrews they were 4 to 4½ inches depending on which source you read (18) (19) ‘We believe them to be all wrong in their estimates. The correct size of the hole is 4½ inches.—EDITOR (20)’
Smaller 4 inch holes are mentioned and specifically at Sandwich where they ‘added at least 5 strokes per round’ according to one correspondent’ (17). ‘Mr Robert Forgan, a St. Andrews player, also stated in his handbook that ” the holes are about 4in. in diameter,”’ and the same description of the size of the hole was given by the late Capt. Eaton , of the Royal Isle of Wight Golf Club’ (20) ‘When Mr H. B. Farnie, for example, wrote in 1891 his interesting little text book of instruction on the art of how to play the ‘ game, he declared that ” the holes are about 4in. in diameter The Badminton volume dealing with the game defined the hole as the ” 4in. hole lined with iron”’ (20) (21)
Pouring over old golf photographs or golf paintings sadly does not provide solid evidence of the hole size. There are too many caveats for paintings especially. The initial sketch may have been done on site and finished off from memory in the artist’s studio. Although there is one photograph from around 1860 and one painting that does appear to show a hole that looks huge. As chance would have it, it was of players at Musselburgh. (22) (4) & (23)
It was 31 years after the first Open Championship was held, when the R&A adopted a new code of rules on 29th September 1891, making the 4¼ inch size hole mandatory.
‘Rule 3: The hole shall be 4¼ inches in diameter, and at least 4 inches deep.’(24)
There are no reasons given in any of the R&A Club minutes of the time or in any other related archives as to why they chose 4¼ inches as the standard diameter. However, by that time for most, but not all clubs, this would not have changed anything. Quite why it took fully 62 years from the introduction of Robert Gay’s hole cutter at Musselburgh to create a standard hole size is unknown. By that time the original cutter had been replaced. It may have been related to the R&A’s role rather than debates over the hole size. There was no governing body until the R&A took on the mantle in 1899 and beyond.
The timing of 1891 is interesting and may suggest a conspiracy theory about whether the R&A knew in advance about the impending switch of the Open from Musselburgh to Muirfield. This was the first Open to be played over 72 holes and it was announced unexpectedly in 1892. More likely it was due to a general improvement in the quality of the greens and simply a confirmation of current custom and practice. Stroke play was becoming more popular and having different sizes of holes at courses would not do. Scores were becoming better as the quality of the courses, clubs and balls improved. In match play the stymie rule remained in place, with revisions until 1952 when it was finally abolished. It was also in 1891 that the first golf shoes were introduced with spikes that you could screw in. (25)
Despite the hole size being standardised it is interesting to note that there was no mention of a hole liner or tin or of its depth until September 1908, although these were clearly in use at St. Andrews and presumably elsewhere.
Definition 11 ‘The hole shall be 4¼ inches in diameter, and at least 4 inches deep. If a metal lining is used it should be sunk below the lip and its outer diameter should not exceed 4 and a quarter inches.’ (26)
The depth of the hole matters but that rule change came too late for a player at Bishop Auckland Golf Club whose putt from less than six inches struck an upright socket in the bottom of the lining and sprang out remaining on the lip of the hole to be holed. (5)
Not every club had hole liners or tins
‘Many links, especially those to which the general public had access, had no tins in the holes at all. A hole was made by the greenkeeper with the cutter, and, as a rule, the depth of it. was so shallow that a strong putt into it caused the ball to come out again. In the course of play, moreover, the iron flag was placed loosely in the hole, and was allowed to fray the edges, and considerably widen the dimensions of the hole beyond those originally fixed by the greenkeeper’s cutter. It must have been one of the most expensive items in the bill for green-keeping to provide a supply of tins with which to build up the hole and keep it rigid The first object upon which boys and gipsies exercised their predatory talents was the tin in the golf hole’ (22)
Those variances in the size of the hole were still the subject of discussion several years after the 4¼ inch hole had become standard.
There are many golfers playing to-day who must remember the diversity of practice that prevailed in those earlier years. ‘Some golfers will remember that when they played on their own green the size of the hole was fairly commodious, but that when they journeyed to another green in the same district the holes appeared to be very much more restricted in circumference.’ ‘(19)
‘nearly every golf green on both sides of the Border had holes on their putting greens which varied in size from those on neighbouring greens to the extent of an eighth of an inch. In the one case the holes were very difficult to putt at, or in the other case that they were so large that it was almost impossible to miss them at any distance (22)
‘Why they fixed four and a-quarter inches instead of four and a-half. I am strongly of opinion that the latter was, before 1891, the usual size ref’ (18)
‘As a general rule the prevailing trend of golfing opinion seemed to favour a hole which should be 4½ in. in diameter (19)
Some have continued to argue for a different hole size but the standardised hole diameter stuck despite various arguments in support of both bigger and smaller holes. Those in favour of a bigger hole often cited speed of play as the main benefit. The change in ball changed size from 1.62 inches in diameter to 1.68 which the R&A made mandatory at 1974 Open does not really feature in the story. Those advocating for a smaller hole claim it would help to protect older and shorter courses and would create more excitement although quite what it would do to speed of play is anyone’s guess.
Over the decades since standardisation of the hole size there have been several experiments using different sizes.
In 1933 Gene Sarazen, argued for an increase in the diameter from 4¼ inches to 8 inches. He reckoned that the bigger hole would see many more single putts from the top players from within 15 feet whilst the poorer player would still often two putt from 25 feet. His theory was put to the test at Tampa. Florida, which decided its annual open competition would have eight-inch holes and at the Miami-Baltimore Country Club open event they decided to try what became known as the ‘big bucket.’ They played the event using a six-inch diameter cup. Paul Runyan’s winning 266 was a whopping 25 strokes better than the winning score on the same course the previous year. What the big bucket proved is that the best players will shoot the best scores.
Many top players disagreed with Sarazen
J. H. Taylor, “In my judgment the hole is large enough to bring out the best skill of the player.” Sandy Herd ” Americans are always doing something upset the game. If they want benefit the skilful putter then make the hole smaller.” Charles Whitcombe, the British Ryder captain 1931” I think Sarazen’s suggestion absurd,”
Perhaps Sarazen was simply the master of publicity. Sarazen was a guy you listened to. His opinions meant something. In The Story of American Golf, Wind wrote ‘Gene had an understanding of publicity superior to that of any of his colleagues.’ (27 )
There is no evidence that, Ben Hogan advocated for larger holes. Some of his peers considered Hogan to be the greatest putter of all-time. But there were times when Hogan was putting so poorly he said he was embarrassed to be watched by spectators and even suggested getting rid of putting entirely. “I have always contended golf is one game and putting is another.” (28)
Jack Nicklaus had different reasons for experimenting with a bigger hole. In 2011, at Muirfield Village, the 12-hole tournaments played to 8 inch holes. Nicklaus wanted to encourage faster play and also try something different to attempt to attract new players to the game as well as retaining those already playing the game. Players were required to finish their rounds in 2½ hours. (29)
No stranger to putting woes or new formats of golf, Sergio Garcia played in a 9 hole Hack Golf in 2014 event to introduce a 15 inch cup. He was joined by Justin Rose. The aim was to create an easier, faster, more fun alternative to attract new people to the game. The results were a little surprising. Garcia shot 6 under, Rose 3 under and there were plenty of chip ins. In the main 18 hole event, amateurs fared better. Rounds took 3 hours and 45 minutes to complete on average and some golfers showed a 10-stroke improvement with plenty of “hero” shots: One woman chipped in seven times, another man shot a gross 58. (30)
In conclusion
We may never know the full truth behind why the hole is the size that it is. Those days when it seems to be the size of a bucket are, for most of us, sadly few and far between. The size won’t change, unless in fun events, but we could perhaps learn to change our perception of the size so that it looks bigger on the course. A psychological study as recently as 2017 looked at this. (31)
Some players subscribe to the theory of perception by putting to a smaller hole in their practice. Irish, golfer Jimmy Bruen the 1946 amateur champion and Walker Cup player was one of them. What was his secret? David, the second youngest of his six children, said in 2020 ‘he had the driving range and the putting green which he built himself … it had only one hole, with the contour delivering every conceivable type of putt. Interestingly, the hole was smaller than the normal diameter of 4.25ins, which meant that when you went to the course, the standard hole looked like a bucket.” (32)
REFERENCES:
1.David Stirk ‘Golf. History and Tradition 1500-1945’ extracts published in Through The Green (golfcollectors.co.uk) June 2001 ‘Why Four and a Quarter Inches?’ by Tony Barnie-Adshead page 31
2.The Project Gutenberg eBook of ‘Fifty Years of Golf’, by Horace G. Hutchinson
3. https://crailgolfingsociety.co.uk/blog/the-hole-story
4.Through The Green (golfcollectors.co.uk) March 2022 Evolving Rules: The Flagstick Michael Sheret reviews historical rules and definitions. (Image: Driving within the requisite number of club-lengths from what appears to be a very large hole, circa 1860)
5.Reference On the Putting Green (ruleshistory.com)
6.Tom Morris of St Andrews The Colossus of Golf 1821-1908 at Chapter 43 David Malcolm and Peter E. Crabtree 2010 ISBN:978:0-85790-107-1
7. https://www.scottishgolfhistory.org/oldest-golf-clubs-societies/1780-royal-aberdeen-golf-club/#Stones
8. Reference – https://www.scottishgolfhistory.org/origin-of-golf-terms/coloured-colored-flags/
9. Kincaid T. An Edinburgh diary (edited with introduction and notes by HW Meikle). Extracted from the twenty-seventh volume of the book of the Old Edinburgh Club, December 1949. Edinburgh;1954.
10. http://www.ruleshistory.com/rules1829m.html
11. http://www.ruleshistory.com/rules1834.html
12. Through The Green (golfcollectors.co.uk) September 14 ‘The Hole Story’ Michael Farmer
13www.ruleshistory.com/rules1886.html
14. Through The Green (golfcollectors.co.uk) 2022 Evolving Rules: The Hole Michael Sheret
15. http://www.royalaberdeengolf.com/
16. Peter Davies The Historical Dictionary of Golfing Terms from 1500 to the Present
17. The Field, in 1888
18. Golf – Tuesday 24 July 1894
19. 1906 Saturday 07 July in Field & “Golfers’ Handbook 1881,” Mr. Robert Forgan
20. Golf 4th September 1891
21. The Badminton Volume Horace Hutchison The Badminton Library of Sports and Pastimes – Golf (1890)
22. 1904 Saturday 03 December Field
23. Photos and Art appearing to show larger Holes: Water colour by William Douglas (British 1780-1832), painted in 1809. ‘Two boys with golf clubs and a dog on Old Musselburgh Links
24. http://www.ruleshistory.com/rules1891.html
25. http://www.golfhq.com/blog
26. http://www.ruleshistory.com/rules1908.html
27. 1933 Monday 23 January Dundee Evening Telegraph & the_hole_truth_about_the_big_bucket.pdf (weebly.com)
30. https://www.golfcompendium.com/2022/01/ben-hogan-eliminate-putting.html
31. A Labor of Love – Nicklaus Design
32. https://www.golfwrx.com/202387/hackgolf/
33. Skinner Monier Williams GB189404586TA·1894-03-05 Putting to a bigger hole: Golf performance relates to perceived size – PMC (nih.gov)
34. Jimmy Bruen was among the best golfers to grace the game on these islands – Independent.ie