* Why does a golf course have 18 holes?
In the early days of golf, nothing was standardized; courses ranged from 6 to 25 holes. St. Andrews had 22: 11 holes were laid out end to end from the clubhouse to the farthest point on the property. Golfers played the same holes out and, in reverse, the sames holes in. In 1764, the captain of the St. Andrews Golf Club combined several holes that were considered too short, thereby reducing 11 to 9, so that a complete round became 18. This soon became the standard because of the influence of the Society of St. Andrews Golfers.
* When was the golf tee invented, and by whom?
Dr. George F. Grant, the first African American graduate of Harvard College, received a patent for his tee in 1899. Grant was a dentist,and disliked getting his hands dirty before every hole by creating a mound of sand to use as a tee, as golfers had been doing for hundreds of years.
* When did golf arrive in the United States?
1887, John Reid asked a friend, to bring him some golf balls and clubs when he returned from his visit to Scotland. The next year, Reid laid out the first 3-hole golf course in Yonkers, N.Y.
* Where does the term "mulligan" come from?
David Mulligan who played at St. Lambert Country Club of Montreal in the 1920's. Mulligan played regularly with the same group of friends. Apparently, the road to the golf course was very uneven, so an extra shot was awarded on the first tee to Mulligan, the driver, because of the stress he had undergone. Another popular version has David Mulligan hitting a poor shot on the first tee and immediately hitting what he called a correction shot. His friends thought mulligan would be a better name.
