Golf fact

A Little Known Golf Fact

The game of golf was founded in Scotland several hundred years ago and most people have heard of the famous Scottish course, St. Andrews, in the Kingdom of Fife, just an hour north east of Edinburgh. It is considered the most popular golf course in the entire world.

Today, you must have a handicap under 26 for men and 36 for women, produce a copy of your golf handicap certificate, and a letter from your country club, before you can apply for a tee time there. You have to know who to book with, to get a tee time. As with most Scottish golf courses, you walk, no golf carts allowed.

I bet there are very few golfers in the world who know why a game of golf is measured at l8 holes, and not 20, or 23.

In Scotland many years ago, the kilted highlanders always carried a bottle of Scotch to help ward off the cold and occasionally bleak cold climate (we call it brisk). Many of the 550 golf courses are links, which run along the coast, and can be very windy.

When they started playing the game they would take a “wee dram (big sip) of whisky after each hole and found that it took l8 wee drams to empty the bottle. At that point, the game was over, and they then retired to the local pub for another “wee dram”. In the highlands, one inn has over l500 different bottles of whisky for you to choose from. Every visitor to Scotland should visit a whisky distillery, there are 125 to choose from. My favorite place is the island of Islay, with nine different distillers. Even the seagulls walk with a wobble.

Of course, the custom is still carried out today. My father – a MacDonald – carried a silver flask with l8 wee drams in it to ward off the cold and he certainly played better golf or so he said. He highly recommended Glenmorangie or Bruichladdich.

Try it, you might get a hole in one, take your handicap to 5, but you should wear a kilt.

Maureen Jones

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