¿Por qué se juegan 18 hoyos en las partidas de golf? // Why Do Golf Courses Have 18 Holes?

Mucha gente se pregunta por qué los campos de golf tienen 18 hoyos. Hace siglo y medio los campos tenían diferentes número de hoyos. El Old Course de St. Andrews tenía 12 hoyos en 1764. Diez de ellos se jugaban dos veces, por lo tanto una vuelta consistía en 22 hoyos. En 1764, los miembros decidieron combinar los primeros 4 hoyos para hacer 2 más largos. Por lo tanto la vuelta cambió de 22 a 18. En 1857, St. Andrews decidió construir 8 dobles greenes en los hoyos que se jugaban dos veces creando así una vuelta auténtica de 18 hoyos. Finalmente, en 1858, se estableció la vuelta de 18 hoyos como standard para competiciones entre sus miembros.

Sin embargo, hay quien asegura que durante las discusiones para fijar el número de hoyos que se deberían jugar en competición, un "senior member” de St. Andrews dijo que normalmente se bebía un "quinto" de whisky en 18 tragos. Por lo tanto, e hipotéticamente, si se limitase a beber  sólo un trago por hoyo, el buen escocés calculó que la partida se acabaría justo cuando el whisky se acabase,  momento perfecto para volver a la casa club. Argumento de peso que acabó de convencer hasta los más escépticos. (Es importante recordar que un quinto de whisky corresponde a un quinto de galón que más o menos son 25 onzas líquidas osea 750 ml, es decir... una botella). 
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Although the basic rules of the game were set up early, there was a time when different courses had all kinds of different holes. Of course, that shouldn't come as much of a surprise for a game which dates to the 1500s.

The big change came in 1764, when the venerable Old Course at St. Andrews cut their 12 holes down to 10, and began playing eight of those holes twice.  Eighteen it was, and in 1857, a full 18 hole course was finally laid out for good.

As St. Andrews went, so went golf everywhere else.

And where was the first 18 hole course in America? Downers Grove, Illinois.

"We know it was an 18 hole course," said Dan Cermak, chief of the Downers Grove Park District. "And we know it was the first 18 hole course in America."

The course was the brainchild of Chicagoan Charles Blair McDonald. He learned the game at St. Andrews and convinced some friends to help him lay out a course west of town on what had been a sheep farm. The year was 1892.

"Golf course architecture had yet to be invented, which McDonald went on to do," explained Cermak. "He designed many famous golf courses throughout America."

After setting up their course in 1892, McDonald said the following year in his autobiography that he laid out an 18 hole course at the Downer's Grove site.  But the course soon became so popular, that he and his colleagues began looking for more room. They chose a 220 acre tract in Wheaton, and marked out what would become the Chicago Golf Club, which to this day is one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the United States.

Downers Grove Golf Course is still there, still on the same site.  It's nine holes now, but many of those holes are in the exact same layout they were 118 years ago.

"This is a really important place in golf history in America," Cermak notes. "This is where it all happened. This is where it all started!"