Mondo Knows Facts

A golf hole is 108 millimetres across

That is four and a quarter inches, a size fixed in 1891 at Musselburgh The R&A and the USGA both specify a hole 108 millimetres in diameter and at least 101.6 millimetres deep. The width is said to come from a drainage pipe used to cut holes at Musselburgh in Scotland. A golf ball is 42.67 millimetres across, so two and a half balls would just fit. It sits in Mondo's sports collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

The R&A

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Tags: golf, equipment, measurement

A golf hole is 108 millimetres across: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
That is four and a quarter inches, a size fixed in 1891 at Musselburgh. The figure is taken from The R&A, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a sports fact?
Yes. It sits on the Sports shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.