Episode Title: The 4.25 Inch Question

(0:00 - 1:30) INTRO
[SOUND of a golf ball dropping into a metal cup, echoing slightly, followed by a crowd reacting to a putt dropping - a mix of cheers and groans]
COLIN WESTON:
That sound. The sound of a putt dropping into the bottom of the cup. It’s one of the most satisfying - and sometimes heartbreaking - sounds in all of sport. It’s the sound of success, relief, elation, or of crushing defeat as your opponent sinks yet another ridiculously long putt.
And it all relies on a very specific number. Four point two five inches. The diameter of a golf hole.
But have you ever stopped to think… why? Why is the hole 4.25 inches? Why not 4 inches? Why not 5? Why not the size of a dinner plate for those days when your putting stroke has completely abandoned you? I know I’ve certainly wished for that on more than one occasion.
Welcome to The ModGolf Podcast. I’m your host, Colin Weston. And today, we’re taking a deep dive into one of the most overlooked, yet fundamental, questions in our game. We’re going to explore the quirky, almost accidental origin of the 4 and  1/4“ standard.

How a piece of plumbing in Scotland set the rule for every single course you'll ever play. And, we’re going to look into the future to ask: in an era of innovation and a push to grow the game, will the size of the hole ever change?

[THEME MUSIC - upbeat, modern, slightly funky, representing the "Mod" in ModGolf]
COLIN:
I’m Colin Weston, and this is The ModGolf Podcast. Let's get into it.

(1:30 - 5:00) THE MYSTERY OF THE STANDARD
COLIN:
Every regulation golf ball you play with has a diameter of at least 1.68 inches. That was standardized in 1990 for consistency in global competitions and helped ensure fairness across different golf courses and conditions. But the hole? The hole’s standard size is much, much older. And it all starts in Scotland, long before the R&A or the USGA were the global powerhouses they are today.

For the first few hundred years of golf, things were pretty chaotic and random. We’re talking about the Wild West of course management. There was no standard for the size of a hole. If you traveled across Scotland, you might encounter a hole that was 4 inches in diameter on one course, and a hole that was 5.5 inches on the next. The size and shape of each hole on a Scottish links course in the early 1800s was unique, as they were dug out by hand.

This hole-constructing technique gets not only more interesting but also more problematic. The issue of inconsistent hole sizes was exacerbated by an old-school teeing practice. Before the invention of the wooden tee, players would tee the ball up on a small pile of wet sand. And where did they get the wet sand? From the bottom of the cup from the previous hole. So, as the day went on, the hole would literally get bigger because the greenskeepers were digging sand out of it. Can you imagine putting to a cup that’s been expanded by a dozen players grabbing sand? Players were complaining that the longer a competition went on during the day, the easier the course became to shoot a lower score.

That’s where a gentleman named Robert Gray enters the picture. Gray worked at the Royal Musselburgh Golf Club just outside of Glasgow and in 1824 he set out to solve this problem after the unrelenting complaints from the members. And Gray, who we have to imagine was a brilliant tinkerer, realized that a common piece from an everyday building item could solve the problem.

Gray fashioned a hole-cutter made of iron by utilizing a section of drainpipe he found in a maintenance storage shed. The size of that drainpipe coincidently happened to measure 4.25 inches across. The simple tool created holes that were uniform in size, depth, and shape. By chance, that drainpipe diameter would become golf’s most enduring standard. It wasn’t based on a scientific formula or a careful study of the challenge it presented. It was based on whatever the standard plumbing fixture was in that part of Scotland in the 1820s.

Gray didn't just create the liner; he created a contraption to cut new holes. I’ve included a picture of it in the episode show notes if you’d like to have a look. So the first true standardized "hole cutter" was born. But, as is often the case with such things, it took decades for the rest of the golfing world to catch on.

(5:00 - 8:00) THE R&A MAKES IT OFFICIAL
COLIN:
For 67 long years after Gray’s invention, courses continued doing their own thing. It wasn't until 1891 that the game’s governing body, the R&A, decided enough was enough . They needed a consistent standard for the game's most crucial piece of real estate.
They looked at the evidence. Musselburgh’s solution had been working for nearly seven decades. So, the R&A took a look at the Musselburgh hole-cutter, shrugged, and said, "Yeah, that'll do." They made it official. 4.25 inches. And that, my friends, is how we got here.

[SOUND: The familiar jingle of a newsflash or a quick "fun fact" sounder]
COLIN:
Now, that’s the story we all know. But let’s put this into context how precise a game golf really is. Image you are about to play a monster 580-yard par five. A challenging hole that measures around 70 yards wide. That’s a massive surface area of over 365,000 square feet. And the hole you’re aiming for at the end of that long walk has a surface area of just over 14 square inches. That’s a ridiculously small target. It’s what makes the game so infuriatingly difficult and so incredibly satisfying when you get it right. It demands both power and precision from all 14 clubs in your bag.

(8:00 - 10:30) DEFENDING THE STANDARD
COLIN:
So, if the universal golf hole size is arbitrary, why has it lasted for over 130 years without any serious challenge? And trust me, people have tried. About a decade ago, there was some experimentation. Both of golf’s governing bodies - The USGA and the R&A -  and companies like TaylorMade floated the idea of a larger 15-inch hole in an effort to speed up play and make the game more fun for beginners. "Fun" became the leading message. You might have heard of the "Tiger Woods" effect, where courses popped up with massively long holes, but the idea of changing the standard cup size for competitive play was met with fierce resistance.

There’s a deep, almost sacred, reverence for the 4 1/4”inch diameter hole. It's considered a fundamental part of golf's essential character . The argument is simple: the size of the hole is what makes putting a distinct skill. It differentiates the game. If you make the hole bigger, you completely change the balance of power in golf by devaluing the skill of the short game.

And we can see the governing bodies are sticking to their guns. In their 2018 Modernization initiative, the R&A and USGA specifically noted that they considered changing the size of the hole. They rejected it. They explicitly said, "An increase in the dimensions of the hole would alter that balance and we have found no good reason to do so." For both the powers that be and players of all skill levels, the 4.25 inch diameter standard is sacrosanct.

(10:30 - 12:00) THE FUTURE OF THE HOLE
COLIN:
But what if that changes? If you’ve been listening to The ModGolf Podcast, you know that I talk to the innovators, disruptors, entrepreneurs and the influencers who are questioning the status quo and shaping the future of the game. And while the regulatory size of the hole for the pros is safe, the concept of the golf hole is changing everywhere else.

We have the rise of simulator golf and tech-driven indoor facilities. In the virtual world of simulator golf, you can tweak the hole size with the click of a button.  There are entertainment putting venues like PopStroke, where the focus is on fun and the experience, not just the score. Formats like Bucket Golf - who I have covered on a previous episode - allows you to hole out just by making contact with each portable bucket and you subtract a stroke from your score if you manage to get the plastic whiffle ball in the bucket.

So as we continue the push to make the game more accessible and diverse, we need to pick our spots when balancing the need to preserve the elements that make golf, golf. A couple of years ago I played a challenging 12 hole course in Northern California that had two flagsticks on each green. One was a traditional 4 1/4” hole while the other was an 8” diameter hole for beginners. This course believes in coexistence to ensure that all skill levels enjoyed the experience.

If the traditional 18-hole round is under pressure, and the golf audience is being asked to play faster and have more fun, will the traditional 4.25 inch hole survive? We’re seeing on a grassroots level in off-course settings, that "fun" is leading the message. People are playing games where the cup is bigger, or where the pins are more forgiving with less undulating greens.

So while the 4 1/4” inch hole size will most likely remain the standard for tour professionals and at the traditional green grass courses that you and I play, the future of the game has arrived and now expands the definition of what a golf hole is, ranging from a 30’ diameter target at a TopGolf venue to virtual targets and games designed by technology companies like inrange, TrackMan and PuttView.

(12:00 - 13:00) OUTRO
COLIN:
So next time you’re standing over a three-foot putt, take a moment to ponder this: It’s not just a circular shaped void that you desperately want your little white sphere to disappear into. That’s the legacy of a man by the name of Robert Gray, a piece of drainpipe from a Scottish links, and a decision made in 1891 that has held firm for over 135 years. It’s a quirky, beautiful, and deeply human story - a testament to how history and innovation are often accidental byproducts of convenience, timing and available resources.

It’s a reminder that sometimes, the most ordinary things can create the most extraordinary standards. If you enjoyed this deep dive into golf's history, I'd love to hear from you. What other golf traditions or rules do you want me to look into? Send me a message @modgolfpodcast on Instagram and let’s have a chat.

And before I go I have a two minute favour to ask of you. Please consider following, leaving a review and rating for The ModGolf Podcast on Apple Podcasts to help it grow and move up the search ranking results. I will include the link in the episode show notes. This might seem like a small action but it will make a huge difference. More subscribers and reviews helps The ModGolf Podcast move up the search rankings, reach new listeners and attract more high quality guests.

To everyone who I DM-ed and has already done this... Thank You! I’m Colin Weston. Bye for now.