Whether it’s the first participation of women in the Olympic Games or a hole-in-one over an impressive distance: golf has many interesting, funny and impressive anecdotes to offer.

Golf is full of special features. And some are even record-breaking. So here are some superlatives from the world of golf. In our list of remarkable and wacky records. They are suitable for party knowledge or for small talk on the next round of golf.

And if you are dissatisfied after a round of golf, then take a look at our overview of the highest golf scores of all time.

Small, white ball and big stories

In the past century, many cultures have coined a game similar to golf. The game with a club and a small ball. The Romans, for example, also played a game similar to golf. In Scotland, the game was banned because it neglected the war. Today, more than 60 million enthusiastic players of different age groups play the game.

As a result, there are now various records in golf that have been set around the world over the years. We will now introduce you to some of them, some of which are remarkable and some of which are completely crazy.

Olympic fire for women too

Paris, 1900: For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, women were allowed to compete in four sports. With a total of 10 female athletes from France and the USA, the largest number of participants was in golf, which was an Olympic sport for the first time. Four years later, golf was stripped of its Olympic status. In 2016, things are set to change for the first time in 112 years: The IOC has received a bid from the IGF (International Golf Federation) for the 2016 Olympic Games.

Animal helpers on the green

At the Talamore Golf Course in North Carolina, USA, adventurous golfers with strong nerves can take advantage of very special services: Instead of a “normal” caddie, they can hire a llama to carry two golf bags around the course for them. As llamas are not necessarily the most obedient animals, golfers should expect involuntary breaks due to stubbornness or even spitting attacks.

Young blood and old hand

Matthew Draper achieved a real feat in a junior competition: he sank the golf ball into the hole after a 111-meter trajectory with just one shot – ace! Nothing special? Matthew was only five years old at the time, making him the youngest golfer to score a hole-in-one in an official tournament! Good prerequisites for perhaps breaking another record in his golf career: Norman Manley is the undisputed “King of Aces” with 59 holes-in-ones.

a sprightly pensioner in California had to wait 102 years for her first hole-in-one. This makes Elsie McLean the oldest player to have managed to get the ball into the hole in one shot. she hit the ball 91 meters on the course in Chico. According to the sports channel ESPN, McLean broke the record of a 101-year-old man from Florida. Following her success, the sprightly pensioner was invited onto numerous US talk shows.

The longest short golf course in the world – and the game of golf

65 minutes of playing time on a golf course only 114 meters long? Not possible? It is possible! The tee of the ninth hole of the Portal Golf Club is located in Saskatchewan, Canada. The green, on the other hand, is in the US state of North Dakota. For six months of the year, in contrast to Saskatchewan, North Dakota has daylight saving time and therefore a time difference of one hour – 65 minutes for 114 meters is therefore not a rarity during this time, but the rule.

The shortest game

An average 18-hole game of golf lasts around 4.5 hours. The shortest game, however, lasted less than a whole minute. It was a team game between 12 players from Spain, Denmark and France. The aim was to hit a hole that was 500 yards away. The French pocketed the ball after 34 seconds.

The largest “golf course” in the world – and the highest golf hole

Floyd Satterlee Rood took on the challenge of a very special but unofficial golf course: Rood crossed the USA from the Pacific to the Atlantic coast. His golf clubs and 3,511 golf balls were in his luggage. It took him 384 days and 114,737 tee shots to cover the distance of 5,468 kilometers.

The highest hole

The attribute “highest” is no exaggeration, as the hole is located at a dizzying 3291 meters above sea level on a golf course in Bolivia. The ascent is very difficult but also worthwhile, as the view of the Bolivian landscape from the top is priceless.

Active into old age

Golf is known to keep you fit. The best example of this is Arthur Thompson from British Columbia. The sprightly man is the oldest golfer ever to have played an 18-hole round. At the proud age of 103, he was still hitting balls over a course of more than 5,500 meters at Uplands Golf Club in Victoria, USA.

Big decisions

Fairy tale or truth: businessmen allegedly like to make very important decisions and close the really big deals on the lush green of the course. The biggest known deal was sealed at a tournament organized by US bank Wachovia in North Carolina: The board of directors nodded off a deal worth 25 billion dollars between tees on the lawn.

Beaten by miles

The ball flew and flew and was only stopped by a fence: At a distance of 719 meters, it finally came to rest. With this impressive tee shot, Carl Hooper achieved the longest golf shot of all time during a golf tournament at the 1992 Texas Open. Unfortunately, this was the only positive for Hooper. After taking three shots to get back onto the fairway, he could only finish with a double bogey (2 over par) and missed the cut.

The longest golf shot

The longest shot in golf history was hit by Kelly Murray in 1990, when the ball flew 684.8 yards or approximately 610 meters. Kelly Murray hit this shot on an airport runway.

The ball that flew the furthest

Mikhail Tyurin set another crazy record. He was another man who played golf in space. The astronaut from Russia hit a gold-plated golf ball into deep space from a special platform on the ISS space station. He hit the ball towards Earth and it circled our planet 48 times in about three days. You could even say that this is a record for eternity.

From the beginning to the top

the world golf rankings were introduced in 1986. At the time, it was headed by a German. Bernhard Langer from Anhausen was the first world number one. Today it is Tiger Woods. No one has been able to knock him off the throne for 507 weeks. Among the German men, Martin Kaymer is the greatest hope in 39th place. Mexican Lorena Ochoa is number 1 on the women’s leaderboard. Sandra Gal is the best German golfer: she is ranked 165th in the world. The most famous female golfer, Michelle Wie, who was long regarded as the greatest hope for the next generation, is ranked 310th.

A shot for the ages?

Robert Mitera certainly had no idea that on October 17, 1965, he would set a record that still stands today. At Miracle Hills Golf Club, USA, he didn’t just get the ball into the hole in one shot – the ball flew a full 405 meters. It is also curious that Mitera could not even see the hole from the tee and was only later informed of his memorable shot by a fellow player.

The golfer with the most tournament wins

Everyone probably immediately thinks of Tiger Woods here. And that’s true if you look at the active players of today. However, if you look a little further back, you come across the golfer Jack Nicklaus, who was born in Ohio in 1940. Jack Nicklaus achieved 113 tournament victories, including major victories.

The moon as a golf course

The weirdest record is held by Alan Shepard without any ifs or buts. He even used the moon as a golf course. He was the first to hit the ball in the airless zone, 350 meters – but on his second attempt, as the first one didn’t work due to the tight suit. The big shot in the airless zone that went down in history happened 47 years ago, on February 6, 1971.

Young blood and the big ace

Mathew Drapper was just 5 years old at the time. The young golfer managed to score an ace in a junior competition. It was a feat of the finest kind. He sank the ball directly into the hole after a trajectory of 111 meters. This made him the youngest player to score a hole-in-one in an official competition.

The longest terrain for a golf course

This record is held by the International Golf Club in Massachusetts. The longest course in the world covers an area of 28,000 square meters. In total, the golf course stretches over a length of 7,600 meters.

The longest and most impressive hole-in-one

This record was set in 1965 by Robert Mitera in Omaha, Nebraska. This is the longest hole-in-one of all time and happened completely by chance, as Robert did not see the flag at all. The distance was too great to see where the hole was with the naked eye. But Robert just went for it and hoped for the best. Only after landing was he informed that he hit the hole directly from 406 meters and sank the ball.

The most golf balls sunk in a water hazard

Canadian golfer Jim White can hardly boast about this record. The golfer from Nebraska sank a total of 16 balls into the same water hazard. Or can you beat this record?

The greatest golf pro in Germany

The tallest professional golfer comes from Germany: Marcel Pickel is listed in the Guinness Book of Records in the category “The tallest professional golf player ever” at 206 cm. He has been a golf pro and member of the Pro Golf Tour since July 17, 2009.

Here is the entry:

Marcel Pickel has been training to become a golf coach with the PGA Germany since the beginning of the year.

The oldest golfer of all time

The golfer Arthur Thompson from British Columbia was the oldest player of all time. At the age of 103, he successfully completed an 18-hole game at the Vitoria Club in America.

The most difficult golf course

According to the “Golfpost”, the most difficult course can be found in South Carolina. You have to go to Kiawah Island to find it. On the Ocean Course, the wind is extremely strong and the course is subject to frequent weather fluctuations. In addition, many holes on the course are very close to the water, which causes additional problems for many players.

The biggest tournament prize

If anyone can brag about winning something big, it’s Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irish-born player scooped a prize of 5.8 million at the FedEx Cup. Rory won the big prize in 2014 and it was the highest prize ever won.

The most golf courses

Patrick Koenig set a new world record in 2023. He has played the most 18-hole golf courses in a single year. Koenig played 450 different courses on his “RGV Tour 2.0”. He had originally set himself the goal of playing 500 courses in 365 days – and he is well on his way to achieving this number before the tour finale in January. In doing so, he has surpassed the previous record of 449 courses set in 2009.