10 Incredible Golf World Records

While it’s unlikely you’ll find yourself beating Jim Furyk’s record-breaking round of 58 at the Travelers Championship, there are hundreds of other ways to etch your name into the golfing history books. Here are a few of the more interesting…

Fastest ever round (team) – 11 minutes 55 seconds

With the slow play debate on ongoing topic, we could learn a thing or two from Zwartkop Country Club in South Africa. They currently hold the record for the fastest completed 18 holes at a staggering 11 minutes 55 seconds completed at Centurion, Gauteng, South Africa, on 31 July 2022. Admittedly this did involve members strategically placed around the course but it is still must have taken some doing.

Perhaps a more realistic target is the record for the fastest ever fourball of  48 mins 56 secs. Matthew Dalton, Steven Holloway, Landyn Edwards and Michael Ryan sprinted their way into the record books at Rotorua Golf Club, Rotorua, New Zealand, on 12 November 2017.

Longest Drive in competition - 515 yds

Amazingly, you have to go all the way back to 1974 to find the longest drive in a professional competition. Even more amazingly, it was achieved by 64-year-old Mike Austin playing in the US National Seniors Tournament, at the Winterwood Golf Course (now the Desert Rose).

To put it in perspective, he did have the benefit of a 35mph tailwind and the course in Las Vegas is well over 2,000m above sea level but it was still a mighty blow with a persimmon club.

Just to prove that distance is not everything, the drive left him 50 yards past the green on the 450-yard par 4. He pitched back onto the green with his second and three-putted for a bogey.

The longest golf drive on the PGA Tour in the ShotLink era (since 2003) is 476 yards, achieved by Davis Love III (USA) at the 18th hole of the Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii, USA, during the fourth round of the Mercedes Championships on 11 January 2004.

Perhaps the approach of Cristian Sterning would have been more appropriate. The Swede holds the record for the longest golf carry using just one hand – 282yds.

Longest Putt - 395 ft 8 in

The longest golf putt (non-tournament) is 120.6 m (395 ft 8in) and was achieved by Brett Stanford (Australia) from ‘How Ridiculous’, at the Point Walter Golf Course, Western Australia, on 2 February 2017.

As for the longest televised putt in history, that could well be claimed by Ian Poulter who made one from over 160 feet on the ninth hole at St Andrews during the 2022 Open Championship.

Longest Par 3 In The World

It's the "Extreme 19th" which measures some 440 yards in horizontal distance with but there's also a drop of nearly 500 yards. The hole is at the Legend Golf and Safari Resort, set in the Entabeni Safari Conservancy in the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The tee is located on Hanglip Mountain and is accessible only by helicopter; the green has been designed to look like the continent of Africa.

Most holes played in a year - 14,625

Canadian Chris Adam has played the most holes of golf in a calendar year. He managed 14,625, all at the King Kamehameha Golf Club in Wailuku, Hawaii. He played 809 full rounds and seven half rounds over the course of 2012.

Another Canadian, Robb James, holds the record for the most holes played in 24 hours. Using a cart he managed 851 holes at Victoria Golf Course (9-hole course, 3,002 yd), in Edmonton, Canada, on 21-22 June 2004. He hit 45 birdies and 430 pars, four low rounds of 68 and a high of 87.

In 2009 Cathie and Jonathan Weaver (also Canadian - what is it about Canadians and obsessing with golf endurance?) played 449 18-hole courses in a single year.

The lowest score over 18 holes – 55

Jim Furyk made headlines for his amazing 58, the first ever on the PGA Tour, but he still has a way to go to beat Australian Rhein Gibson. He managed a 55 at the River Oaks Golf Club in Edmond, Oklahoma, on 12 May 2012 (6,700yds par 71). The round included 2 eagles and 12 birdies.

The most albatrosses in a single round of golf is two, achieved by American Norman L. Manley at the Del Valle Country Club course in Saugus, California in 1964. This feat was equalled by compatriot Patrick Wills at the Laurel Hill Golf Club in Lorton, Virginia, in 2015, where he managed two hole-in-ones on the par-4 7th and 10th.

One-club wonder

The lowest 18-hole score using only one club was a two-under-par 70 by American Thad Daber using his 6-iron at the 1987 World One Club Championship at Lochmere Golf Club in North Carolina.

Youngest player to make a hole-in-one

While you’ll struggle to match many of the records listed here, I’m afraid the ship has definitely sailed on this one. Christian Carpenter managed a hole-in-one aged 4 years 195 days at the Mountain View Golf Club, Hickory, North Carolina, in 1999.

Carpenter’s record-breaking continued aged 12 when he shot 54, the lowest 18-hole score on a short course for a male golfer. The round took place in 2007 at Henry River Golf Club, which measures 5,953yds and has a par of 70. 

Most holes in one

It's generally accepted to be Mancil Davis who made 51 career holes in one between 1967 and 2007. 

And the most bizarre record goes to…

American Michael Furrh who created the world’s longest usable golf club at 8.56m (28ft 1in) long. He hit the ball a distance of 59 yards in order to prove its usability and in doing so raised money for breast cancer awareness.