A standard golf course consists of 18 holes. Most often, golfers play full 18-hole rounds on such courses—both in official tournaments and in casual play.
However, there are many 9-hole courses around the world. On these courses, a full round consists of playing the same 9 holes twice.
Other course layouts also exist:
- 6-hole courses – a full round requires playing the course three times,
- 27-hole courses – during a round, the player plays two of the three available nines.
Courses with any other number of holes are relatively rare.