Though it was never found out who invented golf it is generally accepted that golf goes back a minimum of 500 years. There is evidence that people started playing golf before 1457 because on 6 March, 1457 James II of Scotland banned golf and football as these sports were hampering archery practice. History of Golf brings you the interesting details about how golf gradually evolved from the medieval to the modern times. There is a legend that shepherds, while getting bored tending their flocks, used to hit stones into rabbit holes with their wooden crooks near St Andrews. They became adept at this and it led to the birth of golf on the greens of Scotland .
Other Theories
Some historians have also traced the History of Golf to a Roman game called paganica . They played it on the streets of Great Britain , where they ruled from 40 to 400 AD, with a bent stick and a leather ball stuffed with feathers. Others believe that golf originated from het kolven, a Dutch game. Historians even think that golf originated from a French and Belgian game called chole , a French game called jeu de mail , and an English game called cambuca . But it is generally agreed that golf originated in Scotland .
Earliest Clubs
Established in 1744, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers in Edinburgh, Scotland , is often recognized as the first organized golf club. The rules of the game were first written by them to settle disputes among the golfers. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews was founded in 1754 as the Society of St Andrews Golfers. It was they who set the standard norm of 18 holes per round.
The Royal Blackheath Golf Club of England was the one of the first golf clubs to be formed outside Scotland . It came into existence in 1766, followed by the Old Manchester Golf Club founded on the Kersal Moor in 1818. It was in Canada that golf first established firm roots in North America .
- The Royal Montreal Club was formed in 1873
- The Quebec Golf Club in 1875
- Another golf club at Toronto in 1876.
It wasn't until 1888 that golf resurfaced in the United States . A Scotsman, John Reid, first built a three hole course in Yonkers, New York near his home and later that same year formed the St. Andrews Club of Yonkers on a nearby 30 acre site. From those austere beginnings, golf literally soared as a new national pastime in the United States .
The popularity of golf spread from Scotland and England to parts of the British Commonwealth. The first golf club established outside Britain was the Royal Calcutta in India in 1829.
Golfing Equipment
The first authentic record of a club maker was in 1603 when William Mayne was appointed to the court of James I of England to make golf clubs for the king and his council. Two Scottish club makers, Andrew Dickson of Leith and Henry Mill of St Andrews, are recognized from the late 1600s. These clubs had carved wooden heads of beech, holly, dogwood, pear or apple and spliced into shafts of ash or hazel to give the club more whip. Improvements were made by filling the back of the head with lead and by putting inserts of leather, horn or bone into the club face. As time progressed, skilled blacksmiths forged iron faced clubs, initially without grooves, to provide more loft for shorter shots.
The History of Golf balls go back to 1618 when James I of England commissioned James Melvill and an associate to make balls for the court. The balls were hand stitched leather, stuffed with boiled feathers and in dry weather, a well-struck feather ball could travel 165 m but when wet only about 135 m which was quite amazing. It was used till 1848 when a golfing clergyman from St Andrews, the Reverend Adam Paterson, experimented with a substance from India called gutta-percha . It had been sent to him as padding covering a gift and he found that the material could be softened with heat and then molded into a hard ball. The gutty, as it was known, was not an instant success as the smooth ball tended to duck in flight but players soon found that its performance improved at the end of a round when the ball received some nicks and scratches. The gutta-percha ball lasted for approximately 55 years until succeeded by the Haskell ball in 1903. An American dentist, Dr Coburn Haskell, ran some experiments by tightly wrapping a liquid filled rubber core with strips of elastic then covering it with a gutta-percha casing. North American golfers began to take the new ball seriously when Walter Travis, originally from Australia , won the 1901 United States Amateur Championship using the Haskell ball. When Alex Herd won the 1902 British Open Championship again using the Haskell ball, golfers everywhere dropped the gutty and started using it.
Modern balls have a more durable cover of balata or surlyn and various solid core balls with new synthetics have become popular. The art of club making has moved on from the original wooden clubs to forged irons, then steel shafts and finally all manner of metal heads with many types of synthetic shafts. Technology has done wonders for the average golfer but practice, dedication and raw talent still remain a factor to be a true golfing champion.
History of Golf offers you a short overview about how golf evolved from its Scottish roots to a worldwide sport.
