History of Golf

Origins

The Romans introduced a game called paganica to Britain. In the fourteenth century, another game, called cambuca, was played in Britain. Both of these games were similar to the present-day game of golf.

The word golf could come from the German word kolbe, or the Dutch variant kolf. There is evidence to suggest that the Dutch played a type of game similar to golf around the fourteenth century.

In 1457, the playing of golf was banned in Scotland as people were playing it instead of practising archery, so it was an indirect threat to the defence of the nation.

By the end of the fifteenth century, the game had become popular again, and in fact, two Scottish Kings, James IV and James V, played at East Lothian. James I, a King of England, introduced the game there, and probably played at Blackheath. Charles I and Charles II also played golf.

In England the game was mainly played at Royal Blackheath, but in Scotland, it was more organised. On 1 May 1744, the first golf club, the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers was formed. They first played at Leith on a five-hole course, before moving to Musselburgh, then to the present course at Muirfield in 1891.

As there were no standardised rules at the time and The Honourable Company wished to set up a competition for the members, they drew up a set of thirteen rules.

Other clubs were formed, each with their own set of rules. On 17 May 1754, twenty-two noblemen and gentlemen formed 'The Society of St. Andrews Golfers'. The club was called the Royal and Ancient, and it was based at St. Andrews in Fife, Scotland.

The golf balls began to change. It is likely that they were made of wood originally, but as the game developed in Scotland, the balls were made from a leather case stuffed with feathers. These balls were known as featheries.

In the mid-nineteenth century, a new substance called gutta percha, a gum extracted from a Malayan tree, was being used to insulate cables. An employee of the company that made the cables put it on a golf ball, and tried it out at Blackheath.

It was more durable than the feather-filled balls, but as it was solid, it had to be hit properly to avoid jarring the player's arm. Soon these balls replaced the featheries.

Championships

In the mid-nineteenth century, there were still no organised competitions, other than the club competitions. In 1859, the Prestwick Golf Club ran an open competition to find a new champion. That competition was the first golf tournament in the world, and later became known as the British Open.

On 17 October 1860 eight golfers went to Prestwick for the first championship. It was played over three rounds of the twelve-hole course. The first winner was Willie Park, who scored 174 over thirty-six holes.

The prize at the time was a Moroccan leather belt. The competition stated that any player who won it three times could keep it. The first competition had consisted only of eight professionals, so it was not an 'open' event.

The next year it became an open competition after amateur protests. In 1862, the competition was won by Old Tom Morris, whose son, Young Tom Morris also won in later years. In 1870 Young Tom Morris won for the third time and so kept the belt.

In 1871 the competition was not run, but in 1872, it returned with a new trophy, a claret jug, with a cash prize. The trophy was donated by the Prestwick club, the Royal and Ancient, and The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers.

Those three clubs were responsible for organising the championship, and it was played at their courses in rotation. They are links courses, sited on the coast.

The first Open to be held in England was in 1894, as the game had begun to develop properly in England in the 1880's. There was a twenty year period between 1894 and 1914 when the championship was won sixteen times by the same three men, first by J.H Taylor, James Braid, and Harry Vardon.

American golf

In 1902 in the United States, Coburn Haskell, of the Goodrich Tyre and Rubber Company in Ohio, produced a ball that consisted of rubber strips wound around a rubber core. This new ball became known as the 'Haskell' ball.

Just before the 1902 British Open there was a dispute over which type of ball to use. Sandy Herd defeated Vardon with the Haskell ball and the gutta percha 'guttie' ball was soon replaced in favour of the new ball.

Golf was spreading throughout Britain by the end of the nineteenth century and more competitions were being held. In the 1880's, Scottish people began to take the game with them when they went to the United States.

The first US Open was played on the nine-hole Newport Rhode Island Club in October 1895. It was won by an English-born professional, Horace Rawlins.

Golf had been played in the United States since around 1795, when there was a reference to the Savannah Golf Club in the Georgia Gazette. The game only reached the level of popularity in the United States that it had in Britain when it was played by British people who went there.

Scottish people formed the first recognized golf club in the United States in 1887, the St. Andrews Club in New York. In 1900, two Englishmen provided another boost for the game when Harry Vardon defeated J.H Taylor to take the US Open at Chicago.

The game was spreading across the rest of the world. The Calcutta Golf Club was formed in India in 1829, the first continental European club was formed at Pau in France in 1856, and in 1870 there was an Australian club formed at Adelaide. Soon, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, Hong Kong and Thailand followed suit.

The 20th century

The ruling body of the game is the Royal and Ancient at St. Andrews, which is recognised but most countries except the United States, which has it own US Golf Association, founded in 1894. However, the United States has had little choice but to work closely with the Royal and Ancient who have set the rules since 1897.

Professional golfers in Britain and the United States are members of their own Professional Golfers Associations. The British PGA was formed in London in 1901. It was the idea of J.H Taylor.

In 1971, the British PGA joined up with the European Golf Association to form the European PGA Tour which organises season-long events across Europe. The British Open is still regulated by the Royal and Ancient.

In 1916, the United States PGA was formed, and like the European PGA, organises season-long events for members. Both the European and the US Tours restrict the number of players who get automatic entry to competitions. There is a Tour qualifying process for lower-ranked professionals.

There are also Tours for professional women golfers, and in the United States there is a Seniors Tour for male professionals over fifty. Some of the Senior Tours are more lucrative from a prize money perspective than the regular tours.

Golf

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