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Some authorities trace golf back to a Roman game called paganica.
The Romans, who occupied most of the island of Great Britain from
the A.D. 40's to the early 400's, played paganica in the streets
with a bent stick and a leather ball stuffed with feathers. Other
historians trace golf to a Dutch game called het kolven, a French
and Belgian game called chole, a French game called jeu de mail,
and an English game called cambuca. But most believe golf probably
developed into the game as we know it in Scotland.
Some say that it was first played by shepherds tending their flocks,
passing the time by hitting rocks to targets with their shafts.
Games would have developed between competing shepherds, playing
across links land and back to their villages.
One theory is that fishermen on the east coast of Scotland invented
the game to amuse themselves as they returned home from their
boats.
Shepherds’ implements were definitely used in games to
hit rocks, we know. In 1338, German shepherds were granted special
dispensation to mark their territories by striking a pebble with
their crooks. The distance covered was the extent of their grazing
rights, a serious use of the rules of the game.
The Irish played a very rough game called “camanachd”
and the English played a game, “cambuca,” in the 1300s.
The goal of cambuca is unclear and it may have even been a competition
between enemies with one attacking and one defending.
The late Dutch golf historian Steven J. H. van Hengel, acknowledged
as one of the foremost experts of the origins of golf, believes
that golf was probably a mixture of the implements used in ‘chole’
and the rules of ‘jeu de mail,’ both games imported
into Holland.
The origin of the name ‘golf’ is believed to be the
Dutch word of 'colf,' which means 'club.' In the medieval ages,
golf was also known as “spel metten colve,’ which
literally meant 'game with clubs.'
Van Hengel traced ‘colf’ back to Dec. 26, 1297, in
the town of Loenen aan de Vecht in northern Holland. On that day,
the local townsfolk played four ‘holes’ of the game
to commemorate the relieving of the Kronenburg Castle exactly
one year before. The fact that ‘colf’ was chosen to
mark the occasion is proof that the game was already popular by
that time, says Van Hengel, although he couldn’t say for
how long. ‘Colfer,’ or golfers, were a common sight
in contemporary Dutch artworks, suggesting their popularity then.
'Colf' continued until the early 18th century when it suddenly
fell out of fashion, to be replaced in Holland by ‘kolf,’
a considerably shorter game played on a course only 25 yards in
length. The ball was large, about the size of a baseball, and
struck to a post set at either end of the field. The object was
to knock the ball from one end to the other, hit the post, and
leave the ball as near to the surrounding wall as possible.
Certainly, ‘kolf,’ as it was known in the Netherlands,
or ‘goff,’ as it was referred to in England, was a
pastime enjoyed by 15th century kings and commoners. All early
fore-runners, though, resembled croquet or billiards or cricket
more than golf. Unfortunately for those countries who lay claim
to originating the sport, they all lacked just one thing. And
it was left to the Scots to make the final refinement.
The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers in Edinburgh, Scotland,
is often recognized as the first organized golf club. It was established
in 1744 and set down the first written rules of the game. These
rules were developed to govern play and settle disputes. The Royal
and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews was founded in 1754 as the
Society of St. Andrews Golfers. It was the leader in setting golf's
rules and standards. For example, it set the standard round of
golf at 18 holes.
Golfers played with a leather-covered ball stuffed with feathers,
called the feathery, until the gutty was introduced in 1848. The
gutty was a solid ball made of a rubbery substance called gutta-percha.
The gutty was later replaced by the rubber-cored ball invented
in 1898 by U.S. golfer Coburn Haskell.
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. The first North
American golf club was the Royal Montreal, organized in 1873.
Golf may have been played in the United States as early as the
1700's. Historians disagree over which existing U.S. club was
founded first. Among the oldest are the Dorset Field Club in Dorset,
Vt.; the Foxburg Country Club in Foxburg, Pa.; and the St. Andrews
Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. All claim founding dates
in the 1880's.
The Amateur Golf Association of the United States (now the United
States Golf Association) was founded in 1894 to serve as the governing
body for golf in the United States. In 1951, the USGA and Britain's
Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews agreed to jointly interpret
the rules and standards that now govern golf throughout the world.
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