The History of Golf

While the history of golf is much debated the game as we know it today originated in Scotland in the 15th century. There are many accounts of a game similar to this one in Ancient Rome they played the game of paganic in which the participants used a bent stick to hit a leather ball. In ancient China a game called chuiwan which means striking ball was played. All of these games may be similar to the game that we know today as golf but they all lack the one thing that is unique to golf; the hole.

In Scotland during the mid 15th century as it was preparing for war against England King James II put a ban on the game of golf widely due to people neglecting their military training. It wasn't until 1502 when the ban was lifted and King James IV took up the sport did it status and popularity spread. King Charles is famed with popularizing the game in England and Mary Queen of Scots brought it back to France. The term caddy is derived from her helpers who were in the French military and known as cadets. The premier golf course of the time and also today's oldest golf course in continuing play as named by the Guinness Book of World Records is Musselburgh links in East Lothian, Scotland with golf being played here as early as March 1672. The course has nine holes and is a par 34 it is now a public course, but in 1889 the Honorary Company of Edinburgh Golfers who are credited with first writing the rules of golf opened a private club on the course.

These early courses were laid out on links land, links land is a sea-side terrain that is often known for its rolling hills of sand. The land, due to its sandy nature was unsuitable for building houses, and equally unsuitable for farmland due to the salt content of the turf making it the perfect spot for golf courses. The style of play on a links golf course is considerably different from the style of play on other types of courses. They tend to have uneven fairways and small deep bunkers and because of their location they have very few if any trees making it very windy. Many of these courses still in play today have no need for greens keepers due to the lack of greens and only have grazing animal to keep the grass low.

The earliest clubs were just bent sticks that were found but as the game grew in popularity skilled craftsmen that produced bows and arrows began to produce clubs. These early clubs were made of ash or hazel wood with heads made of beech or holly. As the game progressed so did the art of making the club they began to fill in the back of the head with lead and put leather, horn,or bone into the club face. Soon blacksmiths began to make clubs of iron.

The earliest golf balls were made of hand stitched leather and stuffed with boiled feathers. These balls remained the ball of choice until Reverend Adam Paterson, experimented with a substance from India called gutta-percha. It was sent to him as padding around a gift and he found that the material could be softened with heat and then molded into a hard ball. The ball became popular but seemed to duck in flight, players soon found that its performance was vastly improved when the ball was covered in nicks and scratches, leading to golf balls as we know them today.

The game of golf has remained a popular and widely played sport by people of all walks of life. With the number of courses both public and private steadily increasing over the years. Which is why many people choose to give golf themed gifts to their groomsmen on their wedding day.

Brenda Hopkins writes for Cheap Groomsmen Gifts about golf gifts & gives advice on cheap groomsmen gifts

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