Golf
History
The origin of
golf is open to debate among Chinese, French, and Scottish. Golf is
generally regarded to be a Scottish
invention, as the game was mentioned in two 15th-century laws
prohibiting the playing of the game of "gowf". Some scholars, however,
suggest that this refers to another game which is much akin to shinty or hurling, or
to modern field
hockey. They point out that a game of putting a small ball in a
hole in the ground using golf clubs was played in 17th-century Netherlands.
The term golf is believed to have originated from a Germanic word
for "club".
The oldest
playing golf course in the world is The Old Links at Musselburgh.
Evidence has shown that golf was played on Musselburgh Links
in 1672 although Mary, Queen of Scots
reputedly played there in 1567.
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Golf courses have
not always had eighteen holes. The St Andrews Links
occupy a narrow strip of land along the sea. As early as the 15th
century, golfers at
St. Andrews
established a customary route through the undulating terrain, playing
to holes whose locations were dictated by topography. The course that
emerged featured eleven holes, laid out end to end from the clubhouse
to the far end of the property. One played the holes out, turned
around, and played the holes in, for a total of 22 holes. In 1764,
several of the holes were deemed too short, and were therefore
combined. The number was thereby reduced from 11 to nine, so that a
complete round of the links comprised 18 holes.
The major changes
in equipment since the 19th century have been better mowers, especially
for the greens, better golf ball designs, using rubber and man-made
materials since about 1900, and the introduction of the metal shaft
beginning in the 1930s. Also in the 1930s the wooden golf tee was
invented. In the 1970s the use of metal to replace wood heads began,
and shafts made of graphite composite materials were introduced in the
1980s.
In January 2006,
new evidence re-invigorated the debate concerning the origins of golf.
Recent evidence unearthed by Prof. Ling Hongling of Lanzhou University
suggests that a game similar to modern-day golf was played in China since Southern Tang
Dynasty, 500 years before golf was first mentioned in
Scotland.
Dongxuan
Records (Chinese)
from the Song
Dynasty describe a game called chuiwan and also include
drawings. It was played with 10 clubs including a cuanbang, pubang, and
shaobang, which are comparable to a driver, two-wood, and three-wood.
Clubs were inlaid with jade and gold,
suggesting golf was for the wealthy. Chinese archive includes
references to a Southern
Tang official who asked his daughter to dig holes as a target.
Ling suggested golf was exported to Europe and then
Scotland
by Mongolian
travelers in the late Middle Ages.
A spokesman for
the Royal and
Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, one of the oldest
Scotland golf organizations, said
"Stick and ball games have been around for many centuries, but golf as
we know it today, played over 18 holes, clearly originated in
Scotland.
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