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It's
definitely true that golf as we know it emerged in
Scotland. The Scots were playing golf in its very basic
form - take a club, swing it at a ball, move ball from
starting point to finishing hole in as few strokes as
possible - by at least the mid-15th Century.
In fact, the earliest known reference to golf comes from
King James II of Scotland, who, in 1457, issued a ban on
the playing of golf and football (soccer). Those games,
James complained, were keeping his archers from their
practice.
James III in 1471 and James IV in 1491 each re-issued
the ban on golf. |
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But the game continued to develop in Scotland over the decades
and centuries, until 1744 when the first-known rules of golf
were put down in writing in Edinburgh.Golf as it was then played
would be easily recognized by any modern golfer.
But can it be said that the Scots
"invented" golf? Not quite, because there's strong evidence that
the Scots were influenced themselves by even earlier versions of
games that were similar in nature.
Here's what the USGA Museum says about the issue: "While many
Scots firmly maintain that golf evolved from a family of
stick-and-ball games widely practiced throughout the British
Isles during the Middle Ages, considerable evidence suggests
that the game derived from stick-and-ball games that were played
in France, Germany and the Low Countries."
Part of that evidence is the etymology of the word "golf"
itself. "Golf" derives from the Old Scots terms "golve" or "goff,"
which themselves evolved from the medieval Dutch term "kolf."
The medieval Dutch term "kolf" meant "club," and the Dutch were
playing games (mostly on ice) at least by the 14th Century in
which balls were struck by sticks that were curved at the bottom
until they were moved from Point A to Point B. Sounds a lot like
hockey, doesn't it? Except that it sort of sounds like golf, too
(except for that ice part).
The Dutch and Scots were trading partners, and the fact that the
word "golf" evolved after being transported by the Dutch to the
Scots lends credence to the idea that the game itself may have
been adapted by the Scots from the earlier Dutch game.
Something else that lends credence to that idea: Although the
Scots played their game on parkland (rather than ice), they (or
least some of them) were using balls they acquired in trade from
... Holland.
And the Dutch game wasn't the only similar game of the Middle
Ages. Going back even farther, the Romans brought their own
stick-and-ball game into the British Isles.
So does that mean that the Dutch (or someone else other than
that Scots) invented golf? No, it means that golf grew out of
games that were played in different parts of Europe.
But we're not trying to deny the Scots their place in golf
history. The Scots made a singular improvement to all the games
that came before: They dug a hole in the ground, and made
getting the ball into that hole the object of the game.
As we said at the beginning, for golf as we know it, we
definitely have the Scots to thank.
GOLF PACKAGES COMING SOON!
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