Golf

The History of Golf

Golf as we know it today originated from a game played on the eastern coast of Scotland in the Kingdom of Fife during the 15th century. Players would hit a pebble around a natural course of sand dunes, rabbit runs and tracks using a stick or primitive club.

Some historians believe that Kolven from Holland and Chole from Belgium influenced the game. The latter was introduced into Scotland in 1421. However while these games and countless others are stick and ball games, they are missing that vital ingredient that is unique to golf - the hole. Whatever the argument, there can be no dispute that Scotland gave birth to the game we know as golf today.

How Golf Survived Between the Great Wars

The First World War decimated Scottish golf. Every village war memorial attests to the numbers who fell in France and few clubs are without a memorial to some rising star, who played out his last match on the fields of Flanders. Some great players survived but the consequence of terror gutted their game. Those that came through unscathed were few in number, determined never to see the like again and often took the decision to play in America - golf's promised land.

The Emergence of Golf as a World Game

If the First World War decimated Scottish golf, the second came close to gutting it completely. The First War took the players - the Second War took the golf courses.

The Scottish links lands border long sandy beaches, usually in remote places of low population density. As a result, it did not take a brilliant military mind to reason that the links beaches would make for ideal disembarkation sites and the courses equally perfect places for airborne landings. The huge concrete blocks that were erected to stop the movement of tanks from the beaches can still be seen today. The hallowed fairways of the Old Course were staked with massive wooden poles to prevent aircraft landings and Turnberry made the ultimate sacrifice when it was turned into a runway. Few courses remained unscathed golf was not only suspended for the duration of the War, it was very nearly extinguished.

 Golf truly a Global Game

The record books do not lie and Scottish Golf, though healthy at home, was faring ill abroad. The game had become truly global with players from Taiwan and Japan threatening for major honors. The Swedes were gathering amateur honors throughout Europe and there seemed no end to the talent emerging from Spain.

American Golf had come into maturity with a vengeance in the form of Arnold Palmer. Palmer played the game as it should be played - with verve and a swashbuckling style. Palmer was of course idolized in his own country but he found real appreciation in the discerning crowds that lined the links fairways of the Open Championship. Together with Tip Anderson, his St Andrews caddie, Palmer was lord of every links he surveyed.

Article Reference List:

• http://www.golfeurope.com
• http://www.golfing-scotland.com

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