THE HISTORY OF GOLF
Golf’s popularity has grown since the turn of the new millennium. With Europe’s emphatic victory in the 2006 Ryder Cup and the popularity of players such as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickleson, interest in golf spread betting has seen a notable rise.
But whilst followers of the game look to place their next golf spread bet, one question that still creates confusion today is just how did the game actually become to be what we know it as today?
What country invented ‘golf?’ Many countries did. If there were sticks and objects that could be hurtled along, then there was ‘golf.’ Though the name didn’t come into being, until some time in the 15th century, there were many games that could be called an ancestor to golf. Nearly every area around the world has some claim to the origination of golf. Scotland, of course, has its claim, but so do China, Rome, England, France, Holland, Belgium, even Laos. Every country had a game consisting of sticks and balls, and every country is probably correct in its assumption that it invented the game. But there is no one country where ‘golf’ actually began.
Some games included a ball, a stick and some form of a target. These included ‘paganica’ in Rome, a Celtic game called ‘shinty,’ and ‘khi’ in Laos. The Chinese claim a form of golf – ch’ui wan (“beating a ball”) – which was played as early as 300 BC.
Roman emperors in Caesar’s Empire, apparently played the relaxing game of paganica, using a bent stick to drive a soft, hair-filled or feather-stuffed ball. The use of hair-filled balls can be traced to the spread of the Roman empire, and similar balls were later used in Europe. Over the next five centuries, the game developed on several continents.
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.'
The earliest traces of golf being played, are said to date back to 1340, from a sketch in a stained glass window – the Great East Window – in Gloucester Cathedral.The scenes are from the Battle of Crecy in France, but show a man apparently preparing to strike a ball in a golf-like manner. It was probably not actually golf, but the old English game of cambuca. This was more than 100 years earlier than the first written Scottish golf record.
In 15th century London, ‘Pall Mall’ was a game that derived its name from an early playing place of another game. This contest consisted of knocking a ball from one pre-determined place to another, sometimes as far as neighbouring villages. Many believe that golf emerged, when Pall Mall was completely ousted from the towns onto the nearest common land, or land that was not owned by any individual.
1800s – 1900s
The sport of golf, which had seemed so popular in Britain in the 1600s and early 1700s, slowly faded in the latter 1700s. The Industrial Revolution was about to blossom, and with towns expanding, the old links were quickly being mopped up for more industrious pursuits. The sport might well have died altogether were not for the Freemasons. Their enthusiasm alone, virtually saved the game from extinction. For about 100 years, from 1750 to 1850, they played the game with regularity. Golfing societies slowly formed, which were mostly members of the Freemasons.
Royalty however, played very little or none at all during this period, but golf was kept alive by the Freemason groups. Edinburgh, Scotland, claimed the first golfing society. The Gentlemen Golfers – later known as the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, and today still in residence at Muirfield – claim their club was already under way in 1744, when they petitioned the city of Edinburgh for a “silver club” for annual competition on the Links at Leith. This was followed in 1754 by the gentlemen of St. Andrews, Scotland, banding together to form the St. Andrews Golf Club. St. Andrews is today known as the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.
St. Andrews eventually became the traditional centre of all golf, thanks partly to a publicity stunt. The Society of St. Andrews Golfers had an open competition – everyone was invited, regardless if he were a member of the society or not. In a short time, St. Andrews became the premier golfing town. And in 1764, when the St. Andrews course finally settled on 18 holes (down from its previous 22), 18 holes then became the accepted number for all golf courses.
The invention of the mower was also critical. Before, it was hardly possible to play in the summer on inland courses because the grass would grow to such unwieldy lengths. It was cut back, whenever possible, by scythes. In most areas, cattle and grazing sheep kept the terrain levelled enough in the winter so that balls were not lost. But by 1840, the lawnmower started appearing at courses.
The St. Andrews Society of Golfers reached royal status in 1834. Murray Belshes had approached King William IV asking him to be their patron. The King not only agreed, but permitted the Society to rename itself “The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.” St. Andrews has since become known as the “Home of Golf,”
From that time on, the authority of the Royal and Ancient was undisputed, with the exception of North America, where the United States Golf Association was the pre-eminent authority.
Since 1900
Americans were taking rapidly to the game of golf as the 20th century began, taught enthusiastically by Scots who crossed the Atlantic for the sole purpose of instructing their Yankee cousins. And for a while, the British were the ones who did all the winning in America. ‘The Great Triumvirate’ — Harry Vardon, J.H. Taylor and James Braid — toured repeatedly and were consistent winners. These three ruled golf from 1894 until 1914.
American golf took a giant step toward world-wide recognition with the victory in the U.S. Open by 20-year-old amateur Francis Ouimet. Vardon and Ted Ray were the overwhelming favorites, but Ouimet took them into an extra day for an 18-hole playoff and beat them both. An American, John J. McDermott, had made history by becoming the first home-grown winner of the U.S. Open in 1911, then repeated in 1912. Prior to 1911, the first 16 Opens were won by British golfers.
Brash upstart Walter Hagen became the first great American professional. Not only did he play throughout the country, but also in Europe — in Scotland, England and France. It was almost solely through his efforts that the professional golfer achieved ‘gentleman’ status. Told by haughty club members in Europe that professionals must change in the pro shop and not the country club, Hagen insisted on pulling his limousine up to the club’s front door to dress. Perplexed club members hurriedly relented, establishing a new tradition for the professionals. Hagen won two U.S. Opens, four British Opens and four PGAs.
The PGA of America was founded in 1916 when a group of professionals met in New York to form the organization. Their first championship was held later that year with Jim Barnes defeating Jock Hutchinson. The PGA continued as a match-play championship until 1958, when it became stroke play. Two great golfers were born in 1902, Gene Sarazen in Harrison, N.Y., on Feb. 27 and Bobby Jones in Atlanta March 17. Jones founded the Masters tournament in Augusta, Georgia, in 1934, and Sarazen hit there the most famous shot ever played — a double eagle on the 15th hole during his win in 1935.
Jones was a brilliant player who retired at the age of 28 after winning all four legs of the then-grand slam in 1930. He was an amateur throughout his playing career, which lasted only from 1923 to ’30. Actually, Jones began playing major championships when he entered the U.S. Amateur — then considered a major because most of the best players were amateurs — at age 14. He exploded onto the scene with a boom when he led the field in the first qualifying round. He wouldn’t actually win the Amateur until 1924, a year after he won his first U.S. Open in 1923.
Jones would win 13 major championships, highlighted by his swan song quartet in 1930. In that year, he won the British Amateur (then a major) and the British Open, as well as the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Open. He then halted his tournament play and focused on buying the property upon which he would establish Augusta National. His tournament would become the Masters. Three players were born in 1912 — Byron Nelson, Sam Snead and Ben Hogan — and each had a tremendous impact on golf in the 20th century. Nelson set an all-time record of 11 consecutive wins in 1945, a total of 18 victories that year. Snead set the all-time record of 81 wins and won the 1965 Greater Greensboro Open at the age of 52 years and 10 months — another Tour record.
Hogan is regarded by some as the game’s best player. He won four U.S. Opens, two PGAs, two Masters and the only British Open he ever played — setting a course record at Carnoustie though it was the only time he ever saw it. In 1953 he won three legs of the Grand Slam — Masters, U.S. Open and British Open — and couldn’t return from Britain in time to play the fourth, the PGA. Arnold Palmer began a cycle of great players born every 10 years when he was born in 1929, followed by Jack Nicklaus in 1940 and Tom Watson the latter part of 1949. Palmer had a tremendous influence on the popularity of the game, winning 60 times and boosting television coverage when it needed it most — at the end of the ‘50s and start of the ‘60s. He, along with Nicklaus and Gary Player, became known as the “Big Three” of golf in the ‘60s and played numerous exhibitions together.
Nicklaus is the man generally recognized as the greatest ever to play the game. He won an astounding 70 times, including 18 professional majors, more than any other golfer. He won his final major at the age of 46 — the 1986 Masters — in an unbelievable career that stretched from 1962 to the Senior Tour age of 50 in 1990.
Watson won 34 times and dominated in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Player, a South African who is the most successful player on the world scene, won 21 times on the PGA Tour.
The stage was set for a new hero when Tiger Woods came upon the scene in 1996. He won eight times in 1999, nine times in 2000, and won the four major championships in succession in 2000-2001, starting with the U.S. Open in 2000. Should his career be as successful in his 30s and 40s as it has been in his 20s, he will assume the mantle of “best player ever” and in all honesty, few would be against him.
With such a diverse and illustrious history, the game of golf has bred some established names. What remains to be seen is whether the current crop of players on which you can place your golf spread bet will be noted in golfing history in years to come.
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