A Brief History of Golf

While there is no doubt that golf in the United States of America may be entering its most storied and popular period, its “Golden Age”, the game has actually existed and been extremely popular throughout the world for around 500 years. Word actually has it that the game was nearly banned by a Scottish General that was concerned about the time lost during what could be archery practice to increase skills, instead spent playing golf. While your local manager at the car dealership won’t be happy with you spending your time swinging the club instead of selling another Focus, he will just have to look to the lessons learned by this Scottish General, golf isn’t going anywhere.

The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers is thought to be the first formal group of golfers who came together roughly around 1744, the direct ancestors to the PGA Tour that we know today. While they had no television contracts or star golfers hocking Cadillac’s on television, the Edinburgh boys did put together a set of rules that would eventually help shape golf into the game we know today. From the use of clubs to the amount of clubs used, the Edinburgh boys are to thank for the rules that you know, toss that one out to your buddies at your Sunday Morning golf match!

The competitive nature of golf is obviously inherent as it is in any sport, but the game has more “gentlemanly” rules than most, making it an interesting study in conflict for that sole reason. You may want to yell and scream or make a remark about your opponent’s mother after making a clinching golf shot, but doing so is against the nature of the game itself. You need to understand that this game began as a relaxing way to pass the time for noblemen and royalty, meaning that the rules of etiquette were as important as anything. This has been a brief history of golf, you don’t know everything yet, but that is okay, we all know that everybody knows everything about golf, right?