Some experts believe that this club-and-ball play may have originated in Belgium or Holland. The historical documents and illustrations suggest that a game with a similar mechanism existed there before the 15th century, which was mainly played outside of the larger cities. Based on today’s rules, the Kingdom of Fife is considered to be the birthplace of the sport. The first written record of this sport dates back to 1457. At that time, the Scottish Parliament introduced a ban on the practice of this sport.
The prelude to spreading the fascination of golf
When peace was concluded between England and Scotland in 1502, paramilitary exercises by the population took a back seat and the ban on the discipline was lifted. After the peace agreement in 1502, it became known that King James IV played golf regularly and enthusiastically. As a result, the sport spread across Britain in the 16th century. The first recorded player was a certain Sir Robert Maule, who is said to have played on the Barry Links in 1527.
Golf development in America
In America, it was mentioned in writings from 1659, again in the form of a ban. At the time, the game was banned on the streets of Albany, New York. The 1st global competition took place in Leith in 1682. The oldest known game rules date back to 1717. Edinburgh’s Royal Burgess Golf Society was founded in 1735 and is considered by most experts to be the first golf club in the world. In 1743 the first such clubs were exported to America. In 1766 the first club was founded beyond the Scottish borders. According to historical documents, the first official women’s tournament ever took place in Musselburgh in 1810. In 1848 the first rackets were made of metal and the wooden racket that had been used until then was increasingly a thing of the past.
The sport in the modern age
In 1900 and 1904, it was a discipline at the Summer Olympics. This contributed significantly to a growing interest in the sport. The German Golf Association was founded in 1907. Over 640,000 sport professionals and around 850 golf courses now belong to the umbrella organizations all over the world. It is now a trend sport and is practiced by people of all ages, regardless of social class. Among other things, it is very popular to spend weekends on a golf course or make it a special experience for a date.
A special feature of this sport is the very large and natural playing field, so that the rules have to cover a large number of conceivable situations. For this reason, the modern set of rules with its 34 rules is more extensive in detail than that of most other sports, and even experienced players are occasionally unsure which rule to apply in a particular case.