History of Golf
How the sport has evolved...
A Sport is Born
Like many sports, the exact origins of golf are somewhat
ambivalent - with Holland, China and Scotland all laying claim to the game. Although
games with clubs and balls may have been a feature of Chinese and Dutch culture
some 500 years before Scotland, the modern game of golf in its current form is
widely accepted to have been a product of the Kingdom of Fife in the 15th
century.
As a result of the imminent war with England during the mid-15th century, the emergence of golf was abruptly quelled by the Scottish parliament. They feared the popularity of the sport was diverting public attention from the military issue in hand.
Yet it was not long before people once again took to the greens. It took until 1502, after the Treaty of Glasgow, for the ban was officially lifted by King James I who himself took up the game.
Scotland has consequently been seen as developing all of today’s golfing conventions such as permanent courses, memberships and written rules. Indeed, the principle that a round of golf consists of 18 holes came about as a result of a custom at St Andrews in Fife in 1764. As the golfing capital, St Andrews' rulebook was followed by all.
The Scottish game was soon embraced throughout Europe - and the rest of the world. During the reign of The British Empire golf exploded onto the world scene, when played in Commonwealth countires. Post Industrial Revolution, and a rapid change of social and economic climate, golf finally reached the masses.
The Birth of the Modern Game
The next step for golf was to become a professional sport. As a result of all the technological advances that the 20th century brought, golf became more commercial. Unsurprisingly, this culminated in the inception of various sponsored tournaments. Ever since Willie Park’s victory at the Prestwick Golf Course in 1860, the growth of golf as an organised competitive sport has spiralled throughout the world.
The PGA pioneers World Tours
Yet it was the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) of America in 1916 that was the true pioneer of the tour system. Despite this creating the framework for today’s tour system with various events around the world, it was not until 1968 that the tour was formally established. There are now over twenty professional golf tours, each run by a respective PGA, which is responsible for the organisation and regulation of the tour.
Within this there are two basic playing forms of golf: match play and stroke play. The Ryder Cup, for instance, which first began in 1927, is a match play competition in which points are gained according to each hole they defeat their opponent. In stroke play, on the other hand, it is the stroke which is used as the unit of scoring. It is therefore the player with the lowest number of shots taken in the entire round that is declared the winner. This was devised in 1931 by Dr. Frank Stableford of the Wallasey & Royal Liverpool Golf Clubs and is the most commonly used scoring system for the vast majority of professional tournaments.
Legends are Made
Like all sports, the history of golf is defined by its legends.
One of the greatest players of the pre-war period was unquestionably the American, Bobby Jones, who achieved the unique accolade of winning all four major tournaments in 1930.
Names such as Ben Hogan and Walter Hagen became a prominent feature of pre-war golf but the game in the 1960s was dominated by three men: Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus. The latter in particular achieved a golfing legacy with an unprecedented record of four US Opens, six US Masters titles, five US PGA Championships and three Opens. This has led many to regard Nicklaus as the greatest player of all time.
These days, there is one name that transcends the sports itself. Tiger Woods has established himself as a worldwide icon. His record of fourteen professional major golf championships leaves him only second to Nicklaus, but his countless other awards and earnings means he will be forever remembered among the golfing greats.