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The Origin of Golf
While Scotland is the place that is usually thought of as the birthplace of golf, there is actually a lot of arguing about the earliest form that the game took. Some historians believe that golf descended from "paganica", played with a feather stuffed ball and a curved stick, a game that the Romans brought with them to Britain. However, the majority of historians insist that golf actually originated in the Netherlands and might well stem from a Dutch game called "het kolven", about which there is documentation that a match similar to the Dutch game was played in Scotland, across-country, with teams of four men.
Using a wooden ball, the target was the door of a selected building on the route. There are indeed paintings from the 18th century by Dutch painters showing a game similar to golf being played on ice and land. Nevertheless, it is universally held that by that point in history, some form of golf had been played in Scotland for at least three hundred years.
The name "golf" may have been derived from the old Scots verb "to gowff", which means to "strike hard." The earliest known writing concerning golf is found in the hand of King James II who in 1457 royally decreed that "fute-ball and golfe be utterly cryed down and not to be used." The King was very worried that his citizens were so caught up in leisurely games that they were neglecting the really (and Royally) important sport of archery, which would protect his Highness from the enemy. In 1502, during the reign of King James IV and under the impetus of a Treaty of Perpetual Peace with the English King Henry VII, which turned out not to be so perpetual at all, the Scots became able to spare the time on more leisure. In fact, King James IV himself played golf at Perth.
Mary Queen of Scots was known to play a round or two and played a famous game of golf in 1567 at Seton House. By the end of the 16th century, people were neglecting attendance at church in order to indulge in their favorite pastime. With the Union of the Crowns in 1603, King James VI and his court took golf to Blackheath in London, and raised an Edinburgh bowmaker to the position of royal club-maker. So much to say for the importance of archery.
The first record of the use of a caddie concerns one Andrew Dickson of Edinburgh, written in the second half of the 17th century. As a young man he had caddied for the Duke of York, who later became King James VII. "Caddies" were originally an organised corps of message boys in Edinburgh and other large towns in Scotland.
Related Resources on Golf Origin and History
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