Golf’s History
Golf is a sport that requires concentration and precision. The
basics of this sport include hitting a ball with a club and trying to hit it
into a hole. The golf we know today isn’t like the golf many years ago. This
sport originated from a game played on the eastern coast of Scotland in the
kingdom of Fife during the 15th century; players at that time were
using a pebble instead of using a ball. They used to hit the pebble around sand
dunes. In 1457, golf and soccer were banned in Scotland by King James II
because people at that time ignored military training because of these 2
sports. The ban was reaffirmed in 1470 by James III and again in 1491 by James
IV but people didn’t care about, they just ignored it. In 1502, with the Treaty
of Glasgow, the ban was lifted by King James IV. In the16th century
the popularity of golf quickly grew because of King Charles who popularized the
game in England and Mary Queen of Scots who introduced the game to the French while
she was studying there. The first club that made an annual competition at that
time was The Gentlemen Golfers of Leith. The winner got a silver golf club as
the prize. In 1744, Duncan Forbes drafted the club’s rules. In 1754, the St Andrews
Society of Golfers made its own annual competition using Leith’s rules. In 1759
and in 1764, stroke play was introduced. Stroke play is a scoring system where
the golfer counts each stroke taken on a hole until the ball is in the cup. The
first women's golf club in the world was formed in 1895. In 1834, the King
William IV honored the club with the title “Royal and Ancient”.
People today are using different golf balls. In the past, the first
golf ball was made of wood like beech. People were using wooden balls and
wooden clubs. They started using these balls in the 15th century
until the17th century and there were few people using these kinds of
balls after featherie balls were invented in 1618. Featherie balls are made of leather and
feathers. Featherie balls were expensive so they weren’t affordable; only rich
people could afford them. This kind of golf ball was so expensive because
making it required a lot of time; even expert ball-makers made few of these
balls in one day; it got damaged easily, but it has a great flight
characteristic. In 1848, gutty was discovered by the Rev. Dr. Robert Adams, so
people started to make gutty golf balls; they made these golf balls from the dried
sap of the Sapodilla tree. Flight characteristics of these balls are even
better than featherie balls and they are cheaper. In 1898, the one piece rubber
cored ball was introduced by Coburn Haskell; it gave golfers an additional 20
yards from the tee. Making golf balls became easier and that made golf spread
around the world.
Old Tom Morris was the great player, club-maker, greenkeeper and
golf course designer who had a big effect on golf. He was born in 1821 in St.
Andrews, Scotland and died in 1908. He grew up in a time when golf was for rich
people only because golf was so expensive at that time. Hand-crafted wooded
clubs and “featherie” balls cost a lot of money because making them required a
lot of time. His first job was apprentice golf ball maker to Allan Robertson. Robertson
and Morris played as partners and they were unbeatable together. Morris stopped working in Robertson’s shop in 1849
after the Haskell ball was introduced because Allan Robertson was against the Haskell
ball because it was cheaper and it threatened his business but Morris recognized
that the Haskell ball was the future so he started his own workshop to produce
golf clubs and balls. In 1851, Morris moved to Prestwick as greenkeeper or “keeper
of the greens” and in the same year his son, Young Tom Morris, was born. In 1860,
Prestwick hosted the first British Open and Morris finished second. He won four
Open Championships during the decade. Then, he went back to St. Andrews as
greenkeeper. He was greenkeeper until 1904. He was one of the great course designers.
He took a role in designing around 75 courses.
Old Tom Morris’s son was a great golfer just like his father. Young
Tom Morris beat his father in a match for the first time when he was 13 years
old only and that was a great achievement. In 1865, he played in the Open
Championship for the first time and he was 14 years old. He won the British
Open in 1868 and he was 17 years old. He won again in 1869 and 1870. The winner
of the tournament was presented with a “Challenge Belt” and he could keep it if
he won three straight years. Young Tom Morris did it and won the tournament for
three straight years. In 1872, he won the "Claret Jug" trophy. He
died in 1875 at the age of 24, a few months after his wife’s death; she died
while giving birth. The cause of death is unknown but most people think that he
died because of sadness after he lost his wife and his child.
