Final Project (Golf’s History)

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 15^th 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 the16^th 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 15^th century until the17^th 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.