What You Need To Know About The History Of Golf

The history of golf is not entirely very clear and it is certainly often discussed. The most commonly held view is that the game of golf as we know it these days began in Scotland in around the 12th century AD when shepherds made a game involving knocking stones into rabbit holes. This game was played on the site of the modern Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in Scotland.

It is true that there are many references to other identical games in different parts of the world. Egyptian scholars say there is a mention of a form of golf in hieroglyphic information from the time of the Pharaohs. A game using sticks to knock a ball into holes was mentioned in an 11th century Chinese book and there are claims that this game was brought to Europe by the Mongols in the 12th or perhaps 13th century. At the end of the 13th century there is a note of this sort of game being played in Holland.

But, when we think about what a great game this is, we can see it would not be surprising if many people in different regions of the globe thought up some variation of it independently of one another. While Chinese, Egyptian and Dutch scholars may stir up controversy and try to argue their own cases, there is no doubt that the game played by the shepherds of St. Andrews is the version that developed into the Scottish golf game or goulf as it was sometimes written.

St. Andrews saw the creation of the first permanent golf course along with the first set of written rules. It was also the first golf club to offer membership. Competitions began at St. Andrews, as did the culture of challenge matches between other cities in Scotland.

However, the St. Andrews course or links, which ran along a narrow strip of land beside the sea, was not always 18 holes. The land sloped back and forth and included topographical features that had to be worked around. The players slowly established a customary path which in the beginning was 11 holes long.

This 11 hole course stretched from the clubhouse to the tip of the strip of land. Players would often play out from the clubhouse and then back, so playing a total of 22 holes all in all. It wasn't until 1764 that the club decided that some of the holes were too short. They were combined to make an overall total of 9 holes, resulting in an 18 hole golf game.

Other courses were soon set up in other parts of Scotland, later spreading to England and the rest of the world. The status of the St. Andrews club established the 18 hole golf course as the normal length and so it has continued throughout the history of golf until recent times.

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