Some people have trace golf back to a Roman game called Paganica.
The Romans, occupied most of the island of Great Britain from the
A.D. 40's to the early 400's, played paganica in the streets with a
bent stick and a leather ball stuffed with feathers.
Other historians trace golf to a Dutch game called het kolven, a
French and Belgian game called chole, a French game called jeu de
mail, and an English game called cambuca. But most believe golf
probably developed into the game as we know it in Scotland.
Edinburgh, Scotland, is often recognized as the first organized golf
club. It was established in 1744 and set down the first written
rules of the game. These rules were developed to govern play and
settle disputes. The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews was
founded in 1754 . It was the leader in setting golf's rules and
standards. For example, it set the standard round of golf at 18
holes.
Golfers played with a leather-covered ball stuffed with feathers,
called the feathery, until the gutty was introduced in 1848. The
gutty was a solid ball made of a rubbery substance called
gutta-percha. The gutty was later replaced by the rubber-cored ball
invented in 1898 by U.S. golfer Coburn Haskell.
The popularity of golf spread from Scotland and England to parts of
the British Commonwealth. The first golf club established outside
Britain was the Royal Calcutta in India in 1829. The first North
American golf club was the Royal Montreal, organized in 1873.
Golf may have been played in the United States as early as the
1700's. Historians disagree over which existing U.S. club was
founded first. Among the oldest are the Dorset Field Club in Dorset,
Vt.; the Foxburg Country Club in Foxburg, Pa.; and the St. Andrews
Golf Club in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y. All claim founding dates in
the 1880's.
The Amateur Golf Association of the United States (now the United
States Golf Association) was founded in 1894 to serve as the
governing body for golf in the United States. In 1951, the USGA and
Britain's Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews agreed to
jointly interpret the rules and standards that now govern golf
throughout the world.
