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The Origin Of Golf: Evolution
By Fred VedaeeMy fascination with golf started when I was invited to a small celebrity charity golf tournament. Just to be close to some washed out movie stars was too much for me to pay attention to the game itself. This was a privilege to be there and right away I noticed that this sport was not for everyone. This was more like a royalty game for people who had too much time on their hands and could run after a silly ball for many hours from one hole to another and while we are at it, how many holes are there and why. So a few basic questions came to my mind. - Has golf evolved from another game? - How many holes do we need anyways? - Did we have all the tools, gears and equipments in the past as we do today? The questions have been asked and argued for many years with no true winner. Many countries have a valid claim to an early game that resembles the game of golf. Some of the countries that make this claim are England. Scotland, China, Rome, France, the Netherlands, Belgium and Laos. The most heated debate over who invented or developed golf definitely comes from Great Britain and Scotland. The first area to look when deciding the answer to our question must be what actually determines when a game with sticks and balls is golf or another game. Most countries in the world have had games where you hit an object with a stick at some sort of target. Is this enough to be called golf, may be. If so, then these early games could claim the origin of many sports played today. I think it takes more than just a game with some kind of object being hit by a stick to qualify as the origin of golf. Holland is believed to be the origin of the name of golf but not the actual game itself. Holland played a game in the 1200s called Colf, which means clubs. This was a form of golf but once again the form of many other sports. Colf has been traced back to Dec. 26, 1297, in the town of Loenen aan de Vecht in northern Holland. On that day, the local townsfolk played four holes of the game to commemorate the relieving of the Kronenburg Castle exactly one year before. The fact that colf was chosen to mark the occasion is proof that the game was already popular by that time. Great Britain The earliest traces of golf history has golf being played are said to date back to 1340, where in a sketch from a stained glass window, the Great East Window, in the east wing of the Gloucester Cathedral, England, scenes of the Battle of Crecy in France showed a man apparently preparing to strike a ball in a golf-like manner. One of the early forms of golf was all missing one important ingredient to their games to truly make the game golf and that was the hole. Scotland is widely believed to be the first country to put all the ingredients together and actually start a primitive form of the great game of golf. Yes, this will always be a disputed point, which who actually developed the game of golf. If you believe some of the claims that the game they were playing was golf and they didn’t have a hole, then you could take this same game and turn it into the origin of many games we still play today. I believe the hole is what separates all the early claims to who originated the game of golf. Although this game appeared to be for certain level of society in the past, we see more common people play it and here in United States only 12%-15% of population enjoy it and it is not just a game anymore. It is a game of business. More deals are closed in a golf course club house or through the relationships cultivated while playing golf than with any other game or entertainment. One reasons for this is even though in America the game of golf has spilled over to the “common man”, having lowered the costs through municipal golf courses, daily fee courses and other like facilities are not as common in other countries, especially Europe. Golf is still considered the game of kings and royalty. It is still considered a prestigious game. Outside the US, golf is expensive. The game of golf is difficult to play well and it takes four and a half hours to play and has a built in social factor by including lunch after nine holes in a fancy clubhouse and then drink afterwards. In America you include the golf cart which allows you to mellow down your prospective client all the way around the golf course for the entire four and a half hours. As if that’s not enough, golf is also the only game I know that you can play with a drink in your hand! In fact golf courses jockey up to get the best looking beer cart ladies in hopes of attracting more golfers. About the Author: Fred Vedaee is the webmaster and owner of "EZ Discount Jewelries and More" website which includes a dedicated page for discount golf gears offering a saving of up to 65%. http://get-in-2-save.com/_wsn/page14.html Source: www.isnare.com Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=163168&ca=Sports History Of Golf: Where Did It Originate?By Matthew HickYou're sitting in another boring college history class. As you open your mouth up wide to yawn, the instructor finishes telling the class what will be discussed today: The history of golf. Suddenly, you sit straight up in your chair at perfect attention. Your eyes are wide open, and your pen is poised over your paper to begin taking notes. Let's begin. It all started out with a simple stick and a rock. Man took these two items and decided to create a way to entertain himself. After all, what else was there to do for fun before the 15th century that didn't involve beheadings and fighting wars? Although the game of golf started out by man swinging a stick towards a rock in order to propel it into a certain direction, this was the way that many current sports games started. Just about any place or country you could find a stick and a rock, you could find golf, baseball, tennis, lacrosse, or hockey! As you might assume, however, when a great game such as golf was invented, EVERYONE wanted to claim that it was their country's idea. For example, the country of Scotland claims that it invented the game. But then again, so does Italy, China, England, France, Holland, Belgium, and countries far away in Asia. Games that resembled golf in other countries included 'paganica' in Italy. This was a game that involved using a stick and a rock to hit a target. In Scotland, the same game was referred to as 'shinty.' In the country of Laos, it was called 'khi', and in China it was called 'ch'ui wan', which translates into 'beating a ball'. Some of these games were played before the year 300 B.C. - so to be able to pinpoint exactly where it started would be nearly impossible! Historians themselves have only one answer as to who invented golf: They just don't know! Golf may be one of those games that was so great, and so many people loved to try it, that it really had no origin. It was born when the Earth was born, and it is universal in its popularity! One thing that sways popular belief to accept that the modern game of golf began in Scotland is the fact that the hole was first used here. And today, as you know, without the golf hole, there is no golf. It is believed that rabbits, who often made their homes and play areas along the Scottish coast inside these holes. After a while, some people began to play with their sticks and rocks, trying to get the rock into the rabbit hole. This began the modern game of golf. It became so popular in Scotland, that Kind James II banned it on Sundays to bring focus back on another sport - archery. Over the centuries, golf has become more and more popular all over the world. Even though no one knows where the game was truly born, we all know one thing - just about everyone enjoys playing it! About the Author: Golf Articles at http://eGolf-Today.com. Learn how to operate a Successful Adsense Website Network at http://eWebCreator.com. Matthew Hick has been designing profitable Niche Adsense Websites for over 5 years. Source: http://www.isnare.com/ Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=98845&ca=Sports A Brief History Of GolfBy Keith KingstonWhen looking at a brief history of golf, it is useful to know that the origins of the game itself are not really that clear. Back in Roman times, the Romans played a game that somewhat resembled golf. In this game they used club shaped branches to strike a feather-stuffed ball. It is thought that the Dutch playing a similar game on their frozen canals about the 15th century and other cross-country variations were popular in France and Belgium around this time too. In 1457 golf was banned in Scotland because it interfered with the practice of archery, which was vital to the defense effort. But in any event the Scottish people continued to brave the opposition by playing the game on seaside courses called links. In fact Scotland is the home of the world's oldest golf course, St. Andrews, which was first used in the 16th century. Golf became established in Great Britain by the 17th century when James VI of Scotland, later James I of England, first played the game. Following on from this, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews, was founded in 1754. Shortly after this and during the early 1800s the gutta-percha ball, replaced the feather-filled ball that had been used for centuries and in 1860 the first British Open was played at Prestwick, Scotland which was open to both professional and amateur players. The first permanent golf club in Canada was the Royal Montreal Club, which was founded in 1873 and St. Andrews, one of the oldest golf clubs in the United States, was established as a 3-hole course in 1888 at Yonkers, N.Y. Following on from this, during the next few years numerous 6-, 8-, 9-, and 12-hole courses were opened in the East. The first 18-hole course in the United States, the Chicago Golf Club, was founded near Wheaton, Illinois, in 1893. The governing body of golf in the United States is the United States Golf Association (USGA), was founded in 1894. The organization rules on ball and club specifications and such regulations as hazards and scoring. In addition, the Professional Golfers' Association of America (PGA) was founded in 1916 and this Association conducts the PGA and PGA Senior tournaments and Ryder Cup competition between members of the American and British PGAs. Source: http://%20www.isnare.com/ Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=32817&ca=Sports |
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