Golf – A Brief History
Golf has been enjoyed by people around the world for many centuries and is still very popular to this day. Many people find themselves drawn to the game because of its casual yet intense level of one on one competition between the players. Some find it relaxing due to the breaks in between each shot. Others like the sheer strategy involved in how to read the lay of the land.
The game offers spectators of the sport an opportunity to enjoy being outdoors and actually following along as the players progress from one hole to the next. There are many beautiful golf courses which offer a vast array of pristine scenery and the spectators are able to closely observe the players while enjoying the beautiful surroundings of the course.
The game of golf first originated in Scotland just about the twelfth century. It is a little blurry as to the exact origins of the game, but it is accepted that the game itself has undergone several diverse changes throughout the years. It is generally believed that the initial form of golf was played with a medium length, yet very sturdy stick and a small sheep skin ball. The ball was believed to have been hit with these sticks in an effort to cause the ball to enter a small container which was placed upon a flat piece of ground.
The people playing this early form of the game would take turns, each person getting one shot per turn, and the player who hit the ball into the container the greatest number of times was declared the winner of this game. At some point during approximately the seventeenth century the small container evolved into the hole in the ground that we are familiar with in today’s game of golf.
Throughout the nineteenth century there were several very significant innovations made to the tools which are used in the game of golf. For instance the rubber ball was introduced in 1898 by a man named Coburn Haskell. This new rubber ball featured a solid rubber core which had been tightly wrapped by a long, thin rubber string. This new ball made it possible to get an extra fifteen to twenty yards out of each stroke for many golfers. The previous golf balls had mostly been made from heated tree sap and then molded into the shape of a ball.
In the year nineteen sixteen the PGA (Professional Golfers Association), was founded. This new association would rise to oversee all the major golf tours within the United States of America. In nineteen fifty the LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association), was founded and is now considered to be one of the most prominent golf tours in the entire world for women golfers.
The game of golf has a rich and very old history which becomes slightly blurred due to the fact that the game has been around for so many centuries. There have been many professional players who have achieved outstanding levels of excellence in their playing abilities over the years. This is just a brief history of golf as a sport which has remained so popular for such a long time.