Yesterday's golf

No one knows exactly when or where the game of golf began, but it has an ancient and noble history. Gowf or goff was played in Scotland five centuries ago, though these early games weren't much like the golf of today.

Golf-type games have been played in different parts of the world for centuries. Nearly every civilization seems to have had some form of stick-and-ball game. There's even a claim that something a bit like golf was played in China around 200 BC.

Just which of the rudimentary games evolved into the sport we know today isn't at all clear. It's likely golf borrowed a little here, a little there, with adjustments to suit different terrains and climates.

Sometimes golf was a boisterous affair, played across country. In Holland a golf-type game was played on ice; other variations took place on formal courts. Pele mele was one such stick-and-ball game - the ball was hit through a hoop rather than into a hole. What was once the pele mele court in London is the road now known as Pall Mall.

The final target of early games wasn't always a hole - it could have been a hoop, or a landmark such as a church door. Equipment changed, too, from rough sticks to the beautifully crafted clubs made in the 19th century. The old 'feathery' - a leather ball stuffed with feathers - cost three times as much as a club of its day.

There are many legends associated with golf. For example, Charles 1, on hearing news of the Irish Rebellion of 1641, broke off a game in some relief -he was 6 shots down with 8 to play. And at the trial of Mary, Queen of Scots, it was alleged that she played golf just after the murder of her husband.

An ancient practice
Golf may have borrowed from many earlier games which gradually died out. The Romans, for example, used to play paganica, which we know little about except that a crooked stick or club was used to hit a leather ball.

More is known of chole, a game played in France and Belgium during the mid-14th century. Chole was played cross-country over several miles. A team had to reach a target, such as a church door, and from time to time players could hit the opponent's ball into a hazard - a hedge, long grass or ditch, perhaps, or even over a wall. A similar game, cambuca, was played in England at much the same time. A cross-country version of pele mele-jeu de mail- was played in France. A large-shafted implement was used to hit a wooden ball to a marker half a mile away.

The 'gowf, 'goff or 'golfe' of Scotland and the 'coif of the Low Countries were important influences on the game. There's a great deal of speculation on which came first, as there were close trading links between Scotland and Holland which stretch back as early as the 12th century.

Coif, a boisterous golf-like game, was played in the Low Countries as early as 1297. Probably a winter game, it took place on country roads and frozen lakes.

Golf was so popular in Scotland in the 15th century that it interfered with archery practice. An Act passed by James I of Scotland in 1457 banned both 'golfe' and 'fute-ball'. Two other Acts again banned golf, though in more peaceful times the kings of Scotland themselves took to the links.

The early development of golf in the British Isles was limited to the east coast of Scotland; it didn't become popular along the west coast until the mid-19th century. In the 1880s and 90s came a great boom in its popularity.

A growing passion
Why did golf suddenly become so incredibly popular? The invention of cheap gutta-percha balls to replace the expensive 'feathery' from 1848 is often given credit. But far more important was the expansion of the railways, allowing people to get to golf courses and golfing holiday centres.

Courses spread from the links - strips of infertile land between sea and farmland - to inland heathland areas. Like linkslands, these had the advantage of a well-drained, short-turfed surface with natural hazards. When grass mowers were invented in the late 1880s, courses sprang up on meadowlands, bringing the game of golf within easy reach of a great many people.

But the boom in golf was just one part of the general rise of interest in sport at the end of the 19th century. However, golf had-and has-two advantages: the game can be taken up at almost any age, and the handicapping system allows golfers of different ability to compete with each other.

Today, golf is one of the most widely played of the world's sports. It is now played in about 80 countries by some 30 million golfers. There are about 12,000 golf clubs, and around £200 million is spent yearly on golf equipment worldwide.