Golf eLife

1856

The Royal Curragh Golf Club is founded at Kildare, the first golf club in Ireland. Pau Golf Club is founded, the first on the Continent.

A rule change is enacted that, in match play, the ball must be played as it lies or the hole be conceded. It is the last recorded toughening of the rules structure.

1857

The Golfer’s Manual, by “A Keen Hand” (H.B. Farnie), is published. It is the first book on golf instruction.

The Prestwick Club institutes the first Championship Meeting, a foursomes competition at St. Andrews attended by eleven golf clubs. George Glennie and J.C. Stewart win for Blackheath.

1858

The format of the Championship Meeting is changed to individual match play and is won by Robert Chambers of Bruntsfield.

Allan Robertson becomes the first golfer to break 80 at the Old Course, recording a 79.

1859

The first Amateur Championship is won by George Condie of Perth.

Death of Allan Robertson, the first great professional golfer.

1860

The Prestwick Club institutes a Professional Championship played at Prestwick-the first Championship Belt is won by Willie Park.

1861

The Professionals Championship is opened to amateurs, and the British Open is born. The first competition is won by Old Tom Morris.

1864

The North Devon Golf Club is founded at Westward Ho!

1867

The Ladies’ Golf Club at St. Andrews is founded, the first golf club for women.

1869

The Liverpool Golf Club is founded at Hoylake, later Royal Liverpool.

Young Tom Morris, age 17, wins the first of four successive British Open championships. His streak would include an 11-stroke victory in 1869 and a 12-stroke victory in 1870 (in a 36-hole format). His 149 in the 1870 British Open over 36 holes is a stroke average that would not be equalled until the invention of the rubber-cored ball.

1870

Young Tom Morris wins his third consecutive British Open Championship, thus winning permanent possession of the Belt.

The Royal Adelaide Golf Club is founded, the first golf club in Australia.

1872

The British Open Championship is reinstituted when Prestwick, St. Andrews and the Honourable Company offer a new trophy, with the Open Championship to be hosted in rotation by the three clubs.

Young Tom Morris wins his fourth consecutive British Open Championship.

1873

The Royal Montreal Golf Club is formed, the first club in Canada.

The British Open is held for the first time at the Old Course.

1875

The Oxford and Cambridge University Golf Clubs are founded.

1878

The first University Match is played at Wimbledon, won by Oxford.

1880

Royal Belfast is founded.

The use of moulds is instituted to dimple the gutta-percha ball. Golfers had long noticed that the guttie worked in the air much better after it had been hit several times and scuffed up.

1883

Bob Ferguson of Musselburgh, losing the British Open in extra holes, comes one victory shy of equalling Young Tom Morris’ record of four consecutive titles. Ferguson ends up later in life penniless, working out of the Musselburgh caddy-shack.

1884

The Oakhurst Golf Club is founded at White Sulphur Springs. The first hole at The Homestead survives from this course and is the oldest surviving golf hole in America.

1885

The Royal Cape Golf Club is founded at Wynberg, South Africa, the first club in Africa.

1886

A.J. Balfour is appointed Chief Secretary (Cabinet Minister) for Ireland-his rise to political and social prominence has an incalculable effect on the popularity of golf, as he is an indefatigable player and catalyzes great interest in the game through his writing and public speaking.

1887

The Art of Golf by Sir Walter Simpson is published.

1888

The St. Andrews Golf Club is founded in Yonkers, N.Y., the oldest surviving golf club in America.

1890

John Ball, an English amateur, becomes the first non-Scotsman and first amateur to win the British Open.

Bogey is invented by Hugh Rotherham, as the score of the hypothetical golfer playing perfect golf at every hole. Rotherham calls this a “Ground Score,” but Dr. Thomas Brown, honorary Secretary of the Great Yarmouth Club, christens this hypothetical man a “Bogey Man,” after a popular song of the day, and christens his score a “Bogey.” With the invention of the rubber-cored ball golfers are able to reach the greens in fewer strokes, and so bogey has come to represent one over the par score for the hole.

1891

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club is founded.

1892

Gate money is charged for the first time, at a match between Douglas Rollard and Jack White at Cambridge. The practice of paying for matches through private betting, rather than gate receipts and sponsorships, survives well into the 20th Century as a “Calcutta,” but increasingly gate receipts are the source of legitimate prize-purses.

The Amateur Golf Championship of India and the East is instituted, the first international championship event.

1893

The [British] Ladies’ Golf Union is founded and the first Open Championship won by Lady Margaret Scott, at St. Anne’s.

1894

The Open is played on an English course for the first time and is won for the first time by an Englishman, J.H. Taylor.

The United States Golf Association is founded as the Amateur Golf Association of the United States. Charter members are the Chicago Golf Club, The Country Club, Newport Golf Club, St. Andrews Golf Club, and Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.

Tacoma Golf Club is founded, the first golf club on the Pacific Coast.

1895

The United States Open is instituted. Willie Anderson is the first winner.

Chicago Golf Club opens the United States’ first 18-hole golf course.

The pool cue is banned as a putter by the USGA.

The U.S. Women’s Amateur is instituted. Mrs. Charles S. Brown is the first winner.

1896

Harry Vardon wins his first British Open.

1897

The first NCAA championship is held. Louis Bayard Jr. is the champion.

Golf, America’s first golfing magazine, is published for the first time.

1898

Freddie Tait, betting he could reach the Royal Cinque Ports G.C. clubhouse from the clubhouse at Royal St. George’s — a three mile distance — in forty shots or less, puts his 32nd stroke through a window at the Cinque Ports club.

The Haskell ball is designed and patented by Coburn Haskell. It is the first rubber-cored ball.

The term “birdie” is coined at Atlantic C.C. from “a bird of a hole.”

1899

The Western Open is first played at Glenview G.C., the first tournament in what would evolve into the PGA TOUR.

1806

The St. Andrews Club chooses to elect its captains rather than award captaincy to the winner of the Silver Cup. Thus begins the tradition of the Captain “playing himself into office,” by hitting a single shot before the start of the annual competition.

1810

Earliest recorded reference to a women’s competition at Musselburgh.

1820

The Bangalore Club is formed, the first club outside of the British Isles.

1824

The Perth Golfing Society is formed, later Royal Perth (the first club so honored).

1826

Hickory imported from America is used to make golf shafts.

1829

The Calcutta Golf Club (later Royal Calcutta) is formed.

1832

The North Berwick Club is founded, the first to include women in its activities, although they are not permitted to play in competitions.

1833

King William IV confers the distinction of “Royal” on the Perth Golfing Society; as Royal Perth it is the first Club to hold the distinction.

The St. Andrews Golfers ban the stymie, but rescind the ban one year later.

1834

William IV confers the title “Royal and Ancient” on the Golf Club at St. Andrews.

1836

The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers abandons the deteriorating Leith Links, moving to Musselburgh.

The longest driver ever recorded with a feathery ball, 361 yards, is achieved by Samuel Messieux at Elysian Fields.

1842

The Bombay Golfing Society (later Royal Bombay) is founded.

1844

Blackheath follows Leith in expanding its course from five to seven holes. North Berwick also had seven holes at the time, although the trend toward a standard eighteen had begun.

1848

Invention of the “guttie,” the gutta-percha ball. It flies farther than the feathery and is much less expensive. It contributes greatly to the expansion of the game.

1851

The Prestwick Golf Club is founded.

GolfeLife

1353

The first recorded reference to chole, the probable antecedent of golf. It is a derivative of hockey played in Flanders (Belgium).

1421

A Scottish regiment aiding the French against the English at the Siege of Bauge is introduced to the game of chole. Hugh Kennedy, Robert Stewart and John Smale, three of the identified players, are credited with introducing the game in Scotland.

1457

Golf, along with football, is banned by the Scots Parliament of James II because it has interfered with military training for the wars against the English.

1470

The ban on golf is reaffirmed by the Parliament of James III.

1491

The golf ban is affirmed again by Parliament, this time under King James IV.

1502

With the signing of the Treaty of Glasgow between England and Scotland, the ban on golf is lifted.

James IV makes the first recorded purchase of golf equipment, a set of clubs from a bow-maker in Perth, Scotland.

1513

Queen Catherine of England, in a letter to Cardinal Wolsey, refers to the growing popularity of golf in England.

1527

The first commoner recorded as a golfer is Sir Robert Maule, described as playing on Barry Links (near the modern-day Carnoustie).

1552

The first recorded evidence of golf at St. Andrews.

1553

The Archbishop of St. Andrews issues a decree giving the local populace the right to play golf on the links at St. Andrews.

1567

Mary, Queen of Scots, seen playing golf shortly after the death of her husband Lord Darnley, is the first known female golfer.

1589

Golf is banned in the Blackfriars Yard, Glasgow. This is the earliest reference to golf in the west of Scotland.

1592

The City of Edinburgh bans golfing at Leith on 1592 (continued)

Sunday “in tyme of sermonis.”

1618

Invention of the feathery ball.

1618

King James VI and I confirms the right of the populace to play golf on Sundays.

1621

First recorded reference to golf on the links of Dornoch (later Royal Dornoch), in the far north of Scotland.

1641

Charles II is playing golf at Leith when he learns of the Irish rebellion, marking the beginning of the English Civil War. He finishes his round.

1642

John Dickson receives a license as ball-maker for Aberdeen, Scotland.

1659

Golf is banned from the streets of Albany, New York-the first reference to golf in America.

1682

In the first recorded international golf match, the Duke of York and John Paterstone of Scotland defeat two English noblemen in a match played on the links of Leith.

Andrew Dickson, carrying clubs for the Duke of York, is the first recorded caddy.

1687

A book by Thomas Kincaid, “Thoughts on Golve,” contains the first references on how golf clubs are made.

GolfeLife

Here is a nice video on the history of the golf ball. I am wondering when they went from hitting acorns to wanting to create an actual object to hit around. This is very interesting on the how the golf ball has developed over the last several hundred of years. Enjoy

Golf became very popular in the 16th century due to it’s royal endorsement.  King Charles I,  popularized the game in England and golf quickly spread throughout other parts of Europe.  Mary Queen of Scots, who was Scottish, introduced the game of Golf to France while she studied there.

The term ‘CADDIE’ stems from the name given to her helpers during her golf games, the helpers were also in the French Military, were known in French as cadets.

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Sports Equipment

Tags: golf, Golf Caddie, golf history, golf jobs, Origin of the Caddie

The game of Golf as we know it originated from a game played in the Scottish Kingdom of Fife during the 15th century. Wonder is my ancestors played, they did not leave Fife until the mid-1670′s. The game players would hit a pebble around a natural course of sand dunes, rabbit runs and tracks using a stick or primitive club aiming for a hole.

In the mid-15th century, Scotland was preparing to defend itself against an English invasion. The Scottish population had a real enthusiastic enjoyment of golf to the neglect of military training. This caused the Scottish parliament of King James II to ban Golf in 1457. Ban are they crazy. The ban on Golf was in place until 1502, but the ban was largely ignored. In the year 1502 the Treaty of Glasgow lifted the ban on Golf. At the time King James IV (James 1 of England) took part in playing golf.

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Tags: early golf history, golf history, history of golf