History of Golf – The Earliest Days

A game that is now included in popular sports championships across continents has its roots deep in history. We have heard of English royals playing golf games in early 17th century especially in south east of Scotland and further to the far north, to the remote Orkney Islands. But the historical beginning of golf is even older than that.

Since the earliest of times, man has used a stick and a rock to turn his work into a game. There was a phase when he swung the stick at the rock and propelled it towards some predetermined point. This activity, it can be deduced, was the precursor to golf. Interestingly though, it was also the precursor to just about all the sports that need a ball and some object (like a baseball or cricket bat and even the billiards stick) to propel it.

So which country did discover or invent golf? Since there were no political boundaries in the earliest times, no definite answer can be given to this question. And therefore, many countries invented it.

With the presence of sticks and the objects that could be hit with it, there was what we now call ‘golf'. Although the names did not appear in those times there were many games of early man that can be compared to or be termed as originators of golf.

Almost all geographical areas around the world have some claim to the beginning of golf. When we look at these areas with their modern names, Scotland has the most cherished claim. And then there are Rome, England, France, Holland, Belgium, and also Laos.
The name ‘golf' is believed to have originated from the Dutch word ʹcolf,ʹ that stands for ʹclub.ʹ In the medieval ages, golf was also called "spel metten colve,' that literally implied ʹgame with clubs.ʹ 

Van Hengel has traced ‘colf' back to December 26, 1297, in the city of Loenen aan de Vecht in north Holland: On this day, the local townsfolk were playing 4 ‘holes' of the game to observe the relieving of the Kronenburg Castle – an event that occurred precisely one year earlier. The fact that ‘colf' was selected to mark the event is the evidence that this game was already famous by that time, mentions Van Hengel. However, he could not say for how long. ‘Colfers' were a common sight in contemporary Dutch artworks and this is indicative of their popularity then.  ʹColfʹ was played until the early 18th century and then it abruptly fell out of fashion, to be replaced in Holland by ‘kolf,' - a shorter version of the game played on a course measuring just 25 yards in length.

The French staked their claim to golf with a game called ‘jeu de mail.ʹ This was played since the 16th century. Another French game called ‘mail a la chicane,' is also a forerunner of modern golf.

Stay tuned to our series of articles to know more about golf and its development for the modern times.