Golf in Scotland

The Old Course at St Andrews

Golf in Scotland was first recorded in the 15th century, and the modern game of golf was first developed and established in the country. The game plays a key role in the national sporting consciousness.^[1][2]

The R&A, based at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, is the world governing body for the game (except in the United States and Mexico), and to many golfers the Old Course, an ancient links course dating to before 1574, is considered to be a site of pilgrimage.^[3] There are many other famous golf courses in Scotland, including Carnoustie, Gleneagles, Muirfield, Balcomie and Royal Troon. The world's first Open Championship was held at Prestwick in 1860,^[4] and Scots golfers have the most victories at the Open at 42 wins, one ahead of the United States.

Although golf is often seen as an elitist sport elsewhere in the world, in the land of its birth it enjoys widespread appeal throughout the spectrum of society, in line with the country's egalitarian tradition. For example, the Old Course at St Andrew's and Musselburgh Links (which is^{[5] [6]} the oldest golf course in the world and in continuous use) are public courses. Council-owned courses, with low fees and easy access, are common throughout the country wherever demography and geography allow. Therefore golf courses, whether public or private, are far more common in the Lowlands than in the Highlands and Islands, where shinty (a game which may share a common ancestry with golf)^[7][8] is often the traditional sport.

Scotland is widely promoted as the 'Home of Golf',^{[2][9][10][11]} and along with whisky and the long list of Scottish inventions and discoveries, golf is widely seen as being a key national cultural icon throughout the world.^[2][12] It is frequently used to market the country to potential visitors, for example for the Homecoming year in 2009, and golf tourism accounted for approximately 2% of overall Scottish tourism spending in 2004.^[13]

The 18th hole at Carnoustie, Angus, Scotland.

Etymology

Old Tom Morris with Young Tom Morris ca. 1870-75

The word golf was first recorded in the 15th century, appearing twice in an Act of the Parliament of Scotland of 6 March 1457, in the reign of James II. The Act, which ordered the holding of wappenschaws (English: musterings) four times a year for the purpose of archery practice, stated that "the fut bal ande the golf" (football and golf) were to be "vtterly criyt done" (utterly condemned; lit. "utterly cried down") and "nocht vsyt" (not engaged in; lit. "not used").^[14] Offenders were to be punished by the barony courts, otherwise they were "to be tane be the kingis officiaris" (to be taken by the king's officers).

Football (see Football in Scotland) and golf are again both explicitly named and forbidden in two further 15th century Scottish statutes encouraging archery practice, in 1470 and 1490. The 1470 Act, in the reign of James III, again uses the spelling golf, but the 1490 Act, in the reign of James IV, sees the use of gouff;^[15] and gowf, gowff, gouf and variants became the usual spelling during the Early Modern Period. The Scottish National Dictionary states that "golf represents a revival of the Middle Scots form; Loudoun Gowf Club, Newmilns, retains the old form in its title";^[16] ie. the spelling changed from Medieval golf to Early Modern gowf, and then back again.

The Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue gives the etymology of the word golf or gouf (with many alternative spellings) as probably from the Dutch kolf (see Kolven, a Dutch indoor ballgame); although the dictionary also records the noun golf (with alternative spellings golfe or golph) as deriving from Middle English golf or goulf or Old French golfe, meaning "a deep pool or hollow; an abyss"; a cognate of modern English gulf.^[14]

Other golfing words of Scots origin

• Links: first recorded in 1453 - "Et de xxx s. de le lynkis de Leith"
• Golf club: first recorded in 1503-1504 - "For golf clubbes and balles to the King that he playit with"
• Golfball: first recorded as a term in 1545 (although also referred to in the 1503-1504 Treasury account) - "Three dossoun and thre goif bawis"
• Drive: first recorded in 1583 - "Ane golf staff to driffe the ball vithe all"
• Tee (Teeing ground): first recorded in 1721 - "Driving their Baws frae Whins or Tee, There’s no ae Gowfer to be seen."
• Putt: first recorded in 1743 - "Let each social soul Drink to the putter, the balls, and the hole."
• Caddie (Caddy): first recorded in 1773 - "In order to preserve the holes, no Golfer or Cadie shall be allowed to make any Tee within ten yards of the hole."

Origins

The exact origins of the sport of golf are unclear. The most widely accepted theory is that the game originated in Scotland in the High Middle Ages.^[17]

The modern game of golf we understand today is generally considered to be a Scottish invention. The first golf courses and clubs were established in the country.^[18] The first written rules originated in Scotland, as did the establishment of the 18 hole course. The first tournament structures developed and competitions were held between various burghs. The modern game was spread by Scots to the rest of the world. The oldest playing golf course in the world is the Old Links at Musselburgh Racecourse. Evidence has shown that golf was played on Musselburgh Links in 1672 although Mary, Queen of Scots reputedly played there in 1567.^[5]

Spreading the game outwith Scotland

When James VI succeeded to the thrones of England and Ireland in 1603 (see Union of the Crowns) he took a large number of his Scottish courtiers with him to London. The king resided at Greenwich Palace, and there is documentary evidence that some of these Scottish noblemen played golf on Blackheath, on the hill behind the palace. Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, the king's eldest son, was playing golf in 1606. The Royal Blackheath Golf Club itself traces its origins from these Scottish noblemen, and claims a pre-1745 foundation date. Although it is certainly the oldest English golf club and the oldest golf club outwith Scotland, there is no evidence that it is the oldest golf club in the world, as is sometimes claimed.^[19][20]

The first record of North American golf was a consignment of 96 golfclubs and 432 golf balls were shipped from Leith to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1743;^[21] and on 29 September 1786 Scottish merchants established the South Carolina Golf Club in Charleston, the first golf club in the United States.^[22]

Players

Dorothy Campbell, the first internationally dominant female golfer.

Several Scots golfers are members of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Players marked * are also members of the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame:

• Willie Anderson (1879-1910)
• Tommy Armour* (1894-1968)
• James Braid* (1870-1950)
• Dorothy Campbell (1883-1945)
• Alister MacKenzie (1870-1934) - golf course architect
• Old Tom Morris* (1821-1908)
• Young Tom Morris* (1851-1875)
• Willie Park, Sr. (1834-1903)
• Allan Robertson (1815–1859)
• Donald Ross (1872-1948) - golf course architect

Sandy Lyle (born 1958), Belle Robertson (born 1936) and Jessie Valentine (1915-2006) are all inducted into the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame, but not the World Golf Hall of Fame.

See also

Scotland portal

Golf portal

• Sport in Scotland
• Scottish Golf Union
• Scottish Ladies Golfing Association
• British Golf Museum
• Timeline of golf history (1353-1850)
• Timeline of golf history (1851-1945)
• Timeline of golf history (1945-1999)
• Timeline of golf (2000-present)
• Football Act 1424
• Sports tourism

References

Tommy Armour, 'The Silver Scot'

Further reading

• Browning, Robert, 1955, A History of Golf, A & C Black, London
• Campbell, Malcolm, 2001, The Scottish Golf Book, Lomond Books
• Clark, Robert, 1875 and 1893, Golf: A Royal and Ancient Game, EP Publishing
• Cameron, Robbie J, 1936, Chronicle of Royal Burgess Golfing Society of Edinburgh, Morrison & Gibb
• Cruden, Stewart, 1992, Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society, BLGS and John Donald Publishers
• Geddes, Olive, 1992, A Swing Through Time Golf in Scotland 1457–1743, HMSO for the National Library of Scotland
• Hamilton, David, 1998, Golf Scotland’s Game, Patrick Press
• Jarrett, Tom, 1995, St Andrews Golf Links The First 600 Years, Mainstream Publishing
• Kidd, Roger, 2002, Golf in Scotland, Roger Kidd's Golf Guides
• Mair, Norman, 1994, Muirfield, Mainstream Publishing
• Price, Robert, 1989, Scotland's Golf Courses, Mercat Press
• Royal & Ancient, The 2004 Golfer's Handbook, Renton Laidlaw Macmillan Publishers
• Stirk, David I, 1987, Golf: the history of an obsession, Phaidon Press

External links

• Scotland - The Home of Golf, the official golf site of Scotland's national tourism organisation VisitScotland
• Golf History, at Scotland.org - the official online gateway to Scotland
• Sport - Golf, at the Gazetteer for Scotland
• Scottish Golf History, at www.scottishgolfhistory.net
• Golf at The Scotsman newspaper