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GOLF (in its older forms GOFF, GOUFF ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 224 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GOLF (in its older forms GOFF, GOUFF or GOWFF, the last of which gives the genuine old See also:pronunciation)  , a See also:game which probably derives its name from the Ger. See also:kolbe, a See also:club—in Dutch, kolf—which last is nearly in See also:sound identical and might suggest a Dutch origin,' which many pictures and other witnesses further support . See also:History.—One of the most See also:ancient and most interesting of the pictures in which the game is portrayed is the tailpiece to an illuminated See also:Book of See also:Hours made at See also:Bruges at the beginning of the 16th See also:century . The See also:original is in the See also:British Museum . The players, three in number, have but one club apiece . The heads of the clubs are See also:steel or steel covered . They See also:play with a See also:ball each . That which gives this picture a See also:peculiar See also:interest over the many pictures of Dutch See also:schools that portray the game in progress is that most of them show it on the See also:ice, the putting being at a stake . In this Book of Hours they are putting at a hole in the See also:turf, as in our See also:modern See also:golf . It is scarcely to be doubted that the game is of Dutch origin, and that it has been in favour since very See also:early days . Further than that our knowledge does not go . The early Dutch-men played golf, they painted golf, but they did not write it . It is uncertain at what date golf was introduced into See also:Scotland, but in 1457 the popularity of the game had already become so See also:great as seriously to interfere with the more important pursuit of See also:archery .

In See also:

March of that See also:year the Scottish See also:parliament decreted and ordained that wapinshawingis be halden be the lordis and baronis spirituale and temporale, four times in the zeir; and that the fute-ball and golf be utterly cryit doun, and nocht usit; and that the bowe-merkis be maid at ilk paroche See also:kirk a pair of buttis, and schuttin be usit ilk See also:Sunday." Fourteen years afterwards, in May 1471, it was judged necessary to pass another See also:act " anent wapenshawings," and in 1491 a final and evidently angry fulmination was issued on the See also:general subject, with pains and penalties annexed . It runs thus— " Futeball and Golfe forbidden . See also:Item, it is statut and ordainit that in na See also:place of the realme there be usit fute-ball, golfe, or uther sik unprofitabill sportis," &c . This, be it noted, is an See also:edict of See also:James IV.; and it is not a little curious presently to find the monarch himself setting an See also:ill example to his See also:commons, by practice of this " unprofitabill See also:sport," as is shown by various entries in the accounts of the See also:lord high treasurer of Scotland (1503–1506) . About a century later, the game again appears on the See also:surface of history, and it is quite as popular as before . In the year 1592 the See also:town See also:council of See also:Edinburgh "ordanis See also:proclamation to be made threw this See also:burgh, that na inhabitants of the samyn be seen at ony pastymes within or without the toun, upoun the Sabboth See also:day, sic as golfe, &c." 2 The following year the edict was re-announced, but with the modification that the See also:prohibition was " in tyme of sermons." Golf has from old times been known in Scotland as " The Royal and Ancient Game of Goff." Though no doubt Scottish monarchs handled the club before him, James IV. is the first who figures formally in the golfing See also:record . James V. was also very partial to the game distinctively known as " royal "; and there is some scrap of See also:evidence to show that his daughter, the unhappy See also:Mary See also:Stuart, was a golfer . It was alleged by her enemies that, as showing her shameless indifference to the See also:fate of her See also:husband, a very few days after his See also:murder, she " was seen playing golf and pallmall in the See also:fields beside See also:Seton." 3 That her son, James VI . (afterwards James I. of See also:England), was a golfer, tradition confidently asserts, though the evidence which connects him with the See also:personal practice of the game is slight . Of the interest he took in it we have evidence in his act—already alluded to— " anent golfe ballis," prohibiting their importation, except under certain 1 From an enactment of James VI . (then James I. of England), tearing date 1618, we find that a considerable importation of golf balls at that See also:time took place from See also:Holland, and as thereby " na small quantitie of See also:gold and See also:silver is transported zierly out of his Hienes' kingdome of Scoteland " (see See also:letter of His See also:Majesty from See also:Salisbury, the 5th of See also:August 1618), he issues a royal prohibition, at once as a See also:wise See also:economy of the See also:national moneys, and a See also:protection to native See also:industry in the See also:article . From this it might almost seem that the game was at that date still known and practised in Holland .

2 Records of the See also:

City of Edinburgh . 3 Inventories of Mary See also:Queen of Scots, See also:preface, p. lxx . (1863) . restrictions . See also:Charles I . (as his See also:brother See also:Prince See also:Henry had been') was devotedly attached to the game . Whilst engaged in it on the links of See also:Leith, in 1642, the See also:news reached him of the Irish See also:rebellion of that year . He had not the equanimity to finish his match, but returned precipitately and in much agitation to Holyrood.2 Afterwards, while prisoner to the Scots See also:army at See also:Newcastle, he found his favourite diversion in " the royal game." " The See also:King was nowhere treated with more See also:honour than at New-See also:castle, as he himself confessed, both he and his See also:train having See also:liberty to go abroad and play at goff in the See also:Shield See also:Field, without the walls."3 Of his son, Charles II., as a golfer, nothing whatever is ascertained, but James II. was a known devotee.' After the Restoration, James, then See also:duke of See also:York, was sent to Edinburgh in 1681/2 as See also:commissioner of the king to parliament, and an See also:historical See also:monument of his prowess as a golfer remains there to this day in the " Golfer's See also:Land," as it is still called, 77 Canongate . The duke having been challenged by two See also:English noblemen of his See also:suite, to play a match against them, for a very large stake, along with any Scotch ally he might select, See also:chose as his partner one " Johne Patersone," a shoemaker . The duke and the said Johne won easily, and See also:half of the large stake the duke made over to his humble coadjutor, who therewith built himself the See also:house mentioned above . In 1834 See also:William IV. became See also:patron of the St See also:Andrews Golf Club (St Andrews being then, as now, the most famous seat of the game), and approved of its being styled " The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews." In 1837, as further See also:proof of royal favour, he presented to it a magnificent gold See also:medal, which " should be challenged and played for annually "; and in 1838 the queen See also:dowager, duchess of St Andrews, became patroness of the club, and presented to it a handsome gold medal —" The Royal See also:Adelaide "—with a See also:request that it should be worn by the See also:captain, as See also:president, on all public occasions . In See also:June 1863 the prince of See also:Wales (afterwards See also:Edward VII.) signified his See also:desire to become patron of the club, and in the following See also:September was elected captain by See also:acclamation .

His engagements did not admit of his coming in See also:

person to undertake the duties of the See also:office, but his brother Prince See also:Leopold (the duke of See also:Albany), having in 1876 done the club the honour to become its captain, twice visited the ancient city in that capacity . In more See also:recent days, golf has become increasingly popular in a much wider degree . In 188o the See also:man who travelled about England with a set of golf clubs was an See also:object of some astonishment, almost of alarm, to his See also:fellow-travellers . In those days the commonest of questions in regard to the game was, " You have to be a See also:fine rider, do you not, to play golf ?," so confounded was it in the popular mind with the game of See also:polo . At See also:Blackheath a few Scotsmen See also:resident in See also:London had See also:long played golf . In 1864 the Royal See also:North See also:Devon Club was formed at Westward Ho, and this was the first of the seaside links discovered and laid out for golf in England . In 1869 the Royal See also:Liverpool Club established itself in See also:possession of the second English course of this quality atHoylake, in See also:Cheshire . A golf club was formed in connexion with the London Scottish See also:Volunteers See also:corps, which had its house on the Putney end of See also:Wimbledon See also:Common on Putney See also:Heath; and, after making so much of a start, the progress of the game was slow, though steady, for many years . A few more clubs were formed; the See also:numbers of golfers See also:grew; but it could not be said that the game was yet in any sense popular in England . All at once, for no very obvious See also:reason, the qualities of the ancient Scottish game seemed to strike See also:home, and from that moment its popularity has been wonderfully and increasingly great . The English links that See also:rose into most immediate favour was the fine course of the St See also:George's Golf Club, near See also:Sandwich, on the See also:coast of See also:Kent . To the London golfer it was the first course of the first class that was reasonably accessible, and the fact made something like an See also:epoch in English golf .

A very considerable increase, it is true, in the number of English golfers and English golf clubs had taken place before the See also:

discovery for golfing purposes of the links at Sandwich . ' See also:Anonymous author of MS. in the Harleian Library . 2 See History of Leith, by A . See also:Campbell (1827) . 3 See also:Local Records of See also:Northumberland, by See also:John Sykes (Newcastle, 1833) . ' See also:Robertson's Historical Notices of Leith.Already there was a See also:chain of links all See also:round the coast, besides numerous inland courses; but since 1890 their increase has been extraordinary, and the number which has been formed in the colonies and abroad is very large also, so that in the Golfer's Year Book for 1906 a space of over 300 pages was allotted to the Club See also:Directory alone, each See also:page containing, on a rough See also:average, six clubs . To compute the average membership of these clubs is very difficult . There is not a little overlapping, in the sense that a member of one club will often be a member of several others; but probably the average may be placed at something like 200 members for each club . The immense amount of golf-playing that this denotes, the large industry in the making of clubs and balls, in the upkeep of links, in the actual See also:work of club-carrying by the caddies, and in the instruction given by the professional class, is obvious . Golf has taken a strong hold on the affections of the See also:people in many parts of See also:Ireland, and the See also:fashion for golf in England has reacted strongly on Scotland itself, the ancient home of the game, where since 188o golfers have probably increased in the ratio of See also:forty to one . Besides the. industry that such a growth of the game denotes in the branches immediately connected with it, as mentioned above, there is to be taken into further See also:account the visiting See also:population that it brings to all lodging-houses and hotels within reach of a tolerable golf links, so that many a fishing See also:village has risen into a moderate watering-place by virtue of no other attractions than those which are offered by its golf course . Therefore to the Briton, golf has See also:developed from something of which he had a vague See also:idea—as of See also:curling "—to something in the nature of an important business, a business that can make towns and has a considerable effect on the receipts of railway companies .

Moreover, ladies have learned to play golf . Although this is a crude and brief See also:

sentence, it does not See also:state the fact too widely nor too forcibly, for though it is true that before 1885 many played on the See also:short links of St Andrews, North See also:Berwick, Westward Ho and elsewhere, still it was virtually unknown that they should play on the longer courses, which till then had been in the undisputed possession of the men . At many places See also:women now have their See also:separate links, at others they play on the same course as the men . But even where links are set apart for women, they are far different from the little courses that used to be assigned to them . They are links only a little less formidable in their bunkers, a little less varied in their features than those of men . The ladies have their See also:annual championship, which they play on the long links of the men, sometimes on one, sometimes on another, but always on courses of the first quality, demanding the finest display of golfing skill . The claim that England made to a golfing fellowship with Scotland was conceded very strikingly by the See also:admission of three English greens, first those of See also:Hoylake and of Sandwich, and in 1909 See also:Deal, into the exclusive See also:list of the links on which the open championship of the game is decided . Before England had so fully assimilated Scotland's game this great annual contest was waged at St Andrews, See also:Musselburgh and Prestwick in successive years . Now the ancient See also:green of Musselburgh, somewhat worn out with length of hard and gallant service, and moreover, as a nine-holes course inadequately accommodating the numbers who compete in the championships to-day, has been superseded by the course at Muirfield as a championship See also:arena . While golf had been making itself a force in the See also:southern See also:kingdom, the professional See also:element—men who had learned the game from childhood, had become past-masters, were capable of giving instruction, and also of making clubs and balls and looking after the greens on which golf was played—had at first ,been taken from the See also:northern See also:side of the Border . But when golf had been started long enough in England for the little boys who were at first employed as " caddies "—in carrying the players' clubs—to grow to sufficient strength to drive the ball as far as their masters, it was inevitable that out of the number who thus began to play in their boyhood some few should develop an exceptional See also:talent for the -game . This, in fact, actually happened, and English golfers, both of the See also:amateur and the professional classes, have proved themselves so See also:adept at Scotland's game, that the championships in either the Open or the Amateur competitions have been won more often by English than by Scottish players of See also:late years .

Probably in the See also:

United Kingdom to-day there are as many English as Scottish professional golf players, and their relative number is increasing . Golf also " caught on," to use the See also:American expression, in the United States . To the American of 18go golf was largely an unknown thing . Since then, however, golf has become perhaps a greater See also:factor in the See also:life of the upper and upper-See also:middle classes in the United States than it ever has been in England or Scotland . Golf to the English and the Scots meant only one among several of the See also:sports and pastimes that take the man and the woman of the upper and upper-middle classes into the See also:country and the fresh See also:air . To the American of like status golf came as the one thing to take him out of his towns and give him a reason for exercise in the country . To-day golf has become an interest all over North See also:America, but it is in the Eastern States that it has made most difference in the life of the classes with whom it has become fashionable . Westerners and Southerners found more excuses before the coming of golf for being in the open country air . It is in the Eastern States more especially that it has had so much See also:influence in making the people live and take exercise out of doors . In a truly democratic spirit the American woman golfer plays on a perfect equality with the American man . She does not compete in the men's championships; she has championships of her own; but she plays, without question, on the same links . There is no See also:suggestion of relegating her, as a certain cynical writer in the See also:Badminton See also:volume on golf described it, to a See also:waste corner, a See also:kind of " See also:Jews' See also:Quarter," of the links .

And the Americans have taken up golf in the spirit of a sumptuous and opulent people, spending See also:

money on magnificent clubhouses beyond the finest dreams of the Englishman or the See also:Scot . The greatest success achieved by any American golfer See also:fell to the See also:lot of Mr See also:Walter Travis of the See also:Garden City club, who in 1904 won the British amateur championship . So much See also:enthusiasm and so much golf in America have not failed to make their influence See also:felt in the United Kingdom . Naturally and inevitably they have created a strong demand for professional instruction, both by example and by See also:precept, and for professional See also:advice and assistance in the laying-out and upkeep of the many new links that have been created in all parts of the States, sometimes out of the least promising material . By the offer of great prizes for See also:exhibition matches, and of See also:wages that are to the British See also:rate on the See also:scale of the See also:dollar to the See also:shilling, they have attracted many of the best Scottish and English professionals to pay them longer or shorter visits as the See also:case may be, and thus a new opening has been created for the energies of the professional golfing class . The Game.—The game of golf may be briefly defined as consisting in hitting the ball over a great extent of country, preferably of that See also:sand-See also:hill nature which is found by the See also:sea-side, and finally hitting or " putting " it into a little hole of some 4 in. See also:diameter cut in the turf . The place of the hole is commonly marked by a See also:flag . Eighteen is the recognized number of these holes on a full course, and they are at varying distances apart, from Too yds. up to anything between a 4 and a m . For the various strokes required to achieve the hitting of the ball over the great hills, and finally putting it into the small hole, a number of different " clubs " has been devised to suit the different positions in which the ball may be found and the different directions in which it is wished to propel it . At the start for each hole the ball may be placed on a favourable position (e.g . " tee'd " on a small See also:mound of sand) for striking it, but after that it may not be touched, except with the club, until it is See also:hit into the next hole . A " full drive," as the farthest distance that' the ball can be hit is called, is about 200 yds. in length, of which some three-fourths will be traversed in the air, and the See also:rest by bounding or See also:running over the ground .

It is easily to be understood that when the ball is lying on the turf behind a tall sand-hill, or in a bunker, a differently-shaped club is 'required for raising it over such an obstacle from that which is neededwhen it is placed on the tee to start with; and again, that another club is needed to strike the ball out of a See also:

cup or out of heavy grass . It is this variety that gives the game its See also:charm . Each player plays with his own ball, with no interference from his opponent, and the object of each is to hit the ball from the starting-point into each successive hole in the fewest strokes . The player who at the end of the round (i.e. of the course of eighteen holes) has won the See also:majority of the holes is the winner of the round; or the decision may be reached before the end of the round by one side gaining more holes than there remain to play . For instance, if one player be four holes to the See also:good, and only three holes remain to be played, it is evident that the former must be the winner, for even if the latter win every remaining hole, he still must be one to the See also:bad at the finish . The British Amateur Championship is decided by a See also:tournament in matches thus played, each defeated player retiring, and his opponent passing on into the next round . In the case of the Open Championship, and in most medal competitions, the scores are differently reckoned—each man's See also:total See also:score (irrespective of his relative merit at each hole) being reckoned at the finish against the total score of the other players in the competition . There is also a See also:species of competition called " bogey " play, in which each man plays against a " bogey " score—a score fixed for each hole in the round before starting—and his position in the competition relatively to the other players is determined by the number of holes that he is to the good or to the bad of the "bogey" score at the end of the round . The player who is most holes to the good, or fewest holes to the bad, wins the competition . It may be mentioned incidentally that golf occupies the almost unique position of being the only sport in which even a single player can enjoy his game, his opponent in this event being " See also:Colonel Bogey "—more often than not a redoubtable adversary . The links which have been thought worthy, by reason of their See also:geographical positions and their merits, of being the scenes on which the golf championships are fought out, are, as we have already said, three in Scotland—St Andrews, Prestwick and Muirfield—and three in England—Hoylake, Sandwich and Deal . This brief list is very far from being See also:complete as regards links of first-class quality in Great See also:Britain .

Besides those named, there are in Scotland—See also:

Carnoustie, North Berwick, See also:Cruden See also:Bay, See also:Nairn, See also:Aberdeen, See also:Dornoch, See also:Troon, Machrihanish, See also:South See also:Uist, See also:Islay, Gullane, Luff ness and many more . In England there are—Westward Ho, Bembridge, Littlestone, Great See also:Yarmouth, Brancaster, See also:Seaton See also:Carew, Formby, See also:Lytham, See also:Harlech, Burnham, among the seaside ones; while of the inland, some of them of very fine quality, we cannot even See also:attempt a selection, so large is their number and so variously estimated their See also:comparative merits . Ireland has See also:Portrush, Newcastle, Portsalon, Dollymount and many more of the first class; and there are excellent courses in the Isle of Man . In America many fine courses have been constructed . There is not a British See also:colony of any See also:standing that is without its golf course—See also:Australia, See also:India, South See also:Africa, all have their golf championships, which are keenly contested . See also:Canada has had courses at See also:Quebec and See also:Montreal for many years, and the See also:Calcutta Golf Club, curiously enough, is the See also:oldest established (next to the Blackheath Club), the next oldest being the club at See also:Pau in the Basses-See also:Pyrenees . The Open Championship of golf was started in 186o by the Prestwick Club giving a See also:belt to be played for annually under the See also:condition that it should become the See also:property of any who could win it thrice in See also:succession . The following is the list of the champions: 186o . W . See also:Park, Musselburgh 174—at Prestwick . 1861 . Tom See also:Morris, sen., Prestwick 163—at Prestwick .

1862 . Tom Morris, sen., Prestwick 163—at Prestwick . 1863 . . W . Park, Musselburgh . 168—at Prestwick . 1864 . Tom Morris, sen., Prestwick 16o—at Prestwick . 1865 . A . Strath, St Andrews 162—at Prestwick . 1866 .

W . Park, Musselburgh 169—at Prestwick . 1867 . Tom Morris, sen., St Andrews 17o—at Prestwick . 1868 . Tom Morris, jun., St Andrews 154—at Prestwick . 1869 . Tom Morris, jun., St Andrews 157—at Prestwick . 187o . Tom Morris, jun., St Andrews 149—at Prestwick . Tom Morris, junior, thus won the belt finally, according to the conditions . In 1871 there was no competition; but by 1872 the three clubs of St Andrews, Prestwick and Musselburgh had sub-scribed for a cup which should be played for over the course of each subscribing club successively, but should never become the property of the winner .

In later years the course at Muirfield was substituted for that at Musselburgh, and Hoylake and Sandwich were admitted into the list of championship courses . Up to 1891, inclusive, the play of two rounds, or See also:

thirty-six holes, determined the championship, but from 1892 the result has been determined by the play of 72 holes After the See also:interregnum of 1871, the following were the champions: 1872 . Tom Morris, jun., St Andrews 166-at Prestwick . 1873 . Tom See also:Kidd, St Andrews 179-at St Andrews . 1874 . Mungo Park, Musselburgh 139-at Musselburgh . 1875 . Willie Park, Musselburgh 166-at Prestwick . 1876 . Bob See also:Martin, St Andrews 176-at St Andrews . 1877 .

Jamie See also: