INDEX
1.The origin and birthplace of golf
There are many theories about the origin of golf, but the most likely theory is that it came from Scotland.
There is a theory that herders on the ranch hit stones with a bent rod at the end, causing sheepdogs to know where to go and chase them.
Another theory is that ice hockey-like games in the Netherlands were widely played among ordinary people in Scotland.
The name “golf” originated from club or bat, which means “golf club” in English, which was called “Kolf” in Dutch, and the term “golf” was transferred to the British Isles.
However, it is possible to guess why it was more popular and developed in Scotland rather than the Netherlands, where it originated, by looking at Scotland’s barren land.
In the case of the Netherlands, land in the Netherlands can be used as agricultural land, but the northern part of Scotland is a barren environment where only short grass grows on land where trees are difficult to grow, making it difficult to use as agricultural land.
Therefore, it has naturally become a condition for playing golf.
If you look at the golf courses of today’s PGA Open (The Open) in England or Scotland, you can easily guess because there are no trees, but only rocks and short grasses.
Players are not easy to distinguish between fairways and roughs, and they can be seen struggling with heavy winds and playing at a relatively low score.
However, one of the reasons is that trees, the raw material for making golf clubs, were also easily available.
It was in the mid-15th century that golf was organized and appeared in the foundation and literature of golf.
However, the popularity of golf was so great that even the king, who banned it, enjoyed golf, while the king’s ban prohibited the general public, while royalty and aristocrats enjoyed golf, and from then on, so-called golf became an aristocratic sport enjoyed only by aristocrats.
2.The first golf tournament and winner to be subject to golf rules
In 1744, the Golf Association was organized and the first tournament was held in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, where 11 golfers participated in the tournament, creating the first Group 13 golf rules and applying them to the tournament.
The rules of Article 13 were developed by The Society of St. Andrews of Scotland in 1754 by slightly modifying the rules of Article 13, and the Royal & Ancient of Sate Andrews established and promulgated the rules of golf in 1897.
These provisions still apply to this day, and with some modifications and additional provisions, they comprise 200 pages of detailed items in 34 provisions today.
The Leith golf course in Leith, a city on Scotland’s east coast where the tournament will take place, even had the names of each hole, including a 414-yard No. 1 hole named Southmead, a 461-yard No. 2 hole in Northmead, an East 426-yard No. 3, a 495-yard No. 4 hole in Southmead, and a 435-yard No. 5 hole in Tontree.
Considering golf clubs back then, the course was rather long and challenging. Most of the games were played with 15-hole stroke play, with 15 holes played three times going through five holes in one round.
All of the 11 players who participated were Scottish high-class people or those with exceptional golf skills.
Records show that the winner was Latray, but there is no document that records scores such as how many strokes or how many strokes they won.
As the first winner of the golf tournament, he was an all-around sportsman and a surgeon at the Royal College of Edinburgh.
After winning the championship, Ratray was automatically appointed captain of Leith Golf Club, and he also enjoyed the historical honor of signing the original Article 13 of the Golf Rules, which were enacted for the first time, and the honor of having his name engraved on a silver golf ball.
The silver ball was hung on the shaft of the silver club, and this tradition has continued to this day, and in 2010, the Edinburgh Golf Association produced the fourth silver club and hung the silver ball.
3. The first championship
On the other hand, it was the 1860, in Scotland, that a tournament was held to formally promote competition between players and golf was organized.
Held on the 18-hole course of Prest Week Golf Course south of the southern Scottish city of Grasgow, the tournament is now a major golf tournament called The Open.
It will then be held at golf clubs such as st. endrewick, plsthwick, muselborough and north Berwick. There is no record of the winner, the 1861 winner is Thomas Morris.
After the competition, golf’s sport has spread rapidly around the world.
