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Scotland - The Home of Golf

The first documented reference to the game came in 1457, when King James II of Scotland signed an edict banning the sport. The King believed that golf was detracting attention away from the important task of archery practice, which was deemed necessary for the forthcoming wars with the English.

Golf was played on seaside grasslands, with the clubs, balls and the courses all being improvised. One of the most important jobs of the first caddies at the time was to run ahead of the golfer in order to watch were the ball landed.

These early versions of golf have slowly evolved into the modern game primarily because of technological developments in the equipment used. The first golf balls with any degree of sophistication were "featheries". These balls, made by stuffing a leather bag with boiled feathers, cost around a week's wages for the average tradesman in the seventeenth century. The first crafted golf clubs were carved from wood and only one club would be used for all types of strokes.

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The development of clubs with iron heads, and of clubs with varying degrees of loft came as a response to the differing situations which a golfer may encounter. As the golf ball had to be played wherever it came to rest, golf clubs were developed for every possible scenario. One unusual example is the iron club which was designed for playing out of water. In order to reduce the water resistance, the club had a slatted face, letting water pass through the club face.

Two of the earliest golf clubs to be founded were the Society of St Andrews Golfers whose records date back to 1754, and the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith which was to become the Honourable Company of Edinburgh golfers. It was these two clubs which first set out a standardised list of rules. In 1834, King William IV allowed the St. Andrews Golfers to use the name Royal and Ancient, and thus was born the club which would dominate the development and standardisation of the rules of golf.

By the turn of the century, it had authored the standardised rules of golf and was recognised as the Governing Authority of golf in almost all countries. The Open Championship was initiated by Prestwick Golf Club on the west coast of Scotland in 1860. The first championship consisted of three rounds of 12 holes. In 1872, the Prestwick Golf Club joined with the Royal and Ancient and the Honourable Company to buy the trophy which is still presented today.

It was two decades later that the championship changed to its present format of four rounds.

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