Who Invented Golf

To add to the slew of articles and forum on the invention of golf, here is another one being tossed at you! But on a serious note, this article will hopefully give what you want, about the invention of golf. Golf, as we know is a thorough gentleman's game and a game of the high and mighty, played with a golf ball and a golf club. To tell you more, golf has a very interesting history and a major part of it is the invention of the game itself. Well, I am teeing off to discover the invention of this sport, do you people want to know who invented golf?

The Ironic Claims
Well, some of the Asians, Scots and Dutch as well as the Brits have laid strong claims and perhaps have presented evidence that golf originated there. Amongst Asians it is China and Laos and amongst other European countries are France and Belgium. All these countries have believed to have had games involving hitting a object supposedly at a target. Now this does not necessarily mean golf. The interesting part in this is that Holland gets the credit for the name of the sport, but apparently it was not the place where the modern version of golf is played. Let's see what is this deal about golf in Holland.

Colf and Holland
Well, in 1200, there was a game called Colf which was played in Holland. It has been tracked back to December 1297, in a town called Loenen aan de Vecht. This game was played having four holes to mark the relieving of Kronenburg Castle exactly a year before. This is a proof that Colf was pretty much established by then. The name golf seems to be a Scottish alteration of the Dutch word colf.

The Brits Argue
One of the earliest proofs of golf being played are believed to go back to 1340's. There, in a sketch from a stained glass window in the east window of the Gloucester Cathedral, England, were scenes from Battle of Crecy in France. This sketch further showed a man supposedly preparing to strike a ball somewhat as in Golf.

The Scot Trot
But, all the versions played before - colf and others did not have a very important aspect which contemporary golf has and which truly makes it the game as we know it. The country which is most commonly held as the first country for getting all the aspects together and start a rudimentary form of this fabulous game of golf is Scotland. Yes, Scotland it is! So the Scots invented golf around the 15th century. It was a long time though, before the form of golf as we know it today, came about, the 18 hole game and other variations. It was in the year 1750. The rules of the game were standardized and formalized much later, in 1774, by golfers in the capital of Scotland, Edinburgh.

Invention of Golf Equipment
Now that we know about the invention of this sport, a sneak peek into the origins of the golf equipment would be a good idea right? So we will first talk about the club. The first ever golf clubs were made by a bow maker working for King James IV of Scotland. The construction of golf clubs was time-consuming and expensive, making it an expensive sport to play. The golf balls went through a lot of transitions on the other hand. Adam Paterson came up with a gutta-percha ball, made from Gutta tree sap. Ball with a rubber core by Coburn Haskell followed, which could travel 400 yards or more. Golfers slowly noticed that worn out balls work better, in 1905. The first version of dimpled ball used widely today was introduced by William Taylor in the same year.

So now we know who invented golf! Whatever the claims by different countries, the fact widely accepted is that the Scots are the ones who should get credit!