1721 – Earliest reference to golf on Glasgow Green, the first named course in the west of Scotland. 1724 – "A solemn match of golf" between Alexander Elphinstone and Captain John Porteous becomes the first match reported in a newspaper.
July 6, 1895 - Van Cortlandt Park Golf Course opens - the first public golf course in America. The Country Club of Rochester is founded. The club is still operating in its original location today. The pool cue is banned as a putter by the USGA. The U.S. Women's Amateur is instituted. Mrs. Charles S. Brown (née Lucy N. Barnes) is the first winner.
However, it is widely accepted that modern golf evolved in Scotland and was brought to the United States sometime in the mid-17 th century. From there, the first golf clubs were established and the members often played on shoddy courses with only a few holes.
Dec 22, 2020 · At first the golf course was shared with Royal Musselburgh Golf Club and members of the public: The popularity of the sport continued to increase, particularly with the arrival of the more affordable “gutty” ball in the late 1840s. Musselburgh Links originally had seven holes with two more opening in 1838 then 1870.
Club information | |
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Total holes | 9 |
Website | Foxburg Country Club |
Designed by | Joseph Mickle Fox |
Foxburg Country Club and Golf Course |
18 countries with most courses | Scotland |
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Approx Population | 5,327,700 |
Golf Holes | 9,384 |
Golf Facilities | 552 |
Population per golf hole | 568 |
Club information | |
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Location | 18 Golf Club Road, Tollygunge Kolkata 700 033, India |
Established | 1829 |
Total holes | 18 |
Website | rcgc.in |
The modern game of golf is generally considered to be a Scottish invention. A spokesman for The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, one of the oldest Scottish golf organisations, said "Stick and ball games have been around for many centuries, but golf as we know it today, played over 18 holes, clearly originated in Scotland." The word golf, or in Scots gowf [gʌuf], is usually thought to be a Scots alteration of Dutch " colf " or " colve " meaning " stick, " club ", " bat ", itself related to the Proto-Germanic language *kulth- as found in Old Norse kolfr meaning " bell clapper", and the German Kolben meaning " mace or club". The Dutch term Kolven refers to a related sport where the lowest number of strokes needed to hit a ball with a mallet into a hole determines the winner; according to the "Le grand dictionnaire françois-flamen" printed 1643 is stated the Dutch term to Flemish: "Kolf, zest Kolve; Kolfdrager, Sergeant; Kolf, Kolp, Goulfe."
The first documented mention of golf in Scotland appears in a 1457 Act of the Scottish Parliament, an edict issued by King James II of Scotland prohibiting the playing of the games of gowf and futball as these were a distraction from archery practice for military purposes.
These standards were later followed by a USGA regulation stating that the initial velocity of any golf ball cannot exceed 250 feet per second.
The evolution of golf can be explained by the development of the equipment used to play the game. Some of the most notable advancements in the game of golf have come from the development of the golf ball. The golf ball took on many different forms before the 1930s when the United States Golf Association (USGA) set standards for weight and size. These standards were later followed by a USGA regulation stating that the initial velocity of any golf ball cannot exceed 250 feet per second. Since this time, the golf ball has continued to develop and impact the way the game is played.
In December 1650, the settlers of Fort Orange (near present-day Albany, New York) played the first recorded round of kolf (golf) in America. The Dutch settlers played kolf year round. During the spring, summer and fall it was played in fields. In the winter it was played on ice with the same rules.
In the 1261 Middle Dutch manuscript of the Flemish poet Jacob van Maerlant 's Boeck Merlijn mention is made of a ball game "mit ener coluen" (with a colf/kolf [club]). This is the earliest known mention in the Dutch language of the game of colf/kolf as played in the Low Countries.
The 1987 Resort Law that reduced protection on agricultural land and forest preserves created a further boom in course construction and by 2009 there were over 2,400 courses. The popularity of golf in Japan also caused many golf resorts to be created across the Pacific Rim.
The Beginning. Back in 1884, golf was not really heard of in the United States. Anyone who witnessed it or knew of it in other countries considered it a strange sport. When Russell Montague of West Virginia learned of the sport that was so popular in Scotland and where he studied in Great Britain, he was intrigued.
Montague hosted its first competition in 1888 in Scottish match play tradition. Their annual competition became the first golf tournament known to be played in the United States, and the medal given to the winner was known as the oldest golf prize in America.
For example, if you were to think of classic links in the United States, you probably imagine Amen Corner in Augusta, or perhaps Pinehurst in North Carolina. These are established iconic American golf courses, to be sure, but they are not the oldest.
Building the course back to its original state took two years, but Keller was extremely pleased with the end result. Keller owned and operated the course for many years until he recently sold it to Greenbrier Resort, which is located just a few miles up the road.
Anyone who visits this historic golf course today knows that modern golf conveniences are not allowed. Some visitors even wear period clothing, and all golfers are required to use reproductions of the clubs and balls used in 1884 when the course was first built.
Golf originated from a game played on the eastern coast of Scotland, in an area close to the royal capital of Edinburgh. In those early days players would attempt to hit a pebble over sand dunes and around tracks using a bent stick or club. During the 15th century, Scotland prepared to defend itself, yet again, ...
The game of golf officially became a sport when the Gentlemen Golfers of Leith formed the first club in 1744 and set up an annual competition with silverware prizes. The rules for this new competition were drafted by Duncan Forbes. Rules that even now sound so familiar to many;
At this time golfers were using hand-crafted wooden clubs usually made from beech with shafts of ash or hazel, and balls were made from compressed feathers wrapped in a stitched horse hide. During the 19th century as the might of the British Empire expanded to encompass the globe, so golf followed closely behind.
Rules that even now sound so familiar to many; …’If your ball comes among water, or any watery filth, you are at liberty to take out your ball and bringing it behind the hazard and teeing it, you may play it with any club and allow your adversary a stroke for so getting out your ball. ’.
One of the premier golf courses of the day was at Leith near Edinburgh which hosted the first international golf match in 1682, when the Duke of York and George Patterson representing Scotland, beat two English noblemen.
The first ever 18-hole course was constructed at St Andrews in 1764, establishing the now recognised standard for the game. King William IV honoured the club with the title ‘Royal & Ancient’ in 1834, with that recognition and its fine course the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews was established as the world’s premier golf club.
Some of the most famous golf courses in the world are still to be found in Scotland: their names evoke the passion and tradition of the game of golf. Gleneagles, The Old Course at St. Andrews, Carnoustie, Royal Troon, Prestwick, to name but a few…. Read about the origins and history of the game of Polo.
From there, the first golf clubs were established and the members often played on shoddy courses with only a few holes. As golf got more popular, many of these early clubs decided to set up nicer and larger golf courses, that would be modeled after the ones in Scotland. Several of these early golf clubs also decided to organize America golf and founded the United States Golf Association (USGA) in 1894 . Today, many of these golf courses are still open and are some of the most exclusive in the country.
The Chicago Golf Club was founded in 1892 and its first golf course was built that same year in nearby Downers Grove by Charles Blair MacDonald, who is widely considered the founding father of golf in America.Over the next few years golf grew in popularity in America and so did the Chicago Golf Club.
The clubhouse at Dorset Field Club, Woodruff Hall, has been in use since 1896 and is believed to be the second oldest standing clubhouse after the clubhouse of The Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.
Although Quogue Field Club originally started with 9-holes, an additional 9-holes were added after the 1921 season, bringing the total up to 18. However, these 9-holes were destroyed during the 1938 hurricane and were never rebuilt.
Area: 61 acres (24.7 ha) photo source: Wikimedia Commons. The Foxburg Country Club is another golf club that’s brought up any time there is a discussion over which golf course is the oldest in America. The club’s founder was Joseph Mickle Fox, a descendant of the land and oil rich Fox family from Philadelphia.
Like most of the founding members of the United States Golf Association (USGA), the Chicago Golf Club is a private and exclusive club. The Chicago Golf Club was founded in 1892 and its first golf course was built that same year in nearby Downers Grove by Charles Blair MacDonald, who is widely considered the founding father of golf in America.Over the next few years golf grew in popularity in America and so did the Chicago Golf Club. In 1895, the club moved over to the current site in Wheaton and MacDonald built a new 18-hole golf course. The new Chicago Golf Club course hosted the 1897, 1900 and 1911 U.S. Opens, the 1897, 1905, 1909 and 1912 U.S. Amateurs and the 1903 U.S. Women’s Amateur. The Chicago Golf Club is still going strong today and considers itself the first 18-hole golf course in America.
The course slowly evolved over the years and today, there are 27 holes called the Clyde, Squirrel and Primrose nines.
What is absolutely certain, however, is the first definitive record of golf comes from Scotland – a 1457 statute of Scottish King, James II that specifically forbade the playing of “golfe.”.
On 7th March 1744 , Edinburgh City Council consented to the request and, as such, The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (the world’s oldest golf club) claims this as their birthday.
The establishment of the Company of Gentlemen Golfers seemingly arose from the participants’ enjoyment of a few post-round libations , (club golf starting as it was meant to go on.)
The Open Championship was contested at Musselburgh six times, most notably in 1883 when Bob Ferguson finished with three straight threes to force a playoff with Willie Fernie. By this time four clubs shared the course at Musselburgh – the Royal Burgess and Bruntsfield Links having arrived.
Play continued for the silver club over the five holes laid out at Leith, but in 1764 the competition was restricted.
Leith Links in Edinburgh holds that honour. It can be argued that this stretch of land bordering Edinburgh’s port may have been the original golfing ground in Scotland. It was certainly the venue for games between a group of gentlemen who went on to form the first golf club.
On 7th March 1744 , Edinburgh City Council consented to the request and, as such, The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers (the world’s oldest golf club) claims this as their birthday. The competition was to be open to all and a condition was that a formal set of rules would be required.
The Savannah Golf Club, in Georgia, USA can trace its origins back to 1794 and claim to be the oldest golf club in North America and USA, on a non-continuous basis. There is a note in 1796 of the club holding a ball and also a notice of the annual general meeting to be held 1st October 1796 being the anniversary of the club formation.
St Andrews Golf Club. 1888 1897 1897. The St Andrews Golf Club is presently the oldest golf club documented to be in continuous existence in USA. It was started, as is widely known, by John Reid and four friends on three holes in an orchard on the outskirts of New York in November 1888 and nicknamed the Apple Tree Gang.
This is the oldest extant course in North America which has 18 holes. The initial course of 12 holes was designed by Willie Davis from the Royal Montreal Club and opened in summer 1891. In 1894, Willie Dunn himself added 6 more holes to make it an 18-hole course.
Shinnecock Hills Golf Club was founded in 1891, and has the oldest extant 18-hole golf course, as well as the oldest golf clubhouse, started in 1892 in America. It was also the first club in America to admit women, which it did from the start, and possibly the second in the world to do so, after Aldeburgh GC in England.
The present Savannah Golf Club and course was founded in 1899, apparently without knowledge of its ancestry at the time or for decades after, (much like Fraserburgh Golf Club ).
USGA. The US Golf Association was formed in 1894 and the Canadian Golf Association a year later in 1895. The founding members of the USGA were St Andrews Golf Club, The Country Club, the Chicago Golf Club, the Newport Golf Club and the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. The Country Club 1892 1893 1899.
The first golf course was a 9-hole layout on Fletcher’s Field, part of Mount Royal Park on the outskirts of Montreal but the club moved to Dixie in 1896 where it remained for over sixty years until it moved to its present site at Ile Bizard in 1959.
Therefore the courses at St Andrews, Musselburgh , Elie go back much further than the index dates suggest, and they can rightly claim to be the oldest golf courses still played.
The Golfers Yearbook of 1866 lists 38 clubs playing 23 courses. (The average' bogey ' for the course records is 5.21 per hole.) Of these, five clubs and eight courses no longer exist, including many of the oldest courses. At the turn of the 20th century, the number of clubs and courses would rise rapidly. In 1888, the Golfing Annual lists 197 clubs playing about 126 courses, though some courses are not named. By the end of the century this would be over 2,000 clubs, on over 1,000 courses.
Only the Royal & Ancient and Musselburgh clubs were able to develop and play continuously over their original golfing grounds. All the other clubs of the 18th century and all the other 18 oldest golf clubs had to relocate, if only a mile or two, to establish the courses that they play today.
The reason is that these courses were located where there was enough room to expand to 18 holes. These courses were founded by visiting Scots and local interest in golf did not come until much later.
Recently it has become clear that parts of Fortrose golf course play over the area used by the Fortrose golfers at the end of the 18th century, which means the course is older than the club.
There is still a golf course at Bruntsfield Links (1695) in Edinburgh, though only the short-hole game is played there now. Recently it has become clear that parts of Fortrose golf course play over the area used by the Fortrose golfers at the end of the 18th century, which means the course is older than the club.
The right to play golf on their links was enshrined in the 16th century Burgh records of St Andrews (1552) and, reputedly, at Elie (1589) and play is recorded at Musselburgh from 1672, but not with the precision needed to prove these activities were on today's course, though they almost certainly were. Therefore the courses at St Andrews, ...
In 1603 James VI of Scotland succeeded to the throne of England. His son, the Prince of Wales and his courtiers played golf at Blackheath, London, from which the Royal Blackheath Golf Club traces its origins. There is evidence that Scottish soldiers, expatriates and immigrants took the game to British colonies and elsewhere during the 18th and early 19th centuries. In the early 1770s, the firs…
A golf-like game is, apocryphally, recorded as taking place on February 26, 1297, in Loenen aan de Vecht, where the Dutchplayed a game with a stick and leather ball. The winner was whoever hit the ball with the fewest strokes into a target several hundred yards away. Some scholars argue that this game of putting a small ball in a hole in the ground using golf clubs was also played in 17th-cent…
Golf courses have not always had eighteen holes. The St Andrews Links occupy a narrow strip of land along the sea. As early as the 15th century, golfers at St Andrewsestablished a trench through the undulating terrain, playing to holes whose locations were dictated by topography. The course that emerged featured eleven holes, laid out end to end from the clubhouse to the far end of the property. One played the holes out, turned around, and played the holes in, for a total of 22 holes…
The evolution of golf can be explained by the development of the equipment used to play the game. Some of the most notable advancements in the game of golf have come from the development of the golf ball. The golf ball took on many different forms before the 1930s when the United States Golf Association(USGA) set standards for weight and size. These standards were later followed by a USGA regulation stating that the initial velocity of any golf ball cannot e…
The word golf was first mentioned in writing in 1457 on a Scottish statute on forbidden games as gouf, possibly derived from the Scots word goulf (variously spelled) meaning "to strike or cuff". This word may, in turn, be derived from the Dutch word kolf, meaning "bat" or "club", and the Dutch sport of the same name.
The Dutch term Kolfand the Flemish term Kolven refers to a related sport where the lowest num…
The history of golf is preserved and represented at several golf museums around the world, notably the British Golf Museum in the town of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland, which is the home of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, and the United States Golf Association Museum, located alongside the United States Golf Association headquarters in Far Hills, New Jersey.
The World Golf Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Florida, also presents a history of the sport, as doe…
• Timeline of golf history (1353–1850)
• Timeline of golf history (1851–1945)
• Timeline of golf history (1945–1999)
• Timeline of golf (2000–present)