The history of Golf and its origins
The history of Golf and its origins | Chaparral Golf Club
Golf is a passion for people around the world and is well known for the amount of benefits it offers the players.
Read the summary from Chaparral Golf Club of the hundreds of years of history of golf and why it has become the best sport in the world.
What is the history of golf?
The history of Golf and its origins | Chaparral Golf Club. It´s not that easy to determine where golf really comes from. Many historians establish that it all begun in the Roman Empire, while other experts say that its real origin came from the east coast of Scotland during the Middle Ages.
The first theory about the origin of golf refers to the Paganic, a popular game played by the country side people during the Roman Empire. Although we can ´t find much details about its practice, it´s known that this sport was played with a curved stick and a ball designed with feathers.
The second theory about the origins of golf is more common. According to the experts, golf appeared in the early 15th century on the Scottish coast as an evolution of the het kolven sport. The topography of the area made a perfect terrain for the practice of this sport, being the St. Andrews course the forerunner of today´s modern courses such as Chaparral Golf Club.
Golf became the favourite sport among the population, especially among soldiers and nobles, leaving aside archery or horseback riding. Golf became so popular among the aristocracy that it soon spread from Scotland to England and from there to the rest of the world.
Records already from the 13th century has been found in the Netherlands, of a sport called kolf, whose meaning in Dutch is stick, which was practiced with a ball and a stick. A sport with many similarities to the golf that we know today, since it consisted in getting the ball to a target in the fewest number of strokes possible.
Be that as it may, it´s clear that the game including a ball and stick has existed for hundreds of years. Golf could be the evolution of one of these games or the combination of various disciplines.
Golf became the favourite sport among the population, especially among soldiers and nobles, leaving aside archery or horseback riding. Golf became so popular among the aristocracy that it soon spread from Scotland to England and from there to the rest of the world.
The first Golf Associations
The history of Golf and its origins | Chaparral Golf Club. The first golf association was established in 1744, known as the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. In 1754 the association St. Andrews Society of Golfers was founded, later known as the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrew.
St. Andrews Golf Course is the most prestigious club and the highest authority in the world of golf today.
The first rules of golf
The golfers in the Leith Club established the first written rules, with a total of 13 articles and rules for playing golf. The clubs that were born later established their own rules, always taking the Leith Club rules as a reference.
In 1879 the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrew established new rules of the game common for all clubs.
During the first half of the 20th century, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrew together with the official golf authority in the United States, USGA, applied the same rules, although the interpretation of these varied a lot. It wasn´t until 1951 that the differences were brought to an end and common rules were established to guarantee a uniform criteria.
The “Decisions of the Rules of Golf” first appeared in 1984, marking a milestone in the cooperation between organisations. These are reviewed annually and are published by both organisations together.
During the first half of the 20th century, the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrew together with the official golf authority in the United States, USGA, applied the same rules, although the interpretation of these varied a lot. It wasn´t until 1951 that the differences were brought to an end and common rules were established to guarantee a uniform criteria.
The history of Golf Spain
In Spain, it took decades for the first golf club to appear. The first one was created in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 1891. The sport became especially popular among the wealthy classes of the society.
When we analyse the golf courses in Spain, we can point out that Chaparral Golf Club is one of the course on the Costa del Sol with the most variety of holes for all types of players to enjoy themselves.
