Golf History

Even though many enthusiastic students of Golf History will attempt to trace the game back to the Romans or the French, Dutch, or Belgians, the history of golf belongs to Scotland.

Founded in 1744, The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers, in Edinburgh Scotland, was the first known organized golf club. It was here that the first written rules of the game were recorded, with the objective of settling player disputes and governing overall play. In 1754, The royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews was founded as the Society of St. Andrews Golfers. It was very quickly recognized as the authority is establishing golf's standards and regulations. For example, it set the standard round of golf at 18 holes.

From the mid 1700's to the mid 1800's golfers played with a leather-covered ball called a feathery, as the leather was stuffed with feathers. A full set of clubs for this early period would’ve consisted of the following. Note, wooden headed clubs were much favoured over the odd iron or two as they were less likely to cause the expensive featherie ball to split. Wooden headed putters were the norm, and clubs were carried loosely in the arms of the caddie as golf bags had yet to be invented!

Typical Set of Golf Clubs for this period of time;

• Wooden Playclub ( Driver )
• Wooden Long Spoon ( 3 wood )
• Wooden Middle Spoon ( 5 wood )
• Wooden Short Spoon ( 7 wood )
• Wooden Baffing Spoon ( 9 wood )
• Heavy Iron ( no set loft but probably about a 4 iron)
• Light Iron ( no set loft but probably an 8 iron )
• Wooden Putter

This is where the opportunity really begins for today's collector of antique golf clubs to reach back and grab true antique golf collectibles and golf memorabilia that has often times weathered the past 2 centuries remarkably well. In 1848, a solid ball made of a rubbery substance and called a gutty(gutta-percha) was introduced, and by 1898, was replaced by a rubber-cored ball invented by US Golfer Coburn Haskell.

As the sport's popularity grew, it spread to other areas of the British Common Wealth. The first golf club established outside of Britain was the Royal Calcutta in India in 1829. The first North American Golf Club was the Royal Montreal, founded in 1873.The British public's appetite for golf grew hugely at the turn of the 19th to 20th century. In 1890 only 400 clubs existed. By 1900 this had grown to 2300 clubs, but astonishingly by 1910 it had reached 4000! Similarly, golf exploded in the United States. The first club had only been established in 1888 in New York, yet by 1900 there were over 750 clubs. By 1920 the number had doubled again to nearly 1500 clubs. The sport also experienced many milestones during this period of time;

• 1902- Sandy Herd wins the open with a wound Haskell Golf Ball.
• 1913- Francis Oiumet, an unknown amateur, wins the US Open beating Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in a play-off.
• 1922- Walter Hagen becomes the first American professional to win The Open.
• 1925 - The USGA permits steel shafts for tournament play
• 1929 - The R&A permits steel shafts for tournament play.
• 1930- Bobby Jones wins the Grand Slam (The Open,The Amateur, US Open, US Amateur) with hickory shafted clubs and as an amateur.

Finally, in 1951, the USGA(which had been established in 1894 to serve as the governing body in the US), and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, agreed to jointly interpret the rules and standards which now govern the sport throughout the world.