Every modern sport has origins as far back as thousands of years. Golf is no exception. Do you know that a man could live 10 years longer if he regularly plays golf? Golf is definitely considered as one of the most popular types of sport that has long time of development. Since this sport appeared, it has attracted potential players, from Phil Mickelson in the earliest stages of the reign of Caesar to Rory McElroy of today. In this article, we gladly show you the origins, history and growth of Golf through different stages.
History Of the game of golf
- 100BC: This was period for starting early form of Golf. The way people played Golf at this time originated from a Roman game, which required participants to hit a stuffed leather ball by using a bent stick.
- 960-1279: Then, it traced back to the Song Dynasty in China.
- 15th century: The origin of modern game firstly started in Scotland. King James II of Scotland published this game to support the trainings of military. Although this ancient game is not exactly same as the modern Golf we play today, they were similar and shared some common features.
- 1500: King James IV of Scotland enacted to ban Golf in Scotland within 2 years.
- 17th century: Great Britain became a place to develop Golf as a pastime. The term “Golf” started familiar in the globe. King Charles I introduced the Golf in England. Parallel, Mary Queen popularized this game in France. The first British Open tournament is hold in 1860, contributing to the wide popularity of Golf all over the world.
- 1873: The Canada’s Royal Montreal Club was organized in Montreal, Canada. This was called the first permanent golf club in North America.
- 1893: The development of Golf spread in US in The Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton.
- 1894: The United States Golf Association (USGA) began.
- 1916: The Professional Golf Association of America was established. In this current governing body of today, different types of participants are allowed to participate in open events such as British Open and US open. It is completely open for both professionals and amateurs. However, some certain events are open for professionals only, not amateurs. They include the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Accenture Match Play Championship.
- 1981: In the beginning of 1981, the Tournament Players Association (TPA) Tour officially replaced the name of the pro circuit. After that, it continued to change to the Professional Golfers Association or the PGA tour.
- 1920s: It was in 1920s that the TPA tournament became an extremely popular sport in the United States. People had advertised and marketed the sport widely in the world.
Golf in Present
In the early time, a golf ball was made from leather and feather. It was quite hard to make and much cheaper in comparison with the golf ball today. Alongside with the popularity of Golf, different materials are used to support Golf clubs. They are durable and available in today’s marketplace, including carbon fiber, titanium, graphite, and tungsten.
- 2003: It had seen the transformation from the World Amateur Golf Council to the International Golf Federation.
- 2009: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was approval of the returning of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
- 2010: The 150th anniversary Open Championship occurred on the Old Course at St Andrews.
- 2012: Golf investment and preparation began for the Rio 2016 Olympic golf course.
- 2016: The first time Golf will be played at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
