A golf-like game is recorded as taking place on 26 February 1297, in the Netherlands, in a city called Loenen aan de Vecht, where the Dutch played a game with a stick and leather ball. The winner was whoever hit the ball the most number of times into a target several hundreds of meters 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-century Netherlands and that this predates the game in Scotland. There are also other reports of earlier accounts of a golf-like game from continental Europe.[2]
In April 2005, new evidence re-invigorated the debate concerning the origins of golf.[3] Recent evidence unearthed by Prof. Ling Hongling of Lanzhou University suggests that a game similar to modern-day golf was played in China since Southern Tang Dynasty, 500 years before golf was first mentioned in Scotland. [4]
Dōngxuān Records (Chinese: 東軒錄) from the Song Dynasty (960–1279) describes a game called chuíwán (捶丸) and also includes drawings of the game.[4] It was played with 10 clubs including a cuanbang, pubang, and shaobang, which are comparable to a driver, two-wood, and three-wood. Clubs were inlaid with jade and gold, suggesting golf was for the wealthy. Chinese archive includes references to a Southern Tang official who asked his daughter to dig holes as a target.[4] Ling suggested golf was exported to Europe and then Scotland by Mongolian travellers in the late Middle Ages.[4]
A spokesman for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, one of the oldest Scotland golf organization, 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."[5][6]
However, the modern game of golf we understand today is generally considered to be a Scottish invention, as the game was mentioned in two 15th-century Acts of the Scottish Parliament, prohibiting the playing of the game of gowf because it was taking time from archery practice necessary for national defense.. (Some scholars, however, suggest that this refers to another game which is much akin to shinty or hurling, or to modern field hockey rather than golf as we know it.) The word golf may be a Scots alteration of Dutch "kolf" meaning "stick, "club" and "bat"[7] (see: Kolven). All these earlier games may more accurately viewed as ancestors of the modern game we understand as golf.
The fact remains that the modern game of golf originated and developed in Scotland: the first permanent golf course originated in Scotland, as well as membership in the first golf clubs. The very first written rules originated there, as did the establishment of the 18-hole course. The first formalized tournament structures developed and competitions were held between various Scottish cities. Before long, the modern game of golf had spread from Scotland to England and from there to the rest of the world. The oldest playing golf course in the world is The Old Links at Musselburgh Racecourse. Evidence has shown that golf was played on Musselburgh Links in 1672, although Mary, Queen of Scots reputedly played there in 1567.
sources : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_golf
