The Bizarre History of Golf

[EnglishGolfer]

I'm supposed to be working now so I can't dwell on this, but you will be amazed at the changes made in the game since the first ball was struck in anger. One little example (besides the Stymie which we have already discussed), you used to be able to tee your ball up until you were within 10 yards of the green! There is a great website with loads of this stuff on www.ruleshistory.com.

[Dave Ireland]

Originally Posted by EnglishGolfer

...... One little example (besides the Stymie which we have already discussed), you used to be able to tee your ball up until you were within 10 yards of the green!

Whoa !!! .... so when did they change this rule

[EnglishGolfer]

there is loads of this sort of stuff on the website, I just had a quick look at the oldest rules in the "18th Century" section. I imagine that courses weren't what they are now and were pretty much just fields with holes that were dug out by specially trained rabbits or something equally ludicrous. Therefore it would be highly probable that your lie would be rubbish after every shot, so teeing up would be the only option.

[Dave Ireland]

LOL... little has changed English ... I still get rubbish lies in forests, bushes and rough ... I've had to take a lef out of Jose Murinho book and employed some squad rotation .. out with the Cleveland Launcher, replaced by the older and little more wily TM 580XD ..

[Kilted Arab]

Originally Posted by EnglishGolfer

I'm supposed to be working now so I can't dwell on this, but you will be amazed at the changes made in the game since the first ball was struck in anger. One little example (besides the Stymie which we have already discussed), you used to be able to tee your ball up until you were within 10 yards of the green! There is a great website with loads of this stuff on www.ruleshistory.com.

Hi English...if you check the original golf rule book, chances are you'll see the name "Dave Ireland" somewhere in the credits.

[ualtim]

I am guessing that they could tee it up along the way as to prevent a fat shot from snapping their wooden shafts of the era. The shaft breakage issue is also why the early courses did not have driving ranges as shafts were too valuable to be breaking them during practice.

[Ravenous Bugblatter Beast]

I call bogus. Back in the olden days, I had to golf barefoot, on courses with broken glass, in the snow, before school.

[Dave Ireland]

Originally Posted by Kilted Arab

Hi English...if you check the original golf rule book, chances are you'll see the name "Dave Ireland" somewhere in the credits.

LMAO ... sez da man that has his own interpretation of a Skins Game .. away with ya !

[EnglishGolfer]

RBG, When I were a lad I had to get up 2 hours before I went to bed, we lived at the bottom of a lake, ate broken glass for breakfast and put in a 27 hour day down t'pit! ;-)

Many thanks to Monty Python

[wirehair]

Originally Posted by Ravenous Bugblatter Beast

I call bogus. Back in the olden days, I had to golf barefoot, on courses with broken glass, in the snow, before school.

Uphill...against the wind...out 'n back.

[Aces-5]

Speaking of the history of the game. Do any of you know exactly what GOLF really stands for? Give up? Here's the answer:

G- gentleman
O- only
L- ladies
F- forbidden

It's true, do the research for yourself and don't jump on me for being a sexist pig, LOL.

[Slingblade61]

First, welcome aboard aces!

Second, I must take this opportunity to shoot you down.

The word 'golf' is an acronym formed from "gentlemen only; ladies forbidden." Status: False.

Origins: This specious word origin has gained credence in recent years through its being made part of interminable Internet-circulated "Did you know . . .?" lists. Though the length of those lists varies from one manifestation to the next (some have six entries; others have close to fifty), the truth value of this entry never changes — it's false.

We've said it before, but it bears saying again: only a few words have acronymic pedigrees, and those harken from the 20th century and later. Though terms that have been part of the English language for centuries may well have fascinating backstories (and many do), they won't have begun their linguistic lives as acronyms, words formed by combining the initial letter(s) of a compound term or phrase.

Golf is an old word, one that first appeared in our written language in 1425. One theory says the word golf derives from the Dutch word kolf, a generic term for a stick, club, or mallet used in a number of games similar to tennis, croquet, and hockey. However, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, claiming the Dutch word kolf as the origin of golf is problematic for a variety of reasons:

• None of the Dutch games has been convincingly identified with golf.
• It is not certain that the word kolf was ever used to denote the name of a game rather than the name of an implement.
• Scottish lacks any forms of the word golf beginning with a 'c' or a 'k.'
• The Scottish game of golf is mentioned much earlier than any of the supposedly similar Dutch sports.

Another theory ascribes golf to the Scottish goulf (also gowf), a verb meaning "to strike or cuff." This theory would at least place the origin of the word with the people who invented the game. As for "striking or cuffing," an integral part of the game is, after all, hitting the ball.

(In those older Scottish writings, golf is variously spelled gouff, goiff, goffe, goff, gowff, and golph. Our modern determination to have only one correct spelling for each word would have struck our ancestors as hilariously pedantic and priggish. The norm for them was any number of spellings for common terms, provided those written representations validly reflected the pronounciation of the word. When viewed from that angle, those odd-looking spellings begin to appear far less mysterious.)

Games similar to golf have been around since Roman times, but golf as we now know it dates approximately to 1552, when the famed St. Andrews course was constructed. Earlier Scottish versions were also referred to as "golf" even though the game so designated was very much different than its later St. Andrews version.

(Bridge has a similar history. The card game we now know by that name dates only to the 1920s, yet games called "bridge" in which trump suits were named and outcomes determined by the number of tricks taken were around by 1860. As bridge historian Jack Olsen explains it, "Whist led to bridge-whist, which led to auction bridge, which led to contract bridge, which led to murder, divorce, suicide, mayhem, and other social evils." We can't help but find that a charmingly succinct yet apt history of the development of the game, even if it leaves off mention of "trump," the fifteenth century game that preceded whist.)

As for golf and this wholly unfounded "gentlemen only; ladies forbidden" word origin, its appeal is attributable to a societal shift in the nature of who now plays the game. Women these days take as many trips around the links as do their male counterparts, and golf has grown to be a pastime enjoyed by both sexes. It's thus somewhat pleasing to imagine that this now egalitarian game was at its inception intended strictly for one gender; that indeed its very name declared it off limits to the fair sex (presumably keeping them from becoming "the fairway sex" as well). Women enjoy this notion because they take satisfaction from the image of having stormed and overcome a defended male bastion, whereas men like the specious word origin because it "confirms" that it's really their game, even if the ladies now run rampant through it.

Were it up to us to promote one false word origin over another, we'd argue for golf being flog backwards. Less sexist, and far more accurate a representation, we think.

Barbara "veteran of the golf war" Mikkelson


source: www.snopes.com

[Big Brother Dunk]

That's a great link EG, thanks.


I especially liked:

Richmond Golf Club Temporary Rules, 1941



1. Players are asked to collect bomb and shrapnel splinters to save these causing damage to the mowing machines.

2. In competitions, during gunfire or while bombs are falling, players may take shelter without penalty for ceasing play.

3. The position of known delayed action bombs are marked by red flags at a reasonable, but not guaranteed, safe distance therefrom.

4. Shrapnel and/or bomb splinters on the fairways or in bunkers, within a club's length of a ball, may be moved without penalty, and no penalty shall be incurred if a ball is thereby caused to move accidentally.

5. A ball moved by enemy action may be replaced or, if lost or destroyed, a ball may be dropped not nearer the hole without penalty.

6. A ball lying in a crater may be lifted and dropped not nearer the hole, preserving the line to the hole, without penalty.

7. A player whose stroke is affected by the simultaneous explosion of a bomb may play another ball. Penalty one stroke.



Talk about tough conditions.

[Silver]

Okay, as diehard as I am...I think there's always a time for the clubs to stay in the closet.

[Aces-5]

OK slingblade, you've made me put my research hat on now. Stay tuned for the rebuttal, LOL.