A History Lesson: Origins of the game, the rules, and the ball

Although there are historical records of golf-like games dating back as far as AD 1456, the modern game originated in the late 1500s. The game originated with Scottish shepherds who struck rocks with sticks as they herded their flocks from one field to the next. Predictably, as male competitiveness kicked in, they began to modify the equipment and count the number of strokes it took. The very first golf tournament played under a written set of rules was at Leith Links in 1744. Those rules included these gems: “If a Ball be stopp’d by any Person, Horse, Dog, or anything else, The Ball so stopp’d must be play’d where it lyes.” “Neither Trench, Ditch, or Dyke, made for the preservation of the Links, nor the Scholar’s Holes, or the Soldier’s Lines, Shall be accounted a Hazard; But the Ball is to be taken out, teed and play’d with any Iron Club.” The Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews in Scotland is considered the home of modern-day golf and was founded by twenty-two gentlemen in 1754. In 1834, King William IV conferred his patronage on the club and it became the Royal and Ancient (R&A) Golf Club. With the explosive growth of the game in the late 1800s, the need arose for a standardized set of rules. Other clubs looked to the R&A for their stability and leadership. In 1897, the first Rules of Golf committee was established, and the R&A became the officially recognized governing body of the game throughout the world except in the United States. Today, the R&A works together with the United States Golf Association (USGA) to set the standards and rules of the game around the world. In the earliest records of golf, most of the equipment was made from wood – including the ball. The Featherie ball, introduced in the early 1600s, was handmade from wet fowl feathers packed into a wet leather shell. As it dried, the feathers expanded and the leather shrank, creating a hardened ball. They were expensive, often costing more than the clubs. It was the ball of choice for a couple hundred years. The mid-1800s brought the Gutta Percha ball, made from the rubbery sap of the Gutta tree found in tropical climates. When the sap was heated it could be molded into the proper shape, including the first use of dimples. The Guttie, as it was called, was much cheaper than the Featherie, and could be heated and reshaped when damaged. In 1901 the Haskell ball, a rubber core encased in a Gutta Percha sphere, became the industry standard. The Haskell ball was produced in great quantities and was very affordable. In 1921, the USGA set standards for the size and weight of the golf ball, which remain to this day.