Jay Lloyd
The Home of Golf The Royal and Ancient Golf Society and the Old Course, the birthplace of golf. Photo Credit: Jay Lloyd
by Ed Gowan
Arizona Golf Association Executive Director
S
cotland has long been referred to as “The Home of Golf.” Most golfers have a sense of that history, but the details are more than fascinating. The “Home” is really St. Andrews, where golf was being played over 600 years ago. Peter N. Lewis, the Director of the British Golf Museum for 21 years, has documented the ‘modern’ history around St. Andrews and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club’s ascendency to the leadership of the Game in his book, Why Are There Eighteen Holes. In the next several digital and print magazines, we will share much of his research along with other visions of St. Andrews and Scotland. This is all in preparation for the 150th Open at St. Andrews in July of 2022. You will note here that the AGA will be hosting two very special travel groups to attend that Open, surely to be memorable in many ways with its pagentry, and will also include golf and three very special experiences not ordinarily avail-
able to the visiting Golfer. More on that later. This first article will reflect on the beginnings of golf going back to the first documented references. Whether it began in Holland as “Kolf’ or elsewhere as some may claim, there is no dispute that Scotland created the formal game and its first set of Rules; but, that’s for a later article. Looking back, golf has always been somewhat of a lightning rod that continues into the present day. Early in the 1200’s, kolf was commonplace in Holland, though often was banned for one reason or another. In 1457, King James II of Scotland in an edict banned golf as well for interfering with archery practice, important to the military protection of the Crown. Wikipedia notes that “Bans were again imposed in Acts of 1471 and 1491, with golf being described as ‘an unprofitable sport’. Mary, Queen of Scots was accused by her political enemies of playing golf after her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, was murdered in 1567. George Buchanan subsequently wrote that she had been playing “sports that
36 - AZ Golf Insider Digital Edition - August 2020
