*A tour of the world's most internationally popular game, once outlawed
*From original written documents and artwork at the National Library of Scotland This is an expertly guided tour through the earliest written records of golf that sheds light on its origins, techniques and equipment as well as the social standing of the game as it developed from an outlawed activity (it was banned by Parliament in 1457) to the world's most internationally popular game. Golf became so fashionable, it not only earned the disapproval of the political authorities but of the Church, and the edict extended to women who, apparently, also participated.
Games with ball and stick probably have been a part of human history since pre-recorded time. The early origins of golf are a mystery, although Olive Geddes tells us that `colf,' played in a defined area and on ice, was played in the Low Countries from 1297 through the next century. The Dutch version was a `short' game while the Scots' evolved a `long' game that targeted getting the ball into a hole.
Long before its formalization, the sale of golf balls by merchants, or golf societies or clubs, this most peaceful of sports evolved in extremely tumultuous times. Without surviving documentary evidence and few recognizable images from before the mid 18th century, the author's sources are original materials and books from the National Library of Scotland (the co-publisher with the National Museums of Scotland). He includes the first printed book devoted entirely to the game - Thomas Mathison's poem, The Goff, published in 1743.
Out of print for nearly 15 years, Long out of print Chapters cover: the "unprofitable" sport, golf for royals, James Melville, the St. Andrews student, a school boys' grammar, Sir John Foulis of Ravelson, Thomas Kincaid, St. Andrews-the golfing metropolis, and golf in Edinburgh. (An earlier version of this popular book was published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) with the National Library).
---Olive M. Geddes is a Senior Curator in the Manuscripts Collection division of the National Library of Scotland, with responsibility for its early sporting archives.
