A Swing Through Time: Golf in Scotland 1457-1744This is an expertly guided tour through the earliest written records of golf that sheds light on its origins, techniques and equipment and, above all, the social standing of the game as it developed from an outlawed activity 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 of England, 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 of this book. 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, the golfing metropolis of St. Andrews, and golf in Edinburgh. |
Contents
THE ROYAL GAME 15021682 | 13 |
A SCHOOLBOYS GRAMMAR Aberdeen 1636 | 29 |
AN EDINBURGH SPORTSMAN | 47 |
Copyright | |
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Aberdeen account books Act of Parliament advantadge Alexander Arbuckle archery Archives of Scotland Articles and Laws back the club Baculi ballis body Bruntsfield Links Club Edinburgh clubs and balls competition Delvine detailed Earl Early Golf East Lothian Edinburgh Golfers featherie ball Forbes Foulis of Ravelston game of golf Gentlemen Golfers Glasgow Green Glotta Goff golf balls golf clubs golf in Scotland golfing equipment golve hazard hole Honourable Company indicate iron club James Melville James Morice John Mackenzie John Rattray King kingdome Kirk Sessions known Leith Links letter Library of Scotland Maggy Johnston maid Master Gall Match Montrose motion Musselburgh Links National Archives National Library on[e Parliament of Scotland Perth play club playd played golf players poem recreation Scots Scottish seventeenth century shaft Silver Arrow Silver Club Sir John Foulis Sir Robert sport St Andrews University strenth stroak Stroke Thomas Kincaid Town Council Vocabula William Bervick ye poor