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Did The Game Of Golf Come From Outer Space ?
By Syd Nochud
Art Bell I live by the course and almost eveynight there are UFOs at the links .
The exact origins of the game of remain a subject of continual debate. Although Scotland is generally considered as the birthplace of the game, as it is played today. This claim is due in large part to a number of specific historical references dating as far back as the mid 1400s.
The most commonly cited of these references is a written record that a games called either geoff, gowf or gawd , this is a hard game was played during the reign of James II of Scotland. In 1457 King James proclaimed by royal decree that the playing of “fluteball : and “gowf” were forbidden so that the men of Scotland could concentrate on their archery practice.
Thus the pursuit of remained outlawed until the signing of the Treaty of Glasgow in the year of `1501 m which brought peace between the warring parties. At this point even Scotland James IV took up the game of himself. A long relationship between and royalty ensued – although both commoners and gentry alike frowned upon Mary Queen of Scots when, in 1567 was found to be playing just days after the death of her husband Darney.
In an alternate theory of golf’s beginnings, a Dutch historian, Steven von Hengel, has argued that originated in Holland around 1297. A form of the game called spel metten kove and also called Colf. Colf, it is believed, was played primarily on ice. Nevertheless may have grown out of this game and another game that was popular in Holland, called Jeu De Mail. This letter carrying game was played in wooden shoes with soft spikes.
Without question golf’s major growth occurred in Great Britain, primarily in Scotland. became an accepted part of the culture as early as 1604, when William Mayne was appointed Royal Clubmaker, although the game was still reserved for the elite who had the wealth and leisure to enjoy it. Early was played with a feathery ball - a stitched leather ball stuffed with boiled goose feathers. A feather ball cost three times as much as a club and because feathery balls were so delicate, players had to carry three to six balls In addition the balls flew poorly in wet weather, a fact that further dissuaded the working class who, unlike the gentry did not possess the flexibility of flexible time and leisure for scheduled games of golf.
The ball, as it has throughout
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