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Golf is believed to originate from a game played on the eastern coast of Scotland in the Kingdom of Fife during the 15th century. Players would hit a pebble around a natural course of sand dunes, rabbit runs and tracks using a stick or primitive club. Clearly, golf was very popular at this time as King James II banned it in 1457 as it was leading to the neglect of military training. Golf's status and popularity quickly spread throughout the 16th century.  King Charles I popularised the game in England and Mary Queen of Scots, who was French, introduced the game to France while she studied there. Indeed the term 'caddie' stems from the name given to her helpers known as cadets.
Early golf equipment was handcrafted and therefore expensive and the preserve of the affluent (club heads were made from beech or the wood of fruit trees such as apple, although some club heads for were made from hand-forged iron; shafts were usually ash or hazel; balls were made from tightly compressed feathers wrapped in a stitched horse hide sphere). Metal club heads and shafts and gutta percha balls (1848) made golf more accessible to the average person and contributed to the phenomenal growth of golf.
The first major national championship, the precursor to the British Open, was played at the Prestwick Golf Club for the first time in 1860. The growth of golf as an organised competitive sport in the United Kingdom was paralleled abroad in India and the USA  The first international golf tournament was the Amateur Golf Championship of India and the East in 1893. More....  See also history of golf from World Golf, the golf  history discussion forum  and the British Golf Museum history pages

Golf Sundries     Fancy learning more about the game and its rules ?  Get excellent tips or tuition on line  Also learn the game from WorldBook. Check out the terminology 

The Golf Majors: British Open; US Open, US Masters and the US PGA Championships are the premier International Events. Other International event include the  World Golf Championships, the Ryder Cup a competition between US and Europe, Deutsch Bank Championship  and the Presidents Cup -  an international knockout Cup.

In professional golf, the PGA tours: Mens,  Ladies, Senior and European provide ongoing competition.
Other International event include the  World Golf Championships, the Ryder Cup between US and Europe, Alfed-Dunhill Cup  -  an international knockout Cup.
At the amateur level, apart from the World ProAms, where the two sections meet, the  World Amateur Golf Council is a major organiser

Golf News and Results.     Major leaderboards For  wider coverage of events, news etc try Golf Online Magazine, Golf Web,  Golf News 24/7 from Golf.US.com and check our own golf links
 

The Royal and Ancient  Golf Club of St Andrews (R&A) holds a unique position in the world game. Established in 1754 as a small private society it has evolved through two and a half centuries as golf's leading authority. In 1897 that the leading golf clubs of Britain asked the R&A to take responsibility for setting and administering a universal code of rules. Since that date every new golfing nation has affiliated to the R&A and agreed to abide by that code. See Associations. The only exception is the United States of America where the United States Golf Association is responsible for its own domain. World Amateur Golf Council was formed in 1958 to conduct the World Amateur Championship and to act for golf in the Olympic games
The domination by amateur golfers changed in the early 1900's when, American professional golfers formed the PGA. It was much later, 1970 when professional golf tours started on other continents

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links checked 13/5/2004