Golf is a very old sport but there is no conclusive evidence about its origins. According to one version it originated between 1424 and 1457AD in Rome as the game Paganica. However, the Chinese claim that golf is a form of Chui Wan or ball-hitting game prevalent in 3rd century BC China. Whatever be the source of golf there’s no denying the fact that it is fast emerging as a very popular sport.
Like most other sports, golf too has undergone many transformations on the journey to acquire its present day form.
Initially played with gutta-percha balls, the game began to be played with feather balls in 1848. In 1899 Col. W.N. Hskell of the USA invented rubber-cored ball which was introduced later in 1902. Even the steel clubs are not too old. They were authorized in the USA in 1925 and in Britain in 1929.
It was in the eighteenth century that organizations centered around the game of golf made their first appearance. The Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers formed in 1744 was the first club of the game. Ten years later the Royal and Ancient Golf Club took shape. But it was not until 1764 that any organization was recognized as a supreme authority in golfing matters. The St. Andrews Royal and Ancient Golf Club has since then been the torchbearer of the golfing fraternity. In less than a century since golf became an organized sport, Indians too were playing it. With the formation of the Royal Calcutta golf club in1829 and then the Royal Bombay Golf Clubs in 1892, the British had left behind a legacy which would yield fruit in the form of world class Indian players, towards the end of the next century.
Since the very beginning, golf has not strictly been a ‘gentleman’s game’. There are instances of remarkable women players Mary, Queen of Scots was known to be a keen player herself. Almost a century after the St. Andrews Royal and Ancient Golf Club became the chief authority on golf clubs; ladies clubs were also springing up. In 1972 the first ladies club was formed in Mussel burgh followed in 1893 by the first Ladies Golf Union (British).