If we go back far enough, we can trace golf’s history almost to the ancient Romans. More recent, and directly related would be the games played in Europe around the time of the Middle Ages, beginning in the fifteenth century. We are talking specifically about Scotland, where many feel the game of golf originated as ‘gowf’.
American golf has its history of about eighty years, but the Scottish ancestry is much older, so we are interested then – what is the world’s oldest golf course and what is its history? At close to five-hundred years old the Old Course in Scotland’s East coast is without a doubt the most historic course on Earth. It was established in 1552, and is now owned by the St Andrews Trust under an Act of Parliament. Originally the course had 22 holes but now has 18, it is seven-thousand & three-hundred yards long and has a 72 par. Historically, golf owes a lot of its current rules and attributes to the Old Course. For nearly five-hundred years, people have been playing on The Old Course at St. Andrews; this is why it is considered the birth place of modern golf.
The Scots found the game so enjoyable that there was an Act passed by Parliament in 1457 that restricted play on Sundays to encourage young men to focus on their Archery skills. When a new king, James IV came into power, he lifted this ban in 1502 as he was a keen golfer himself. There was a fight for the land on which the Old Course sits today. In 1797, a sudden decision to let rabbit farmers breed their rabbits on the land threatened St. Andrews position as a golfing club. The idea was to compete with golf’s popularity for rabbit farming. This went on for about 20 years when finally a golfing enthusiast by the name of James Cheape, bought the land and dedicated it to golfing.
The governing body for Golf outside of the Americas, the Royal and Ancient has its heritage linked to St. Andrews and The Old Course. Before it was known as the Royal and ancient, this group was called the Society of St. Andrews Golfers, and it was established by twenty-two noblemen, land owners, and professors. The grounds have not been changed much over the last five-hundred years.
The most notable change would have to be the amount of holes on the course. Originally golf was played on 22 holes, but many members and players decided that the first and last two holes were too short. These holes were combined by ‘Old Tom Morris’ in the late 1800’s to make a total of 18 holes. Another significant change was completed in 1850 by course architect Daw Anderson. Other then these two changes nothing much has been modified for nearly half a millennium.
There you have it – a very brief history of THE oldest golf course on Earth. Whether you are looking at traditional golf, or the slightly more modern game of American golf, you can be sure its history will link back somewhere to the establishment of this historic course.
