Chapter: Origins of Golf

The history of golf runs back into the early centuries. Its origin is vague. The Romans, soon after the Christian era, played a game with a mallet and a leather-covered ball stuffed with feathers called paganica (from Paganus "countryman"). The ball was made of the same material in the fourte~nth ~entury. It is said that the Roman legions may have brought pagamca wIth them as they advanced over Europe.

The French had a game akin to golf called Jeu de Mail and the Dutch played a stick-and ball game on the ice called Het Kalven. 'In both of these games the object of the player was to send the ball so that it would strike a stick placed in the ground.

In the reign of King Edward III of England, the Latin name cambuca was applied to a stick-and ball game from the crooked club or bat with which it was played. The name cambuca was also given to the episcopal crosier because of the curved top.
Cambuca was forbidden in 1363 in order that man "shall in his sports use bows, arrows, pellets and bolts".
But there are many games played with stick and ball. The Irish game of Hurling is such a game the origin of which is also lost in the mist of antiquity. The caman also has a crooked end not too unlike the cambuca. When Aonach Tailteann Games were revived in 1925, golf was included because it was thought to have had a Celtic origin. Authorities regard the game as being not only ancient but also peculiar to the natives of North Britain. But the precise time at which the game became common in Scotland has not been firmly established. Some historians suggest that it all began in the County of Fifeshire near Leith in the 1300s. ' ,

Statutes prohibiting the game were introduced in 1457, 1471 and 1491 "lest it interfere with the more important pastime of Archery". In this the bow was the principal instrument of war among all the nations of Europe. Consequently, it was far more prudent to train people in the art of Archery rather than have them sporting at golf which could scarcely have been of any advantage in warfare.
One of the Acts of Parliament -"... decreed and ordained that the fute-ball and golfe be utterly cried down and not to be used". In the fifteenth century the Scots were playing a game called goffwith a bat made of ash which was four and a half feet in length. A curvature was affixed to the bottom, faced with horn and backed with lead. The ball was small -how small is not stated -but exceedingly hard being made of leather and stuffed with feathers -sometimes with cotton. It was played generally wIth two players each with his own bat and ball. Sometimes it was played by four players, two of them being partners, who had one ball which they struck alternately, but each man had his own stick.

James IV of Scotland is said to be the first recorded golfer, and it is reported that the accounts of the Lord High Treasurer for the year 1502 contained an entry:
"The third day of February, to the King to play golfe with the Earl of Bothuile -11J French Crowns". "For the golfe clubbs and balls tp the King that he playit with". The first lady recorded as having played golf is said to be Mary Queen playing golfe and pall-mall, (a game akin to golfe).

One of the greatest Scottish golfers of the nineteenth century was Tom Morris, a professional. He won the British Open four times -1861, '62, '64 and '67. Born in 1821, he fell downstairs at the then new Club House at St. Andrews, in 1908, and died of concussion of the brain.

The first golf club in Europe was founded in 1856 at Pau, and at the Curragh, County Kildare, the same year. It was played in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, in 1884. Our golfing friends at.The Heath Golf Club may be interested to learn that golf competitions were played at The Heath in 1891 and 1892. In 1891 the competition there was for the "Emo Challenge Cup" and the following ladies and gentlemen took part:- George May, Captain E. J. Dease, D. L. O'Connor-Morris, Miss C. Corden, Miss C. White, Miss M. Campbell, Miss R. Kemmis, M~Rs Young and Miss March, Major H.Brooke, Major H. Armstrong, Captain W. Kemmis, Major Izod, Captain Wilkinson, Rev. W. Gorman and Mr. O'Hara. The "Emo Challenge Cup" was presented to the club by Viscount Carlow (i.e. Lord Portarlington).

Abbeyleix, too, made an early start at the game and in 1908 their members competed for the "De Vesci Cup". It was won that year by Rev. John Kearney, C.C. Maryborough (Portlaoise), of whom more anon. The Maryborough Club was sited at Meelick, near Mountmellick. It was still in existence up to 1910. The indomitable W. H. Cobbe, of Ballycullane, founder member of Port arlington Golf Club, was a member of Maryborough Club at that time. The springing up of golf clubs in this area coincided with the very rapid growth in the number of new clubs in Britain and Ireland generally. In 1905 a British publication reported that "the year had seen a boom in golf and several millions had been spent in the pursuit of this most fascinating of games. Throughout the summer it was almost impossible to keep pace with the number of new golf clubs that were opening every day".

See: -Golf -A Royal & Ancient Game:- Robert Clarke A history of Golf -The Royal & Ancient Game -Robert Browning.