History of Golf (Part 2)
Pretty soon tournaments like the British Open were being held to see who the best in the game was. Willie Park was one man, who won the British Open competition with a score of 174. This game was played over 3 days on a twelve-hole course. America organized its first Open in Newport, Rhode Island. Horace Rawlins won that Open. Ever since then, tournaments and championships of all sorts have been made and are played all over the World.
Speaking of which, golf was not only prominent in Europe and America, it also has significance in Canada and Japan. Canada was initially where golf was recognized before it was introduced in America. The Royal Montreal Club was established in 1873, followed by the Quebec Golf Club being formed two years later and a golf club in Toronto was made in 1876.
In Japan, after the Meiji restoration in 1868, there was an effort to westernize the industry and the economy. The Japanese used Europe and America as role model countries for modernising their country. They came to Europe and America to establish trade relations and to observe and gain insight on the latest developments in business, technology, and science. Subsequently, the westerners went to Japan to make factories, banks, schools and shipyards.
This westernization led to a group of British expatriates to establish the first golf club in Japan at Kobe. In 1913, the Tokyo Golf club was formed by Japanese people, who had come across Golf in America. By 1974, the seven clubs had merged to form the Japan Golf Association. During the 1920’s and 30’s, new courses were built. However, due to the great depression and anti-western feelings, the growth of the game was suppressed.
By the time of the Second World War, there were about twenty-three golf courses in Japan. However, the courses were utilized for military or agricultural purposes during the war. After the war, the golf courses came under control of the occupying forces. They returned to Japanese control in 1952. In 1957, Torakichi Nakamura and Koichi Ono won the Canada Cup which is now called the World Cup. This event is often seen as the initiation point of the post-war golf bloom. Between 1960 and 1964, the number of courses increases from 195 to 424.
Not only does golf itself have a lot of history, but also the equipment used in it has a lot of history as well. The very early club makers were actually thought to be skilled craftsmen that made bows and arrows and other weapons of war. The first real record of a club maker dates back to 1603. William Mayne was employed to the court of James I of England to make golf clubs for the king and his fellow men.
Two other Scottish club makers are also known from the late 1600’s, Henry Mill of St. Andrews and Andrew Dickinson of Leith. These clubs were carved wooden heads of pear, beech, dogwood, pear or holly spliced into shafts of hazel or ash to give the club more swing. It was further improved by filling the back of the head with lead and putting in pieces of leather, bone or horn into the club face. Soon, skilled blacksmiths thought of making iron faces clubs. This was good for shorter shots.
The earliest balls were made of leather and they were hand stitched. They were stuffed with boiled feathers. In 1618, James 1 of England had James Melvill make feathery balls. It was a contract for 21 years and if any ball was found without the Melvill stamp, it would be confiscated. In 1848, a reverend used a substance from India called gutta-percha. When heated, it would soften and could be moulded into a nice hard ball.
The gutta-percha ball lasted for about 55 years until it was replaced by the Hasket Ball in 1903. This was made by wrapping a liquid filled rubber core with strips of elastic and then being coated with gutta-percha casing. Modern balls today have a more durable cover of surlyn or balata and different solid core balls with new synthetics are now popular.
It has taken many centuries in order to achieve perfection for the game and even the equipment. The more famous something is, the more history it has attached it. This was the story of golf and how it came into being.
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