Andrew Glass - All About Golf

Arguably golfsinteresting origin began five centuries in the past. It is ahistorical fact that due to the interference of golf with much moreserious combat drills James II of Scotland banned golf in an act ofParliament on March 6 in the year 1457. There is general agreementamong historians and golf fans alike that the Scots were the firstgolfers who became somewhat addicted to the sport.

However the personresponsible for the invention of golf is open to debate. And debatewill ensue if you breech the subject with the right persons.

It has beensuggested that bored sheepherders became quite exceptional atknocking round shaped stones into rabbit holes with their woodenshepherds staffs. Making a competitive game of the boredomseemed inevitable. After all womens lib was not yet evenconsidered so that means the shepherds were men. Lets face

another fact of history; men tend to be more of a competitive nature.Various forms of golf were played as early as the fourteenth century.These games were played in Holland, Belgium, France as well as inScotland, thus the debate of golfs origin is rightly fueled.

There is anotherhistorical fact that Scottish Baron, James VI, was the man whodelivered the game we know today as golf to the English. For manyyears the game was played on severely rugged terrain, where no properupkeep was required. In most accounts golf was played with crudelycut holes in the ground where the earth was reasonably flat.

It was a group ofEdinburgh golfers who first formed an organized club. In 1744 theHonorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers was established. At this timein history the first thirteen laws of golf were drawn up for anannual competition. This first competition consisted of players fromany part of Great Britain or Ireland.

One of the earliestgolf clubs that were formed outside golfs debatable nativehome of Scotland was the Royal Blackheath Golf Club of England.Blackheath came into existence in 1766 and the Old Manchester GolfClub was founded on the Kersal Moor in 1818.

By the late 1800sthe Royal Montreal Club and the Quebec Golf Club were to become thefirst in North America. It wasnt until 1888 that golfresurfaced in the United States with more fervor than each priorsurfacing. Even then it was a Scotsman, John Reid, who first built athree-hole course in Yonkers New York. St. Andrews Club of Yonkerswas built in a thirty-acre site near to the original three-holecourse.

From the hesitantand fitful start golf grew rapidly as the new national pastime inAmerica. Modern for its time the golf club,

Shinnecock Hills was founded in 1891 and in the nine years left inthat century more than one thousand prestigious golf clubs opened inNorth America.

The historical valueof golf is as interesting as any part of our heritage. Following thepath that golf took to get from a shepherds field to theamazing golf courses that dot our culture today it is no wonder golfremains a popular pastime in all parts of the world.

What Are GolfersThinking About Golf Movies?

There are severalmovies set around golf in some form, and golfers may be tempted tocritique the players and the golf games played in those movies. Youhave to be aware of your motives, if youre a die-hard golferwho always anxious to watch the next golf movie. If yourelooking for instruction, youll probably be disappointed. Thegolfers of movies never make a bad swing unless they were supposed toits the magic of Hollywood. But golf movies do have theability to motivate us as golfers, or even as would-be golfers.

Hollywood will makea movie about anything literally, and the sport of golf is noexception. And, with Hollywood making golf movies, comes the factsome of them are good, while others are not worth watching. This,though, will be up to the individual who makes the choice of whichmovie to see.

We will start with agolf movie starring Kevin Costner and examine it, following it withthe Matt Damon, Will Smith entry and end up with Adam Sandler. Knowthis, while these are three golf movies, they are not the only onesout there or available.

Beginning with TinCup, we find a golfing legend, but are never really told howRoy McAvoy achieved legendary status. We are informed he is a worldclass ball striker who has a knack for never finishing anything.

The fun begins whenhe meets Rene Russo, a local psychologist. Through a series of trialand error, Cup, as the character is most often called,finds himself qualified for the U.S. Open. Theoretically, this ispossible, but highly unlikely as making the cut for the Open isextremely difficult for tour players, much less driving range pros.