Golf was one of many ball and stick games played during the Middle Ages. The aim of Scottish golf was to strike the ball into a hole in the ground by hitting it with a stick.

In contrast, other Continental games like Dutch Kolf used targets above the ground. It is likely that the games influenced each other. There can be little doubt, however, that golf as it is played today took root on the east coast of Scotland and spread throughout Britain and eventually the world.

The earliest surviving written reference to golf dates from 1457, when King James II of Scotland decreed that football and golf should be banned and that archery should be practised; implying the defence of the realm was suffering from such games.

 

 

 

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