Almost all moderns sports have origins in earlier games, going as far back as thousands of year- golf is no different. Most modern games then eventually developed into a more recognizable version in the last 200 years or so. In this respect golf differs from its sporting counterparts. Though golf's origins lie in the ball and stick games of ancient times, the modern game of golf dates as far back as the 1400s in Britain and more specifically Scotland. In its early days, Scottish kings- James 2 and James 4- actually outlawed the game, believing the popularity of the sport conflicted with military training. However, King James 4 himself became enamored with the sport by the 1500s, and in the early 1500s, in a short peace with England, the game became popular there as well, though when the two countries were back at war with each other, golf receded in England again. However, when James 4 of Scotland took the throne in England in 1603, the game came to England to stay.
The rise of the sport was helped considerably by its popularity among the ruling class. Mary, Queen of Scots often played, her clubs carried by students she called "cadets". It is believed this is the origin of the word "caddie". James I appointed both official golf club and golf ball makers in the 1600s, while also lifting the ban on Sunday golf. James 2 organized the first international match, between England and Scotland. In both countries, the game continued as a sport not of one class, but of all classes- still, of course, those classes did not mingle on the courses. The courses back then were not always as seen in today's sport; golf in the 17th century was not as formally arranged, with little organization regarding the number of holes or even official rules. Formal golf courses did exist, however :clubs at Gosford Blackheath (a seven hole course near London) and St. Andrew's were regularly attended by the upper classes and nobility. Blackheath was founded as early as 1608, while St. Andrews Royal and Ancient Club was founded in 1754; yet St. Andrews's lays claim as the cradle of golf. Lower classes played on open land; early illustrations of the sport show men playing among herds of sheep.
The biggest obstacle to golf being played by lower classes was the price of the golf ball. The early balls were made of feather and leather. In their earliest form, they were extremely difficult to make, and the makers could cost as much as 2s6d per ball (worth 9.5 pound sterling today, or about $14). Balls became slightly cheaper to make by the mid- 18th century, but would still cost too much to make golf balls accessible to the lower classes. Early golf clubs were made of materials similar to today;s club; wood and iron. However, the biggest difference between old golf clubs and modern ones was the use. Originally, irons were used only for getting out of difficult sports: ditches, ruts and similar hazards. Irons were rarely used for approaches, and woods were used almost exclusively in most parts of the game. Today, while iron clubs are still used for hitting out of tough spots (those clubs are called wedges), irons are also used for the approach, a development that did not occur until the mid- 1800s.
While golf thrived in the U.K in the 1800s, and began to spread in the latter half of the century outside Britain's shores, golf in the U.S was barely catching on. Golf had arrived, at best guess, at the tail end of the 18th century, primarily in the northeastern United States. For the vast majority of the 19th century, golf had a very difficult time gaining popularity in the U.S. The nation was busy first with building itself and its Civil War; when Americans did preoccupy themselves with sports they turned primarily to horseacing, boxing and, in the second half of the century, Baseball. Golf in fact, took hold in Canada before the U.S the first golf club on record in Canada was the Royal Montreal Golf Club, formed in November of 1873. It would be fifteen years before the first golf course was built in the U.S in February, 1888, a man named John Reid, a transplanted Scotsman, after ordering a set of golf clubs from Tom Morris back at St. Andrews, gathered together a small group of friends and set up three holes in a cow pasture in Yonkers, New York, the first recorded golf course in the United States. After playing through that summer, the group formed the St.Andrews Club of Yonkers in November, the first golf club in America. In 1889, a group of Englishmen in Kentucky established the Middlesboro Club there, and by 1894, there were nine more golf courses laid out in the U.S, with Chicago being the first site of a golf course off the East Coast and the country's first 18 hole course. Early on in American golf's history, Chicago became a key location by 1900, thre were 26 golf courses around Chicago alone. Towards the very end of the 1800s, golf had increased in popularity in the U.S to the point that many players began calling for an organizing body. In December 1894, delegates from golf clubs in Yonkers, Brookline (Massachusetts), Newport (Rhode Island), Southampton (New York) and Chicago met to form the Ametaur Golf Association of the United States, later the U.S Golf Association (USGA) with Theodore Havemeyer (of the Newport club) as its first president. Within a year, the association had organized the first prize was $150 ($3,950 today) more than the British Open awarded the same year.
