ABSTRACT
Golf was one of the fastest growing recreational sports in Britain before 1914. It created a market for professional golfers as shopkeepers, teachers, greenkeepers and craftsmen. A database of 3000 players was used to examine their social and economic experience at club and competitive level, and this experience was then compared to that of professionals in horse racing, cricket and football. Golfers were the first sportsmen to permanently organize themselves with the establishment of the Professional Golfers’ Association in 1901, which provided welfare services and promoted tournaments, thus actively and uniquely assisting the development of the industry within which its members worked.
