ABSTRACT
Of all the sports discussed in this book, golf is, in all probability, one of the earliest to be devised. The Romans had a game called Paganica, which involved hitting a stone with a stick. The French had a similar game called chole, while the English had cambuca, which used a ball made of wood. Possibly the strongest claim to golf comes from the Dutch, who were known to play a game called kolf as early as 1296. In its original form, kolf was played on any available terrain, including churchyards, highways, and frozen lakes. The object was to hit a succession of targets by striking the ball with a long-handled wooden club. To allow a clear shot, the ball was slightly elevated on a pile of sand called a tuitje, from which we get the modern term, tee.
