From the Highlands to the Course: A Potted History of Golf and an Important Lesson

Sticks and Stones

Hundreds of years ago on the wind-ravaged links in the Highlands of Scotland, two very bored shepherds were watching their flock. Desperate to ease the boredom of the treacherously cold, tedious hours, one of them started to mess around with a rounded stone, hitting it around with his crook. A few yards ahead of him was a hole and, using the upturned crook, the shepherd hit the stone along the ground and into the hole. The other shepherd soon caught on and found his own round stone which he too attempted to hit into the hole. A competition between the two of them was soon underway using the basic concept of hitting a round stone along the ground and getting it into a hole.

Over the years more shepherds joined the game. Whilst it became increasingly competitive, the basic concept remained: hit the stone along the ground and work your way around any trouble spots like sandy pits or gorse.

This went on quite happily for some years, until one of the shepherds who was tired of working around the difficult areas where the grass was longer and the ground was uneven, had a stroke of genius. He filed down his crook head to create an angle so that when he hit his stone it would fly into the air and over the trouble spots, thus avoiding having to play round them. All of a sudden golf was a game that was played in the air as well as along the ground.

As the years passed the game started to lose its simplicity. Now the shepherds were carrying more than one crook around with them and taking on the challenges of more difficult terrain.

However the basic concept remained the same: they still hit the stone forwards along the ground, aiming for the hole. And when they needed to hit the stone into the air to avoid any problem areas, they still performed the same action because it was the specially shaped crook that made the stone fly into the air for them.


Getting Serious

The crook and stone game grew in popularity until the 15th Century when it became so popular that King James II of Scotland issued a ban because he felt it was keeping his archers from their practice!

Despite further bans from subsequent kings later in the century the game continued to develop and in 1744 at Leith Links in Scotland a set of thirteen rules was set down by a body which called itself the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. The game now had 5 holes and feathery balls to replace the stones, and so the basis of modern golf was formed.

A plethora of club manufacturers appeared on the scene and with them a multitude of problems arose. Now, for some reason, the aim of the game seemed to have changed; now people were actually trying to get the ball into the air rather than leaving it to the club to do the work.


Back to Basics

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have managed to over and mis-analyse golf by concentrating on how to hit high and far; but each and every one of them has completely missed the basic concept which is to stand at the side of the ball, whack it with a stick and get it in the hole.

The concept and action required to hit the ball forwards towards the hole is the swing action that you must try to develop and maintain; it is the very swing action that all the top golfers in the world naturally have. Take the loft off a top golfer's club and ask them to play along the ground and you'll see how perfect their game is. Why? Because they have learnt that simple skill: hit the ball forwards along the ground and let the loft of the club do the rest.

Keep this simple thought in your mind: hit the ball along the ground and let the technology of the club take it into the air.