Golf Club

Golfing began in the early 1400's in Scotland. The first golf course was St. Andrew's, which is still in use today. King James IV was the first known royalty to enjoy the game. Golf spread to America in the seventeenth century, and it spread to English colonies like India in the eighteenth century.


The first 18 hole golf course in America was opened in Chicago. Golf enjoyed an explosion of popularity in 1898 because of the invention of the Haskell rubber-cored golf ball, which made the game easier and more enjoyable for average people.

Golf was made an Olympic sport in 1900, but has since been canceled. The 1960's is said to be the Golden Age of Golf, with Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, and Gary Player winning almost every American tournament. In 1971, Golf was made the first sport to be played outside Earth, with Alan Shephard hitting a golf ball on the moon.

Today Golf is played by 30 million people in 80 countries. However, it is a major sport in only the United States and the United Kingdom.

Technological Advances

The first golf clubs and balls were made of wood. They performed very poorly and had little durability. The Featherie was invented in 1618, and it was a handcrafted ball made of feathers packed into cowhide. The ball was very expensive because of the inability to mass-produce. The Gutta-Percha golf ball was invented in 1848. It used Gutta rubber from the tropics, melted down and molded into a sphere. It was smoother than the Featherie and therefore traveled less distance, but had greater accuracy. In 1898, Coburn Haskell invented the Haskell rubber-cored ball. This ball was rubber-cored and wound with elastic thread encased in hardened Gutta rubber. It had a greater distance of 20 yards over any other golf ball. Surlyn, a thermoplastic, was invented in the early 1980's, and had a tremendous effect on the game. It has exceptional durability and spin performance. It is used as a cover on rubber-cored wound balls. It is also used as a cover for solid rubber-cored two-piece golf balls, which offer even greater distance and durability.

Not until after World War I did golf clubs begin an advance in technology. Golf clubs began to be made out of steel. In the last 10 years, golf club makers have turned to lighter, stronger materials, such as graphite, titanium, and boron. These materials allow better flex, and better power and distance.