It is very difficult to say exactly when the game of golf was first played. Many people have many different ideas as to how it began but as nobody wrote down what they were doing, we cannot say for definite when people started to play what we today know as golf. What we do know is that similar games were played during the Middle Ages.

The aim of Scottish golf was to strike the ball into a hole in the ground. Games played in Europe, such as Pall Mall or Jeu de Mail a la Chicane had different rules which involved players generally hitting a target above the ground. In Pall Mall, for example, the player had to hit the ball through a hoop or in Jeu de Mail a la Chicane players had to hit a tree or a door.

All of the games had common elements with golf and would probably have influenced each other. However, we are quite certain that Scottish golf, as we know it today, had its roots on the East coast of Scotland.

Things to think about:

How do you think the game of golf began? Can you find out more about the other games played in the Middle Ages? What kinds of equipment did people use to play sports in the Middle Ages? How different were they to the equipment we use today?