Now is about the time of year DH and I start dusting off the clubs and think about hitting the links. Although the game would not reach international popularity until late in the 19th century, it would have been prevalent in Scotland during the Regency as a game of leisure for sporting types.
Vintage Society of Goffers at Blackhearth, 1790
The rules were established in the mid 1700s by a club of Edinburgh golfers, a club later incorporated by Charter in 1800 as The Honourable Edinburgh Company of Golfers (Golf: A Royal and Ancient Game, 1875). Below is a brief Regency contemporary primer on golf.
Fashion – Pastime, 1823
The ball, until 1848, would have been made of leather and tightly packed feathers (called featheries). Rev. Adam Patterson created the first “guttie” made from the rubber-like sap of the Gutta tree (http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/golfhistory.html).
The first golf courses were:
- 1754 St Andrews Old Course (1552)
- 1787 Elie and Earlsferry (1589)
- 1817 Scotscraig
- 1818 Montrose North Links
- 1823 Kingsbarns
- 1830 Musselburgh Old Course (1672) (http://www.scottishgolfhistory.org/oldest-golf-courses/)
Golf: A Royal and Ancient Game
