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Who invented golf?
Nobody, and Scotland. People have hit things with sticks for as long as there have been sticks; the game with a hole at the end, played across a links, with rules written down and clubs to keep them, is Scottish. Here is the evidence, in dates, and the two rival claims, judged fairly.
By Morris, by Badgie Golf · Updated
The Scottish evidence, in order
| Year | What the record says |
|---|---|
| 1457 | James II's Parliament bans golf and football: they keep men from archery practice. The earliest written mention; you do not ban a game nobody plays. |
| 1471, 1491 | The ban is restated. Still being played. |
| 1502 | Clubs are bought for King James IV in Perth, then in Edinburgh and St Andrews. The ban is over at the top. |
| 1552 | Archbishop Hamilton's charter reserves the St Andrews links for golf and other games: the earliest written evidence of golf in the town. |
| 1632 | At Kelso, a bystander is killed by a golf ball. Evidence of play in the Borders, and the first reason to shout 'fore'. |
| 1636 | A Latin school textbook sets out golfing terms: the game has a vocabulary. |
| 1744 | The Gentlemen Golfers of Leith write 13 'Articles & Laws in Playing at Golf' for a competition for a silver club. The first rules. |
| 1754 | The Society of St Andrews Golfers is founded, 14 May. It becomes The Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 1834 and the game's rule-maker. |
| 1764 | St Andrews reduces its course from 22 holes to 18. Everyone follows. |
The Dutch claim
The Low Countries played colf from the 13th century: a stick, a ball, and a target such as a door or a post, in streets and on frozen canals. A Brussels ordinance of 1360 already restricted a club-and-ball game. The word ‘golf’ may share a root with the Dutch kolf, and Scotland and the Netherlands traded across the North Sea, so an influence is plausible. What is missing is the hole and the course, and any document linking the two games. A cousin, then: related, not the parent.
The Chinese claim
Chuiwan, ‘ball-hitting’, is documented in China from the Song dynasty, with a rulebook, several clubs and holes in the ground, and paintings of players. In 2006 the Chinese Golf Association called it the mother of golf. Historians of the Scottish game reply that a game with holes existing in China does not show it travelled to Scotland, and that no connection with any European game has been found. Both things are true: chuiwan is real and old, and the line to golf is not drawn.
What Scotland actually invented
Not the idea of hitting a ball with a stick: the hole as the target, the links as the ground, the round of fixed holes, the written rules, and the club that kept them. That is the game you play on Saturday, and every one of those pieces has a Scottish document behind it. The full timeline to today is on the history of golf; the quiz on golf trivia will tell you how much of it stuck.
Sources
- National Library of Scotland — Early moments in Scottish golf — The 1457 Act and the later ones (1471, 1491), James IV's clubs (1502), the 1552 charter, the Kelso death (1632), the 1744 rules. Read 9 October 2026.
- The R&A — The Royal and Ancient Golf Club — Founded 14 May 1754 with the first Challenge for the Silver Club. Read 9 October 2026.
- The R&A — Playing golf in St Andrews — 1552, the Society as custodians of the course, 22 holes to 18. Read 9 October 2026.
- Scottish Golf History — Chuiwan: coincidence or espionage? — The Chinese claim and the historians' answer. Read 9 October 2026.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica — Golf — The 1360 Brussels ordinance against a club-and-ball game; the caution about the meaning of 'golf' in 15th-century sources. Read 9 October 2026.
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Origin questions
Who invented golf?
No one person. The game with a ball, a club, a hole and a course took shape on the east coast of Scotland by the 15th century: the earliest written mention is a Scottish Act of Parliament of 1457 banning it. Earlier stick-and-ball games existed in the Netherlands (colf) and China (chuiwan), but the hole and the course are Scottish, and so are the first rules and clubs.
When was golf invented?
There is no date, only evidence. 1457: banned by James II for distracting archers (so already popular). 1502: clubs bought for James IV. 1552: a charter reserves the St Andrews links for golf. 1744: the first written rules, at Leith. 1754: the Society of St Andrews Golfers, later The R&A.
Did the Dutch invent golf?
The Dutch played colf, a stick-and-ball game, from the 13th century, and the word 'golf' may share a root with 'kolf'. But colf was played to targets, not holes, and no documented link to the Scottish game exists. The honest answer is 'a cousin', not 'the father'.
Did golf come from China?
Chuiwan, 'ball-hitting', is documented in China from the Song and Ming dynasties, with clubs and holes, and the Chinese Golf Association has claimed it as golf's mother. Historians of the Scottish game answer that no connection between chuiwan and any European game has been shown. The claim is real; the link is not proven.
Why is St Andrews called the home of golf?
Because the town's right to play golf on its links was established in a charter of 1552, the Society of St Andrews Golfers (1754) became The Royal and Ancient Golf Club and the game's rule-maker, and the Old Course's reduction from 22 to 18 holes set the standard everyone plays.
Keep reading
All of History & TriviaThe history of golf, in dates
From the 1457 ban to the World Handicap System: rules, clubs, 18 holes, the balls and shafts that changed the game, with a document behind every date.
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