How Did Golf get Started?

How did golf get started? Who started it? When did it become a sport?
Well I think we have to thanks the Scots for making the sport, but in 1457 King James II of Scotland banned the stick and ball game as it was keeping his archers from their work. But was is really the Scottish who invented the sport?    

The USGA Museum has something to say about it:

"While many Scots firmly maintain that golf evolved from a family of stick-and-ball games widely practiced throughout the British Isles during the Middle Ages, considerable evidence suggests that the game derived from stick-and-ball games that were played in France, Germany and the Low Countries."

As there are many countries with evidence that traces back to the orgin of golf, no one will really ever know who invented the game and Golf grew out of games that were played in many different parts of Europe. One significance about the Scots is, is that they made the ball going into the hole the object of the game.  When Golf was getting started, they only had 5 - 7 holes. Today we have the standard 18 holes, which used to vary from 22 holes to ten or more holes. But in 1858 golf was set to 18 holes. Stroke play was introduced to the golf in 1759.  What were the clubs like?  The club heads were made from wood and the balls were made with feathers hand sewn with leather. Irons were then introduced with hand - forged iron.   

For More information visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf