GolfPlus- Dec19 Digital Edition (Dec 19) | Page 47

From the Greens
think their colonial subjects to be ¿ t enough
to eat, drink or play golf with. The golf clubs
in India therefore began with policies of
exclusion. The situation in ‘’European Only’’
clubs was so bad that even Lord Willingdon,
then Governor of Bombay, was not allowed
to take Maharaja of Patiala as his guest inside
the Bombay Gymkhana! He of course then
founded (now extremely exclusive) Willingdon
Sports Club in 1918 which admitted Indians as
members.
*URZWK LQ (QJODQG It is interesting to
examine the growth of golf courses and golf
in England. In 1863, there were only 30 golf
clubs in Scotland while England had only
03. The number grew dramatically and by
1900 Great Britain had 2000 golf courses
with more than 1000 being in England alone.
This extraordinary growth was fueled by the
Victorian middle class who started travelling
after pro¿ ting from the industrial revolution.
The wealthier among these took holidays in
Scotland and started experiencing the joys of
golf. The wealthy middle class brought the
game back to England and it was natural for
it to take an elitist color. And as they say, with
the son imitating father, the image perpetuated
itself. Intimidation was to soon follow and
signages saying ‘’Strictly Private. Members
Only’’ soon appeared in more established clubs.
The mainstream clubs in India too copied the
practice and the native Indians took over the
customs to become the new sahibs. The true
lesson of the boom being fueled by middle
class did get obscured within the pretensions
of elitism.
.LQJVDQG&RPPRQHUVDOLNHSOD\HGWKH
JDPH LQ 6FRWODQG The game survived and
then grew hugely popular in Scotland because
it was a game played by all, irrespective of
class. It was a game which was popular with
the monarchy and was so also with the subjects.
In fact, every reigning monarch from 1502 to
1688 (including one Queen and the four Stuart
kings of England) played golf. Perhaps the
most famous Royal to play golf was Mary
Queen of Scots (mother of James VI/I, King
of Scotland/and later England). The Queen
mother often played golf with her subjects and
Golf as a game did grow
rapidly in Scotland but no clubs
existed for at least the fi rst
200 YEARS despite it being
an extremely popular game
which was played by both
royalty and commoner alike.
Royal Troon (Old) Golf Club
Muirfield Golf Course
famously presented a necklace to her attendant
Mary Seton on losing a match. Fortunately for
Mary Seton, unlike these times, no pompous
rules of¿ cial was around to take away her
‘Amateur’ status! The Queen Mother was so
ardent a golfer that she incurred the wrath of
church for playing golf within few days after
the death of her husband Lord Darnly. She was
indeed a true golf widow!
*DPH )ORXULVKHG E\ WKH 6HDVLGH All
the early golf À ourished by the seaside and
the reason is not far to see. The land was
undulating, had wiry turf and the ball was easy
to spot which made it good for playing golf
but more importantly the ‘Links’ were un¿ t
for agriculture which justi¿ ed the usage of
land for golf. It was the beginning of a sensible
design philosophy of utilizing the available
land and even today a policy prohibiting the
use of good agriculture land for building golf
course is considered sensible. China for one,
does follow the policy of not allowing building
golf courses on agricultural land even today.
)DOOLQJ LQ /RYH E\$PHULFD The Scots
took the game to the earlier British colonies
after the beginning in India. Mauritius, New
Zealand, Hong Kong, Australia were to soon
follow. America had gone independent much
before and there was some rancor between
the former colonial masters and them. The
distance and crossing of Atlantic didn’t make
it easy either. It was again the Scots who
took the game to America. One such Scottish
merchant, Robert Lockhart got six clubs (from
Old Morris’s shop, no less!) and two dozen
golf balls in 1887 and presented it to his friend
John Reid (another Scot) who went out with
his ¿ ve friends and played the ¿ rst round ever
in America. The ¿ rst golf club in America, St
Andrew’s (apostrophe to distinguish it from
home of golf) was thus born in 1888. The
country was full of enterprising people and
was bereft of any kind of class system. The golf
clubs lacked the intimidation prevalent among
clubs in England and its colonies and everyone
could pursue the opportunity. An inclusive
democratic setup soon got the country to fall
in love with golf. Similar inclusiveness was
also followed in Australia and Ireland. It’s no
wonder that Ireland produces more champions
per capita of population and Australia keeps
churning out competent golfers through a well-
established system. In today’s USA, everyone
from Presidents to taxi drivers play golf which
has given rise to the biggest golf industry in
the world.
$ 7UDGLWLRQ RI *UHHQNHHSLQJ It was
natural that the growth in numbers also lead
to more focus on maintenance of golf courses.
The ¿ rst record of the term ‘’Greenkeeper’’
appeared in 1888 when Willie Fernie
was appointed at Troon (Royal later) as
greenkeeper. The early greenkeepers were
barely literate and did not have the bene¿ t of
modern research and advice. They were of
course passionate about their work and learnt
through observation and correct deductions.
It’s amazing that they followed very sound
principles which are valid even today. They all
faced the challenge of receiving advice from
their members, many of whom were farmers
who recommended practices which were not
really suitable for golf. The trend has continued
till this day.
The game of golf has grown in popularity
for the past many centuries but has slowed down
in the 21st century. It probably has not been
able to keep pace with rapid societal changes
and policies of exclusion hasn’t helped either.
The game needs to attract younger people and
a stiff upper lip with restrictive policies will be
intimidatory. Administrators need to look at
the origins of the game when the Aristocrats
and commoners played the game alike.
GolfPlus
DECEMBER
2019
51