This 4¾ inch golfing ornament portrays Santa Claus riding on a golf club while his golf bag dangles below. Santa is wearing his traditional hat, a burnt orange sweater vest over red and white striped shirt, blue pants, green and white striped socks and burnt orange golf shoes.
History of Golf.
Golf as we know it was originally played in Scotland with a leather covered ball stuffed with feathers. Much earlier, the Romans in their day of empire played a golf like game called paganica. They played it in open countryside, with a bent stick and a ball stuffed with feathers. They occupied parts of England and Scotland from about 100 BC to about AD 400. We now believe that the Roman game of paganica was the forerunner of golf.
The earliest written evidence of the existence of golf dates back to 1457. In that year, the Parliament of King James II prohibited the playing of “futeball and golfe” because they had become so popular they threatened the practice of archery for national defense. This law apparently remained in effect until the invention of gunpowder, near the end of the 1400’s, made archery less important and restored golf to the people. The game was played with the feather ball until a ball of solid gutta percha was introduced about 1850. The present rubber ball was invented in the United States in 1899.
The St. Andrew’s Golf Club, in Yonkers, N.Y., was formed in 1888. The St. Andrew’s club was instrumental in organizing the United States Golf Association in the winter of 1894 and the first U.S.G.A. championships were held in 1895. The first public course, at Vancortlandt Park in New York City, was in operation in 1896. The first Professional Golfer’s Association championship was held in 1916.