Golf Tourism And Travel part 1 Essay - 3,659 words

Golf Tourism and Travel Golf is one of the ball games that do not have a fixed area for the playing field. The goal of individual or
team playing the game is to hit the ball towards a hole through the use of clubs. This originated in Scotland and has been played in
British Isles for many centuries. Many think that the game of golf is a pastime for elites and upper classes. However, in recent
years, the game is becoming a popular game for many people (Golf, 2006). The golf travel industry has been flying high especially in
recent times. To illustrate this point, in Scotland, where the game originated, there is roughly a 200 million pounds increase in
revenue in the last four years.

Tourism and Sport Minister Frank McAveety said that these figures were up from ?100 million to ?300 million and stressed the
importance of promoting Scotland as a must-visit golfing destination. (Golf Tourism on fairway to success). Indeed the golf industry
has gone a long way. The golf resorts today boast in being exceptional vacation places both for players and non-players. Majority of
these vacation places feature both golf vacation packages as well as romance packages. Golf has been an increasingly popular sport.

Despite the traditional view that golf is a game for the elite and the rich population, the level of interest on the sports has
perpetrated all types of people. The increase in the level of popularity could be seen in the way golf players were hailed as endorsers
of major products. The increase in the level of popularity thus calls for greater understanding of the mechanics of the game, and how
the game has evolved over time. This paper would discuss the historical roots, the systems of the game, and the tournaments that
shape the popularity of the game today. This would also include discussions of major personalities produced in the history of golf.
History The Scottish were regarded as pioneers in playing the game of golf.

The game for example, was mentioned in two fifteenth century laws, which specified that the law prohibit the game of gowf. There is
however a debate on whether this actually pertains to the same golf that people know today. Scholars believe that this might be
referring to another form of game, which is related to Shinty or Hurling, or the modern game of field hockey. The form of golf that is
known today is argued to have been played in 17th century in Netherlands. The word golf originated from the Germanic term for the
word club. Evidences on the history of golf shows that the Old Links in Musselburgh is used Links as early as 1567 (Golf, 2006). The
eighteen holes golf game is not always the pattern of the game in its earlier years.

In the 15th century, golfers at St. Andrews Links only established customary routes through the terrain, and played the game with
holes that are merely dictated through the topography. One line of holes would consist of eleven holes and therefore a round would
really consist of twenty-two holes. Players realized that some of the distances between holes are quite too short and thus in 1764,
some of the holes were combined. As a result, a line of holes would consist of only nine holes and a round would now consist of
eighteen holes (Golf, 2006). In the 19th century, the game has become increasingly popular such that better equipments were
introduced to improve the game. Better mowers have become available to improve the greens, and golf ball designs have improved
significantly.

In 1900 golf balls have become made of rubber and other man-made materials. In 1930s, metal shafts were also introduced. The
wooden golf tee was also invented in the 1930s. The use of metal for the woodenheads and shafts replaced with graphite composite
materials were introduced in the 1970s (Golf 2006). There are several new developments in the history of golf. In January of 2006,
evidences were excavated that would change the history of golf.

Professor Ling Hongling of the Lanzhou University showed that a game with great similarities with the modern day golf was already
played in China for at least 500 years earlier than when the golf was mentioned in the laws of Scotland (Golf, 2006). The recent
developments in the discovery shows that the Dongzuan Record from the Song Dynasty in China described a specific game as
chuiwan and the records also show drawings on how the game was played. The chuiwan is played with 10 clubs with cuanbang,
pubang, and shaobang, which are all similar in function as the driver, two-wood, and three-wood used in modern day golf (Golf, 2006;
Timeline of Golf History, 2006). The archive also presented some important data on the Tang Dynasty Magistrate who instructed his
daughter to make holes for him to play the game. The tee that was used was also described as jewel encrusted. The clubs used in the
game were also described as decorated with jade and gold. These patterns of designs are intricate and expensive and thus pointing to
the fact that chuiwan is only a game for the wealthy people in China.

The investigations of Professor Hongling suggested that the game was only transferred and imported to Scotland through the
Mongolian travelers in the middle ages. This claim however is still not substantiated with evidences (Golf, 2006). Despite its global
importance, the idea of tourism has not been well-defined. According to Clive L. Morley, attempts to define tourism date back to
1933 and the various approaches to definitions taken since then display the economic, sociological, m
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part 1