Chinese claim they invented golf

    Edinburgh (Scotland): Scotland's reputation as the cradle of golf is under threat from China. The Scots claim that golf was discovered and nutured as a sport on its soil for centuries is now being questioned by a leading Chinese academic, who says golf was played by Chinese nobles as early as the tenth century, 500 years before St. Andrews was globally established as the fount of golf.

   Professor Ling Hongling, of Lanzhou University is quoted by scotsman.com as saying that he has uncovered evidence of golf being played in China in 945 A.D. in a book called the Dongxuan Records written during the Song Dynasty (AD960-1279). In the book, the game is referred to as Chuiwan - chui meaning "to hit" and wan meaning "ball". It was played with ten different jewel-encrusted clubs, including a flat-surfaced "cuanbang" - equivalent to a modern-day driver - and a "shaobang" (three-wood or spoon). According to Prof Ling, golf only arrived in Scotland after it was exported to Europe by Mongolian travellers during the late Middle Ages. Ling's claim is likely to churn a controversy about which country invented the sport, which is now played by 50 million people around the world. Scotland's claim as the home of golf rests on a resolution dated 6 March, 1457, when King James II of Scotland banned football and "ye golf".

   The first surviving written reference to golf in St Andrews is contained in Archbishop Hamilton's Charter of 1552. This reserves the right of the people of the Fife town to use the links land "for golff, futball, schuteing and all gamis". As early as 1691, the town had become known as the "metropolis of golfing". Professor Ling says the Chinese book makes reference to a prominent Chinese magistrate of the Nantang Dynasty (AD937-975) instructing his daughter "to dig goals in the ground so that he might drive a ball into them with a purposely crafted stick". Malcolm Campbell, a former editor of Golf Monthly, says that if Professor Ling's findings are authentic, it may undermine Scotland's claim as the birthplace of golf.

Back to Headlines                  Go To Top