ABC Wednesday: "G" is for Golf

Our ABC Wednesday this week is brought to us by the letter "G" - is for Golf.

The first game of golf for which records survive was played at Bruntsfield Links, in Edinburgh, Scotland, in A.D. 1456, recorded in the archives of the Edinburgh Burgess Golfing Society, now The Royal Burgess Golfing Society.

To put that into a bit of perspective, 1456 is a year before King Henry VII - the first Tudor king of England - was born. The English "War of the Roses" was in its infancy. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake 25 years prior. Ferdinand and Isabella wouldn't unite Spain for another 13 years.

But that year was just the first documented case of a round of golf. Other evidence suggests golf actually began in the 1100's - during the high Middle Ages and the century of the Crusades. Moral of the story? Golf is old. :)

While golf is most likely based on a Scottish word meaning "to hit or cuff" or a Dutch word meaning "bat or club", in reality, golf was used because all other four letter words were taken (and can be heard in abundance on most golf courses even today - "@#$& Clubs", "$@#* Ball", "#$%& Grass", etc.) ;-)

As the great golfer Ben Hogan once said, "All a golfer needs is more daylight." Amen.

So while it is dark (unless you have glow-in-the-dark golf balls or a lighted course - both of which exist!) head over to http://abcwednesdayround3.blogspot.com/ to visit all the other ABC Wednesday blogs until the sun comes up for more golf tomorrow. :)