Trials and tribulations of golf

Here at The Ohio State University I can see firsthand how deep passion and loyalty can run among our football fans… especially this year! It does not, however, compare to the loyalty and passion golfers have shown for hundreds of years toward the game of golf in the face of so much adversity.

It is difficult for those who do not play golf to understand the inner strength that comes with golf. History speaks to the courage, struggle, survival and hope associated with those people in the past and even those today, in places like Afghanistan, who play golf.

From the earliest days in Scotland, golf was often referenced in proclamations in an effort to ban the game. In 1457, King James II proclaimed “that soccer and golf should be utterly condemned and stopped…” which was repeated by King James III in 1471 and then by King James IV in 1491. 

Often romanticized, these bans inferred that the common Scotsman was gallivanting around the hillsides playing golf when they should have been practicing archery to defend against the English. However, during this time England was too busy fighting among themselves (War of Roses, 1455-1487) to care what was going on in Scotland.  

More likely, the Scottish Kings wanted their own loyal soldiers and court to practice archery to protect them from their own people, who especially despised King James III. Whatever the case, the archery practice didn’t help given the Scots lost to the English in the Battle of Flodden Field in 1513.  

During the Reformation (1517 – 1550), John Knox, who was a Scottish clergymen and considered the founder of the Presbyterian Church, was a powerful preacher who rallied and instigated his following in establishing the Protestant faith. It was in the heart of St. Andrews where John Knox preached. The Church was against people playing sports, particularly on the Sabbath. Fines were set at 20 shillings for an offense. That was a fortune and no commoner could have possibly paid it — only the wealthy were targeted at that sort of figure.

Had it not been for the few golfing societies, all of them formed by Freemasons, golf would not have survived. There probably were not more than 500 players at any one time. This number was drastically reduced by the late 18th century because the French Revolution was sweeping Europe and the United Kingdom. Golf was considered a sport of the bourgeoisie, which could result in severe penalties (like death) if you were associated with the game. But why stop there — at the same time the British Agricultural Revolution (18th century) was occurring, which resulted in many golf clubs being plowed under for agricultural purposes.   

So here I am now looking at a photograph that was taken last October in Morocco, where African migrants, many from the Sub-Sahara, were scaling a barbed wire fence around the town of Melilla, which sits on the border between Morocco and Spain. Many of the reports referred to this crossing as “African migrants trying to get into the ‘promised land’ of Europe.”  

What makes the photograph so striking to me is the lush golf course that is located on the ‘promised land’ in the foreground with the migrants stuck behind the barbed wire fence in the background looking at the golfers. The photograph is a striking symbol of the chasm between the “haves” and “have-nots.”

Golf has and always will be a polarizing game between those who have an undying passion toward it and those who see it as representing something unfair about society, whether it is true or not. Golf faces a plethora of issues, of which many are associated with the business of golf. I am reminded that the game itself is OK because history says so. As long as there is a person willing to pick up a club and hit a ball into the hole, the passion lives.