Golf’s Dark Age

by C&RB Staff (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
August 2007
 

Who could believe that golf could ever be considered a weapon of mass destruction? Apparently, King James II of Scotland was so threatened by the sport that he and his parliament passed a decree to ban it in 1457. Facing an imminent invasion by England, he feared his subjects were spending too much time playing golf, and not enough concentrating on their archery practice. Despite protests, successors King James III and King James IV upheld the law. After 45 years, the ban was lifted when Scotland and England signed a short-lived peace treaty in 1502. King James IV wasted no time in hitting the links, then died in battle in 1513. Perhaps he should have been practicing archery instead.