De blog van ancientgolf

Choulettes for the game of Crosse

ancientgolf — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:53:16 +0000

Since the game of golf caught the interest of (amateur) historians the world over, significant information has been found about the so called ‘feathery’ ball, probably introduced into the game around the beginning of the 17th century.
Although the related games on the European mainland are mentioned – sometimes as a kind of curiosity, sometimes as serious contenders for the origin of the golf – no serious research has been undertaken to get to know more about the balls used in the games of colf, crosse and mail.
We have made an attempt to find out more about the different balls used particularly in the game of crosse as played since time and age in the Franco-Belgian border zone.
Please click here to find the outcome of our research on the peculiar choulette crosse ball.

The Sister of Golf

ancientgolf — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 09:43:44 +0000

The last few decades it seems that more and more attention is paid to the history of the golf related games colf, crosse (choule) and mail (pall mall).
However, more than a hundred years ago renowned golf historians have written about these golf-like games. The information provided in these articles has never been picked up by later historians other than just a few sentences in the margins of their publications.
It is interesting to read what one of the nestors of golf history research, Andrew Lang, wrote in the October number of the year 1909 in the Blackwood’s Magazine about the French game ‘jeu de mail’.
Have a look at The Sister of Golf under the heading ‘Mail’ on this web site.
Happy reading.

L’ancêtre du golf, toujours vivant ! « Jeu de crosse – Crossage A travers les âges »

ancientgolf — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 21:30:24 +0000

Il aura fallu attendre presque mille ans, avant qu’une recherche approfondie soit entreprise, sur un jeu remarquable, et pratiquement oublié, semblable au golf, appelé ‘Jeu de Crosse’ ou ‘Crossage’.
Le monde des historiens du golf connaît le nom de ce jeu, car il est souvent mentionné dans les livres sur l’histoire du golf écossais. Cependant, en dehors de la région frontalière franco-belge, l’ancien comté du Hainaut, où il est encore pratiqué de nos jours, peu de gens savent en quoi il consiste.

Pendant sept ans, Geert & Sara Nijs, historiens de sport, ont étudié en profondeur, le passé et le présent du jeu, ses joueurs et l’environnement où il est pratiqué. En 2008, les résultats de ces recherches furent réunis dans un livre intitulé « CHOULE – The Non-Royal but most Ancient Game of Crosse », qui fut reçu avec beaucoup d’intérêt par des historiens de golf et de sports dans le monde entier.

Depuis sa parution il y eut régulièrement des demandes pour une édition française du côté des organisations belges et françaises des sports et du patrimoine.
« Jeu de Crosse – Crossage » n’est pas une simple traduction de la version anglaise mais plutôt une édition complètement revue et corrigée et élargie avec les trouvailles de ces dernières années.
Le livre esquisse une image du passé et du présent de ce jeu remarquable dans son milieu historique, démographique, culturel, économique et religieux.

Le livre contient 284 pages avec presque 200 photos, représentations de peintures, dessins et enluminures en noir & blanc. Pour un résume vous pouvez regarder ici . Le livre est offert pour un prix de 20 €, frais d’envoi compris, à commander auprès les auteurs.

Een Kleine Golfgeschiedenis

ancientgolf — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 20:33:50 +0000

Al meer dan honderd jaar is er een ‘felle’ discussie gaande over een mogelijk Nederlandse oorsprong van het Schotse golf. Hoewel vanuit Schotland met een bestraffende vinger naar de leugenachtige Nederlanders wordt gewezen, zijn het toch voornamelijk de Britten (Engelsen en Schotten) die de Nederlandse oorsprong claimen. Maar langzaam maar zeker schudden Nederlandse golf-/colfhistorici hun schuchterheid af en komen met historische gegevens naar buiten die ons laten geloven dat een Nederlandse oorsprong zeker wel mogelijk is.
Een van deze historici, Ab Bloemendaal, heeft een luchthartig maar niet minder duidelijk verhaal geschreven over de relatie tussen golf en colf, genaamd ‘Een Kleine Golfgeschiedenis Een korte blik op de herkomst van golf’ wat u op deze website onder het hoofd colf kunt vinden.
Veel leesplezier.

1297, Loenen aan de Vecht: facts or fairy tales?

ancientgolf — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 11:32:33 +0000

It was 1982 when the renowned Netherlandish colf and golf historian, Steven van Hengel, disclosed in his book ‘Early golf’ the history of the colf match in Loenen aan de Vecht in 1297. This colf match was held and continued to be held for more than 500 years to commemorate the death of the ‘Good Count’, Floris V of Holland, and to celebrate the death of his murderer. The story caused much upheaval in the international golf history circles.
Several historians took exception to the research of Van Hengel and tried to take the edge of the historic value of the Loenen match.
In the magazine ‘Golfika’ of the European Association of Golf Historians and Collectors we wanted, in turn, to enervate the arguments of the adversaries of the Loenen match. Please find under the heading ‘Colf’ on this website the article ‘The year 1297: facts or fairy tales?’.

La Bernarde

ancientgolf — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 22:00:52 +0000

Les légendes sont souvent les cerises sur les gâteaux de l’histoire. Sans légendes et anecdotes une partie du plaisir de faire des recherches historiques s’en va.
De temps en temps, les légendes sont tellement naturelles que des historiens se demandent si elles sont réelles ou contes de fées.
Il est bien connu que les caractéristiques aérodynamiques d’une boule de mail dépendent du centre de gravité. Ainsi « La Bernarde » (une certain boule de mail) avait un centre de gravité parfait, elle pouvait vraiment liquider/neutraliser chaque autre balle.
Lisez sur ce site sous « Mail » l’histoire de cette boule extraordinaire et décidez pour vous-même si l’histoire est vraie ou conte de fée.
Nous vous souhaitons beaucoup de plaisir à cette lecture.

Danish Golf Museum celebrates its 25th anniversary

ancientgolf — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 16:34:31 +0000

When you are more than average interested in the history of golf, of course you want to read or perhaps even to write about its origin, the clubs and balls used in the ‘olden days’, the famous players, the tournaments, etc. Some people even would like to have something tangible of that history for themself. There are golf history lovers who have become addicted to collecting artefacts of that glorious past.
Fortunately, some of these collectors, don’t keep their collection for themselves, but make it accessible to us all.
In many parts of the world these collectors have set up a golf museum. You find them in Tasmania, Japan, China, South Africa, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, USA and in Scotland itself. The ‘Mother of all Golf Museums’ in Saint Andrews is of course ‘hors-concours’. A 21st century museum is of course the virtual ‘KNKB Web Museum Colf Kolf Golf’ on the internet.

The Danish Golf Museum is celebrating this year its 25th anniversary. Why don’t you step into this beautiful museum to read about the origin and development, and look at artefacts presented in a beautiful setting.

Please go on this site to find under the heading golf the history of the festive museum.
Enjoy your visit.

The transition of golf from a local game into a world sport

ancientgolf — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 16:46:56 +0000

The game of golf and the related continental games all started to develop or evolve in the middle Ages as small local games.
Golf is the only one which eventually spread its wings and became worldwide one of the most popular games.
Why and when did golf become a world sport?
Please have a look at Golf on this website for a survey of the early development of golf worldwide.

The Italian traditional games of fiolet and rebatta

ancientgolf — Sat, 29 Sep 2012 12:49:14 +0000

When researching or reading about the ancient history of golf and the related games of colf, crosse and mail one easily overlooks the fact that both in Britain and on the European continent since time and age many other stick and ball games were and still are played. In these games, clubs, balls, tees, targets and the objectives are far more different than those of the above mentioned ‘Four Musketeers’, but still a club or stick is used to hit or push a ball to achieve a certain goal.
The origin of these games is often lost in the mist of time, but some of them are still enjoying popularity in several remote regions of Britain and the continent.
Under the heading Miscellaneous we explain a couple of such club and ball games as played in the Valley of Aosta in Italy.

Illuminations in books of hours from the 14th century show that already 700 years ago such games were played in different regions of Europe.
(Illustration: www.fromoldbooks.org/OldEngland)

Colf ’sloffen’

ancientgolf — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 08:25:14 +0000

Some time ago we were made a present of ancient ‘sloffen’ (plural of one ‘slof’) as they are called in the Netherlandish language. Sloffen are the metal club heads of the colf clubs used in the ancient golf related game of colf. This game was played in the Low Countries between the 13th century and the beginning of the 18th century.
These club heads were mainly made of a lead-tin alloy, although also copper and bronze were used.
No information exists about the locations where the sloffen were found, nor their age or where they were used.
However, after closer look we found the following.

The larger damaged slof was made of a lead-tin alloy. The club head is 9 centimetres long, 3.5 centimetres high and weights 250 grams. The loft of the face is approximately 10° – 15°. The shaft probably made of ash is missing, completely mouldered after hundreds of years. The club head with the ash shaft was used by an adult who was right-handed. When and where the colf club was used cannot be decided on examining the club head. At the end of the back of the slof near the connection to the shaft a small simple line decoration is visible.

There were two main periods in which this game of colf was played: on land in the period between the 13th century and 1550 and in the second period on the ice of frozen canals, harbours, ponds, rivers, etc. during the Little Ice Age between 1550 and 1700. After 1700 the long game of colf was replaced by a short game played often indoors and called ‘kolf’. The requirements for this short game needed for bigger and heavier clubs (and balls).

The little ‘slof’, also made of a lead-tin alloy, measures only 6 centimetres and the height of the face is 2 centimetres. The weight of the ‘mini’ slof is only 75 grams. Here also the ash shaft has completely mouldered away. The loft is very upright, nearly as a ‘putter’ in golf.
At the back of the little slof a simple decoration is visible.
It is clear that the slof when fixed to the shaft was used by a right-handed child. It cannot be concluded by examining the slof if the young boy or girl played colf on land or on the ice. So the age of the slof cannot be defined. The find of this little slof shows that colf was not only played by adults, but also by boys and girls.

Till the beginning of the 18th century the game of colf has been very popular in the Low Countries. This is shown by regular finds of such metal club heads during archaeological excavations and by people who are looking for metal objects in the fields with their metal detectors.

If you want to know more about club and balls used in the ancient game of colf and in the game of kolf, why don’t you pay a visit to the web museum of the KNKB (Royal Netherlandish Kolf Society). Be patient. It is a very big museum.