A Good Walk Ruined: The History of Golf

This is an iHeart podcast, Guaranteed Human. Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeart Radio. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh and there's Chuck and Jerry's here too, and in this episode we'll get to hear Chuck do a Scottish accent a lot I won't do. Wow, I really thought about that. I do love the Libya helped us with this, how she titled it, which I think I'm titling it, something like that, but she titled it golf, colon, spoiling good walks since 1457. Have you ever heard that phrase? Yeah, there's a Samuel Clements. Yeah, how to spoil a good walk or whatever, something like that. It's pretty funny. They get it. Golf is hard. I have a question for you. Do you are you into golf at all? You're being coy. I have been playing golf since I was 13, but I took like 25 years off from like kind of post college to when I moved back to Atlanta, played maybe once or twice a year during that time, but then have gotten really started playing again in 2020 during COVID, and but still very casually, but then like six months ago started really getting into it again, and like trying to get better for the first time. Yeah, how's it going? I mean, it's very hard. Emily asked me why I love golf so much, and that's why, because golf is really, really hard. Oh, yeah. And so when you do it well, it feels like you've like achieved something. And so that's what I love about it. It's really, really, really hard, and I like trying things that sometimes that are really, really hard. You know what they call that? The love of the game. That's right. And you were kind enough to let me make this announcement now is I am dipping my toe back into the podcast world. You know, I haven't done anything like that since movie crush went away and friend of the show and friend of ours in real life, Adam Pranaka, of the greatest generation. Adam is a golfer and we play golf together and we text about it all the time. I was like, we should do a golf podcast like a fun and funny one and try and build like a community around it, because most golf podcasters like kind of serious or instructional. Right. And I said, there's not a lot of shows out there for guys like us that are like not great at it. Like average golfers who just sort of the absurdity of the sport. And Adam was in. And so we're we're doing a new show. That's awesome. I predict you guys will make a great pair. I hope so. Yeah. It's called three putt bogey. And we think that's kind of a fun and funny name that, you know, this kind of the one of the worst things that can happen on a golf course. That means you have like on a par three, for example, you've hit a great t-shirt onto the green. You got a shot at birdie, but you put it three times instead for a bogey. So that really kind of sums up where we are in our game. And I think it's very relatable. And it's out now. It released on I think episode one was Friday, September 25th. So you can go out and listen to it right now. Where have you get your podcasts? And also follow us on socials, three putt bogey podcasts on Instagram. We're going to have lots of fun content on there. Wow. That's a great name. Thanks. Well, I mean, we hope it gets across like what it is, which is again, average guys having a good time. What we're hoping to do is build a community of like support. Because like I said, it's a hard game. And like, you know, the worst thing you can do is go and play golf with people that are like really want to beat you or like want to gamble at golf and stuff. Like that's not my deal. Adam and I are both kind of like cheerleaders when we play with each other and with friends and we're hoping to build just like cheerleaders when you play. Well, well, sometimes on on Fridays. That's cool. I think that's definitely the better way to go is to do that rather than be like, um, you remember that one character on the pit who was hospitalized because he did too much cocaine and drank too much and blacked out and tried to kill somebody. Yeah. The golfer. Yeah. That's who I think I think of when you're describing the type of golfer you just did. Yeah. I mean, that's not me. Like if you're if you want to go out there and play for money and really competing against your friends, that's that's great. That's your deal. But uh, we're trying to build a show that's it's fun and encouraging and, uh, I hope people give it a shot. Yeah. So maybe leave your fleece vest at the door when you listen to your podcast. That's right. But, uh, all this to say we are about to start episode here in three to one about the history of golf. Because I think it's fairly interesting. It is. One of the things I found quite interesting about it is that it has not only some unclear origins. There's a lot of people who just kind of say whatever they want about the history of golf and it gets spread around is like, yep, that's that's the history. And thankfully we have great writers and researchers like Olivia to be like actually that's not true at all. Which is one of my favorite things to do. Yeah. And I think some of the confusion comes in because like many, many ancient places had games that involved hitting a ball with a stick. Yeah. Sometimes into a hole. So I think it's very easy for someone to say like, hey, in ancient Rome, they had a game called Paganika. And that was that was the first golf or someone might say, yeah, no, in China, they had a game called chewy one or hit ball. And they had rules like golf. And so it was kind of like golf. But I think we can mostly agree that like golf as we know it started, of course, in Scotland. Yeah. And one of the stories goes that it was bored. Scottish shepherds who were like, let me use my shepherds hook to bat some rocks toward a hole in the ground. That's probably not correct either. What they think at the very least what Olivia thinks is that the the word golf at least if not golf itself can actually be found in Holland. And this isn't where like golf comes from. I'm not trying to rewrite history here or shake the boat. Everybody knows that yes, like you said, golf came from Scotland. But it's possible that the inspiration for golf in Scotland came from there. At the very least, it's almost certain that the word golf came from the Dutch. That's right. Except it was COLF. That was a game that at least that word was recorded in 1297 that did involve hitting balls into holes. It was probably a little more like cricket. But golf had other spellings throughout the years, G-O-U-F-G-O-I-F-G-O-W-F-G-O-W-F-G-O-L-P-H. Golf. That's right. It's a, you've seen Caddy Shack, right? I know you're not into golf, but you've seen that movie. Yeah, I have. I'm more of a happy Gilmore fan, meaning it's one of my favorite movies. But happy Gilmore too. No, sir. Oh, I didn't know there was a second one. Oh, just wipe it from your memory that there is a second happy Gilmore. All right. Will Farrell has that new show too. What new show? A golf show? Yeah. It's called Hawk. I had no idea. Golf was so popular. It's super popular right now. I'm just kidding. Okay. Why didn't know if you knew? Because it's kind of coming on as far as like, I think it's like peak popularity. Oh, really? I actually didn't know that. I didn't know it had ever gone. I thought it was always generally widely and wildly popular. Yeah, I mean, it's always been pretty popular. I mean, I've got some stats for you if you want. Yeah, Liam on me. Golf is 48 million Americans participate. There's only 50. It is a, guess how much just United States annual like economic effect golf has in the United States? I mean, obviously, I'm going to say it's in the billions, but I have no guess between 226 billion dollars. That is not what I was going to guess. Responsible for 1.65 million jobs, $80 billion in wages in the US, and this is because golf gets a better app because it's sort of an environmental nightmare in a lot of ways. Yeah. So I'm trying to highlight some of the good things. Sure. But golf, $4.6 billion annual and charitable contributions generated through golf, which is more than all other pro sports combined. Oh, wow. That's a great one too. Nice work. Which is pretty good. But jumping back to Caddy Shack, I mentioned that because there's that one great line from Ted Knight when he's talking about the history of golf, he says, but it was it was golf without the L. I don't remember that one. Yeah. The thing I remember is, of course, the baby Ruth in the bottom of the pool. Right. Of course. So yeah, so we've got at least the word golf from the Dutch, but golf as we spell it today, G-O-L-F. That was around the mid 1400s. And this is when people, well, maybe not the mid 1400s, at least within the next 100 years, people started golfing in Scotland, doing what we would recognize as golf today. Like I have this stick or whatever. And I have another one to do to like drive with. I have one to putt with essentially, I'm hitting a ball and I'm trying to get it into a hole and the holes way over there. So like what you could, if it's a golfer truck, you could show up in 16th century Scotland and be like, let's play. And you guys would generally be able to work it out. Yeah. The earliest golf was sort of an urban version like where you played in the streets of the town. They called that short golf. But that was obviously not the same was what they They called Long Off, which was out in the pasture or a field, and we'll talk about that evolution a little bit more, but, you know, we know for sure golf was a thing then because in 1457, there was an active parliament in Scotland, signed by King James II that outlawed golf and football because he said there were pointless sports and you should be practicing like archery or something instead. And then there were also complaints about people playing golf instead of going to church, and that's where I found this kind of fun little thing called Sunday Sticks, which was a sneaky way to get some golf in. Apparently, they would flip over a golf club and hold it as a cane, so you're holding like the head of the golf club and walk around pretend like as if you needed a cane, and then you flip that thing over and you can just play a quick hole of golf with it, I guess. Oh wow, man, you really have to love golf to try to deceive your entire town. Yeah, and your Lord and Savior. Exactly. Jesus is like, I see you for what you are. That's right. And quit using my name and vain out there on the course. So that prohibition on golf from 1457 from King James II, it apparently didn't take because in 1471 and 1491, the Scottish parliament said, like, stop playing golf, you're not allowed to play golf. And it's probable that the golf that they were referring to was short golf, which is I don't, I didn't catch how much in depth you went with short golf. Did you just mention it? Yeah, just that, you know, they played it sort of in town on the streets of like the village. Yes. The problem in and of itself, because, you know, you had glass windows and, you know, village people walking around. So you don't want to hit them, but they were probably banning short golf instead. If you were, say, aristocracy and not like a working class person or a peasant or something like that, you were like, okay, just ban short golf. I'm going to play this new form called long golf and I'm going to go play it in the pasture lands. That's right. Or a golfing ground or a lynx. And that's where, you know, that's where that name first comes from, mainly around Scotland's East Coast at the time. This is where, you know, they weren't building a lot of buildings because it was ocean side. It was pretty sandy. So there was, you know, it was wide open land. Rabbits everywhere. Apparently, there's law that rabbits may have like rabbit holes for some of the first golf holes. Yeah, it makes sense. Not govers, but, you know, some of these early terms, like lynx, like had been around since the very beginning and also this idea that you go out to play like nine holes in the back end on the back nine, like they were saying stuff like that. And they borrowed, I never knew this, the term fairway, which if you don't know anything about golf, when you, you tee off and you hit it out there and hopefully the middle of that green expanse, that the middle of that green expanse where the grass is the shortest is the fairway. And that term is a sailing term, meaning the easiest direction to go, which makes a lot of sense in terms of golf. For sure. Um, so okay. So we're in Scotland. It's the 15th century, Parliament keeps trying to ban golf. The Scottish people say no, and then finally in 1502, they're like fine. We're going to lift the ban on golf. Everybody can play golf. And the reason why is that not coincidentally, James IV, yeah, who is the grandson of James II, who was the first one to proclaim golf illegal, he went to Perth in Scotland, not Australia. And he found out about golf and he fell in love with it so much. He came home with his own set of clubs and was like, I'm into golf now. Let's all play golf all the time. That's right. They're also apparently receipts of the King purchasing clubs in Edinburgh and St. Andrew around the same time. So the royals are getting into it. So that means everyone else can. Right. Not quite everyone as we'll see. But Mary Queen of Scots, the granddaughter of King James IV, she ruled from 1542 to 1567. Apparently she was in the golf and is one of the first women to like just have any sort of impact on the game at all, especially early on. And apparently her enemies use that against her. They would spread rumors that she played just a few days after her second husband died. And that obviously was a violation of how someone was thought to like mourn or like how someone should mourn rather. But also like a bit of a smear campaign, this just like, it's not an appropriate game for ladies at the time and look at Mary Queen of Scots is doing. Exactly. I say we come back or take a break and then come back and possibly if we're lucky, we'll talk a little more about the history of golf. Let's do it. Okay, Chuck, so we're back. And I think we kind of have gotten across. It's really difficult to trace the history of golf in any really legitimate manner and not just make stuff up. That sounds cool. There are some surviving documents that give us an idea of the early contours of what golf was like. There's a textbook from the 17th century, a diary from the 17th century, an embarrassing poem from the 18th century and a book of golf instructions from the mid 19th century and all of them put together kind of given his story into pretty good view on golf. Yeah, for sure. The poem I thought was pretty interesting and that was in 1743 by Thomas Matheson. And it was, you know, if you're writing a parody epic poem, it's called The Goff, G-O-F-F as Ted Knight would love. A character, a goddess named G-O-F-E-N-E-A, and that means it's pretty well in the public spectre at this point. Did you look at that up? Oh, yeah. It's a, I mean, it is an epic poem about golf. Yeah. There's also that diary was by a guy named Thomas Concade, who is a medical student at Ember University, which we toured, I think, at least some of their, some parts of it, but he was there in 1687. And he was like, his diary was essentially like, I'm playing golf today, and this is what I'm doing. My swing's not so great. I need to improve my swing. Here's how we handicap. Here's what clubs are made of. Like he was just basically leaving a document for future historians that they couldn't have asked for more than. Yeah. He started his own podcast at that dinner round at a time. But instead, he had a, a diary, which was very cool. And then, you know, there was an instructional book called The Golfers Manual by a keen hand, and that was 1857, and that was like the first printed book of instruction from H.B. Farney. So, golf is definitely a thing by that point. St. Andrews has recognized the old course that is there as the oldest surviving golf course that's still around. It's been operating since at least 1552, which is just incredible. Yeah. Yeah. It's still around. Like they'll still play the open there every, I'm not sure if it's like a set number of years that they go back, but they still play it there. The British open? Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's called specifically the open, but people call it the British open to differentiate it from the US open. But I think the, the scots are very much like, no, it's just the open. There it is. The open. Give us more, baby. That's how you get here. I've got one for you. Okay. The Archbishop of St. Andrews, his name was John Hamilton. Back in 1552, this is how we know that it was being played on at least since then. It was probably being played on long before then, because in 1552, John Hamilton's like fine. Here's a charter, you people of St. Andrews, my congregants, my people, you guys can play on the links for, and here's where you do a John Hamilton impression from 1552. Golf, football, shooting, and all games. Beautiful. That was a dead-on John Hamilton. I don't know why my Scottish accent sounds like I'm about to choke at any second. I feel like most Scottish impressions are like, they like think about groundskeeper Willie. He's like really worked up all the time. No. That's true. And I think I'm also just doing Mike Myers from, so I married an axe murderer. Yeah. Is that the, if it's not Scottish, it's crap family. Yeah. A good move. There's good stuff. Yeah. It's a very good stuff. That was a fun movie. Was it? I haven't seen it. Yeah. It was funny. I've seen all the Austin Powers movies. Does that count for anything? Yeah. One of those is good. There was a fat bastard. He was Scottish. That's right. Boy, what an offensive character he was. So early on these golfing grounds or links were, they just used sort of what the land gave them. If there was a pond, that was a hazard. If that was a big hill in the middle. the fairway that was maybe not a hazard, but something you had to get through. Stationary tornado hazard. That's right. But they essentially created like the model for what a golf course would be and what would look like as people started to like construct and build golf courses. And also the number of holes. I think the old course was originally 22 holes, but in 1764 they did some consolidating and eventually ended up with 18 and they were like, that's the standard. Yeah, that's the thing. That's why everybody's so into Scotland as the origin or the cradle of golf because not only is that where golf really started and developed, that's where like a lot of the terms are from. Like you said, links, a lot of the rules, a lot of the standards, like the 18 hole golf course. They all just kind of came from Scotland and spread from there. Indus beautifully came from Scotland and spread from there. That's what the beautiful thing is. We've finally have made it out of the murky past into the much clearer past for the history of golf. That's right. The Royal and ancient golf club of St Andrews or otherwise known as the RNA originally was known as society of St Andrews golfers. That was founded in 1754 by 22 quote noblemen and gentleman. And they the RNA is who basically runs the show. They took responsibility for maintaining that old course, building the new course. So the new course was 1895 that shows you how old golf is and they became the authority. I think in the late 19th century, the RNA became the UK's authority for the rules of the game and they managed the open or the British open as we call it and then other other stuff like big golf events over there. Yeah. I saw that they are. I saw someone equate them to the Augusta National Golf Club where they are just an authority on the game and they are they have such authority. They can actually issue rules and stuff like that. Yeah. That works. That works out. I mean, it was Bleacher report. They're pretty legit. Yeah. I mean, that sounds about right. You're talking about the where they play the masters here in Augusta, Georgia, a place where I've never been. I guess. Yeah. That's the one. I'm dying to go to the masters, but it's really, really hard to get tickets. Yes. And I think you should do a call out for anyone who can get you masters tickets to get them to you. Yeah. If you want to host me at the masters, I mean, I can't believe I've never asked this. Please. And thank you. Yeah. You'll bring the crackers for the Pimento cheese. I'll bring everything. So, yes. You are a great guest. I remember when we were in Canada, you picked up after yourself all the time you pushed each share back into the table. Like, you were a great guest. I appreciate that. So, and I realize I'm being kind of joky in this episode. I'm not usually very joky, but that's because I have so little to offer in this episode that I have to be the color commentator I feel like. That's right. You're doing great. Like you're very long-quist and I'm Dennis Miller in this one. So, we should talk about the 13 articles. That was an event in 1744. It was a group known as the honorable company of Edinburgh golfers. And they created a competition called the Silver Club. And in preparation for this, they wrote out a document called the 13 articles. And that was sort of the first official rule book of golf, which is now very much expanded as far as the official rules of golf with the PGA and stuff like that. I saw rule 11 was that you had to memorize and then recite Matheson's epic poem, "The Golf." Oh, wow. Yeah, which is long. Probably hard. So, golf finally showed up in England in 1603. Again, it had been being played for 150 years by then. But Scotland and England frequently went to war. They weren't very friendly during this period. They became much friendlier when Mary Queen of Scott's son, James VI of Scotland, who was the Scottish ruler at the time, he inherited the English throne. And he became James I of England. And so Scotland and England became much cozier companions. And when James I showed up, he had his crew with him, his entourage, court, as you call it. And among his court members were a lot or courtiers were a lot of people who were avid golf players. And just because they have moved to a country that had never heard of golf before, that wasn't going to stop them from continuing to play anytime they could. Yeah, it sounds like he's like, these are my boys. And we like to golf. Exactly. So go build me a course. And that's what happened. They established a course in Blackheat near the Royal Palace in Greenwich. And it was, it didn't like spread far and wide though. In fact, I think it was like post World War One was when you finally got to 1,000 golf courses in England, 200,000 golf enthusiasts. So in that interim time, apparently, these a lot of doctors like Scottish professionals living in England brought the sport over. People would go on vacation, maybe to Scotland, discover it and come back and be like, why aren't we playing golf in England yet? Right. And eventually they would get some momentum going. Someone would rent some land. Someone would create a course. And they just started opening eventually at the rate of about one golf course a week by the 1890s in England. Yeah. But then those courses would close down very quickly just because it was, it was like over-building malls at the time. Or in my family's experience, racquetball clubs in the 80s. My family was on a terrible streak in the mid-early mid-80s where we would join a racquetball club. The whole family, and a month later the place would shut down and there went our money and then we'd move on to the next way. It easily happened at least three times to us if not more. Yeah. It's crazy to remember when racquetball had a grip on the United States. Yeah. In the 80s that was, it was like, it was fast and wild and then basically went away. You never hear about racquetball anymore. No. I'm sure there's people who still play it quite a bit. Oh, yeah. I love racquetball. I haven't played since you and I did that commercial thing. It's like 14 years ago. That was awesome. It is great. The court sounds cool. It's fun to watch. It's great workout. Yeah, for sure. And the bags are usually pretty awesome, especially the early 80s racquetball bags. Yeah. And pickleball, please get back to racquetball people. That's what I say. Sure. Let's get back to it. Maybe you and I should invest in a racquetball court franchise. Yeah. We got to figure out a good name for it. And it can't be some course reference to balls. Right. Yeah. That's immediately what I thought. No. We're going to have to workshop it further, Chuck. All right. Cool. Speaking of workshopping, they had to workshop the number of holes because 18 was the official number. But most of these golf courses in England were nine hole courses. There's still plenty of nine hole courses out there. But eventually they expanded to 18. And one downside to golf early on in England was it drove up the price of land quite a bit and also displaced cattle grazing and stuff like that and angered a lot of farmers, right? Yeah. I mean, think about that, Chuck. England is not big. But this is 19th century England just had started the industrial revolution. And there's already land that's there's like a land grab going on for golf courses. It's already having an effect. Like that's how golf course crazy England went at the time. And yeah, some of the farmers pushed back. I think that they would drive their cattle onto the commons to graze during golf games to basically send the message like take it elsewhere guy. Yeah. That's the best I could come up with. I'm a terrible color commentator. Well, you just can't say what you would say, which is you know me so well. Yeah. Yeah. We've done pretty good over the years. Avoiding that kind of Dillton flooring for sure. So a lot of these courses were created by the the sort of upper class and the aristocratic class. Obviously, sometimes it might be a local government. But you know, it was a pretty bourgeois thing to play golf. And you know, it a lot of areas, it still is that way, even though it's really been democratized in the past like, especially 20 years, I think. Right. But you know, the rise of the industrial middle class in England was looking for stuff to do for fun like this. And they played golf. It was a good way to get out and enjoy nature and to do something to you know, keep your body moving. Yeah. And the industrial revolution had taken hold and changed things enough that the urban centers became like where people moved and lived. And so golf was a really great way to get out there. Like you said, back to nature. People needed it quite badly by then. And then the other thing that happened thanks to the industrial revolution was the railroad made it a lot easier to get further out into the county into the shires as they call them. Yeah, for sure. So all of a sudden you had access. It gets you out into nature. That's still one of the things I love about it the best is even though they're frustrations. Like those leave me very quickly. I don't like get mad and stay mad. I get mad for a second or two. And then you're out there with your friends and you're walking around in the sun for four hours and not looking at your phone. And you know, it's great. Not muttering to yourself. Not muttering a little bit. But no one likes playing with someone who just gets mad all that time. That's just that's no fun. That's a great personality treat. They'll be able to let it go. let it go. I'll try. Let's take a break and come back and talk about the USA. All right, let's do it. All right, so we promised talk of the United States. Golf in the US goes back, you know, a pretty long way actually. In the 17th century, when the American colonies were being populated from places like Scotland and the Netherlands, which we brought up, they were like, we want to play golf over here. It looks pretty good to me. And people started playing in 1659. I think that was verified that people were playing golf in Fort Orange , New York, modern day Albany. And I guess that sort of short style golf game, right in the streets. That's right. It's a four kid. The actually, I think the Dutch colonial government in what would probably be what like new Amsterdam or something like that at the time, they were like, you can't play the short golf stuff. Again, the windows are really costly here. They're high end luxury. So let's not break them with your golf balls anymore. Yeah. So it was sort of playing out the same way in the US as it did in Scotland early on. Right. In 1743, there was a Scottish native, as 21 years old. Also, he was a slave trader. His name was David D's. And he had his gear ship to him in Charleston, South Carolina. And in 1841, the South Carolina golf club established Harelston, Green and Charleston Park, which I think is the first American golf club. And very disappointingly, the caddies there were enslaved people. Right. And it was, I looked it up, the Harelston golf club or Harelston, Green, I should say, is not there anymore. But that was the first one in the United States ever, right? Yeah. The oldest continuous or continually running course or I guess surviving course, not always you could say that is also St Andrews, but not in Scotland in Yonkers, New York in 1888. That was founded. Canada edges us out. I think the Royal Montreal Club was founded in 1873. But I didn't know about St Andrews and Yonkers. I'd love to go play that course. It became one of the founding members of the US golf association, which this story is one of my favorites out of this whole thing. Let's hear it. Well, there's a guy named Charles Blair McDonald. And he is the first person to call himself a golf architect. He had Scottish roots, but he was from Chicago. But he went back and studied at St Andrews University in Scotland. So of course, he played golf a lot. And when he came back to Chicago, he was like, Hey, man, let's get busy on turning Chicago into a world-class golf town. And he started designing courses. And he became very widely respected course architect. He was also a huge, huge jerk. And because of his personality, he actually inadvertently gave rise to the US golf association. Yeah. Didn't he just pitch a tantrum or something? Yeah, he did. Two different ones. He played in two tournaments back to back, placed second in both of them. And through such a hissing fit in both of these tournaments for placing second, that he called into question the legitimacy of the tournament. He basically said that the players who placed first had cheated, like really was a sore loser. So much so that St Andrews and Yonkers, and I think four other golf clubs at the time, got together and were like, we need to come up with a set of rules that can't be challenged or anything like that. None of this Lucy Goosey stuff, because people like Charles Blair McDonnell are out there. They exist. We've seen now. So they got together to formalize rules. Again, that became the USGA. Oh. And they did it because of Charles Blair McDonnell, then his temper tantrums. Wow. That's funny. Second is not bad, my friend. No. No. And especially with a golf tournament. Yeah, that's weird. So by 1900, there's more than 1000 golf courses in the US. And then just like in England, post World War One, things really catch on even more. A lot has changed equipment wise in golf over the years. Those early golf clubs were built by hand, obviously. And they were all wood. You know, they were dense hardwoods, basically like beach or holly. The shafts were made of wood. The club heads early on were made of wood, maybe ash or hazel for the shafts. And they had at this point, you know, they were playing with a club for a shot. So it wasn't just like, all right, you've got two clubs. Go out there and do it. Like you had, you know, it was a guy named Archibald Barney, Barry. I think was the first guy to invent a standard set of golf irons. Oh, yeah. Yeah, but they had, you know, they had different names for the clubs. Like the play club was what you would call a driver these days. A brassy would be equivalent to a three wood. A spoon was a five wood. A clique. I saw a couple of things for clique. I think a clique was like a one or two iron, which is not a club that people really even use much anymore. How come it like a lot? They're just really, really, really hard to hit. It's like an iron that's just almost completely flat and has no, like, angle to it or loft. No lift. Yeah, exactly. Like I have a five iron is the lowest iron I have. Some people have fours and some like, you know, really good golfers might have a two iron. But anyway, I think that's what a clique was, even though I saw something about a clique putter. They also had a baffee or a baffing spoon would be like a seven wood. And a Nick blick would be like a lofted wedge. And then all of this was like wood, wood, wood until you finally started getting metal shafts, I think, in the 1650s were the first metal shafts, but they didn't really become popular until much later on. I think in 1930, the spalding company started like numbering the irons. So they got rid of like most of those words and just use like the numbers. Right. And then a metal clubs were around really until the 1980s or weren't coming until the 80s. That kind of surprised me. Well, metal woods. Right. Yeah. Before then, they were like my very first driver when I was 13 was a wooden driver. I mean, I had a metal shaft, steel shaft, but it was a wooden driver. But the face of it has like a metal plate on the front of it. Sure. No, I played golf. Actually, I let off about the same time as that around age 13. Yeah. I just mean for people listening, if they thought like they were talking to me. No, no, no. Like when you say they had wooden heads, they had wooden heads, but like a metal face plate. Sure. And then in the 1980s, like I remember my first driver that had like an all metal head. And I was just like, it felt like the future. Gotcha. So one of the reasons they had to make harder and harder clubs was because the balls themselves got harder, I guess. Yeah. There was something called a gutter perca, which is from a Malaysian tree. It's a kind of latex. And this completely changed the type of ball that golfers were hitting before. I don't remember if we mentioned or not, but it was boiled goose feathers packed tightly in a leather exterior. That was a golf ball. That was like the standard for a while. All of a sudden, you have this natural latex is way harder. And it's just I'm guessing breaking your club pretty easily. So that's why they advanced in the technology of clubs. And then now that the clubs and the balls were working so well, they had to actually go back and kind of rearrange golf courses because people were hitting it way farther than they had been before with the other like the slightly jankier equipment. Yeah, for sure. And these days, just the the tech behind golf clubs and golf balls is just, you know, as you would expect, it's like it's so next level, it's kind of funny, like how they manufacture these things now. And all like the R&D that goes into it. Right. Yeah. I think that's a, I want to say it's an issue I have with it, but there's something that stands out to me, not just in golf, but in life these days, everything has been optimized to the maximum degree that it's just like, you know, here chase after this thing, you got enough money for this. And this is going to make you a million times better than you could be on your own through hard work and effort or whatever. It's just, I don't know, it just stands out to me. Yeah. Oh, golf for sure is a sport that wants to sell you every new thing under the sun to make you better. Yeah, I imagine. And there's a lot of new things under the sun. You said it was a 200 plus billion dollar industry in just the US alone. I imagine that's the case. Yeah. It is annoying though. I'm with you on that. Okay. The term caddy was originally in term for a Scottish Aaron boy. And one of the errands was like, hey, come over here and carry my golf clubs. I don't want to do that. The balls, the spedery balls that you were talking about were expensive. And so a lot of times you would have what's called the four caddy. And this is someone who goes up the course a bit to find your ball and like but where your ball went so they can retrieve it for you. They still have caddies on some courses today, obviously. I've had a caddy in like four times maybe in my life 'cause I don't usually play like those super, super great courses. But it's a fun experience. Caddies are usually like, like really nice and like, you know, they work for tips. So, you know, they're out there to help you play your best game and have a good time doing it. - Okay. - Yeah. I heard that the word caddy came from Mary Queen of Scott who resided in France for a while and some of the French cadets would carry her clubs around and she lovingly referred to them as caddies. Is that not true, Chuck? - I don't know. - Yeah, it's not true. - Okay. In 19th century England, a lot of times these were teenagers doing this kind of thing or maybe a working class adult who couldn't go work at the factory or something. You might work as a caddy. Apparently, they weren't treated super great back then. I did mention that enslaved people were used in like early in the United States as caddies. They were even reformers who were like, trying to do work to get caddies to be treated better. - Yeah. - And I love that Livia says, provide them with shelter on the course. She didn't use the word shack. - No, she didn't. - Just sitting there waiting like staring at her. - Yeah. - It's pretty funny. - I wrote caddy shack. - Well, Livia also said, by the way, guys, I know nothing about golf so. I got anything wrong, take it easy on me. - As far as I can tell, she did a great job. - No, she did a really good job. - And then pros too, the idea of having a pro on staff and then not just a golf pro who's there to like teach you how to play, to tell you what clubs you need, that kind of stuff, but also basically people who maintain equipment, ground keepers. They all started to come around in England. And then if you were a member of like a really good club, you probably had like a famous player who was the pro. And then if you were not a member of a really great club, there was probably still a really good Scottish golf player because Scottish players were like the gold standard. I think if you belong to a club that had like a non-Scottish pro or a non-famous pro, you probably rethought where you sent your membership dues. - Yeah, for sure, and that tradition continues today with like every, I don't know about every club, but I think most golf clubs have a pro on staff still today for various uses. I think it's a good way to earn a living. Like I imagine most of those people wanted to go out and play professionally on tour. But I'm sure it's a great sort of gig to fall back on, you know? - For sure. - So golf fever really started off in the late 19th century like there were magazines dedicated to golf started. And then also one of the other indicators that golf was just like this mass phenomenon is that it starts showing up in other publications that had nothing to do with golf, right? Just like today, there was like mention of golf. There was an article on golf or this golfer or something like that. And I found probably one of the most niche websites I've ever been on, it dealt an antique golf cartoons from the 19th century, from magazines like Punch. Did you see some of those? - Oh yeah, the, my favorite one was, you know, one of the biggest no-nose you can do when you go to swing a club is to like lift your head up. - Oh yeah, I like that one too. - Guaranteed bad result, like keep your head down, keep your head down and there's been all sorts of various devices over the years. Like literally a thing you hang around your neck and attach to your crotch to like keep you from lifting up. But there's one of those antique cartoons had a guy with a, you know, a five foot long beard that he was standing on to keep him from lifting his head. I thought that was funny. - There's devices you attach to your crotch. Keep your head down while you swing. What, does it like shock you or something? If you lift your head up? - Well, no, if you lift your head up, it just pulls up, you know, and I guess pulls up at your crotch. Like, I don't think people use these. I remember seeing that like 20 something years ago and it may have been more of a novelty, but I do remember that that existed, yeah. It was by the company that make those hard hats that hold beers and the straws come out of them. - Yeah, probably so. - So one of the things that golf was long known for was it was an elite white male sport or recreation or pastime and then slowly, but surely over the years, the gates opened more and more and more to women, to African-Americans in the United States. And in the mean time though, before those gates opened, groups like women and like African-Americans, they just were like, we like golf too, we're gonna go do our own thing. So you had like the LPGA that was formed in 1950. - Yeah. - The Chicago Women's Golf Club, which was all African-American women, they formed their club in 1937. And then the impression I have is that the United Golfers Association, the African-American Men's Association, was like the premier golf association. Starting back in 1925, I think. - Yeah, it's great. I mean, you know, it's definitely a game in a sport where there is still this old sort of country club set that is still very white male-oriented. Like no one is denying that. There's a country club sort of near my house and I have some friends that are members that I get to play at sometimes. And they're a pretty progressive model, but they still have like the men's lounge at the club that's got the pool table and the darts and the buffet and the bar and the cigars. And the women there, they play golf but they don't have their own lounge. - Wow. - So that kind of stuff is definitely still out there. There are clubs that have just recently allowed women to be members or African-Americans or people from other ethnic needs to be members. So that's something that sucks, but it's changing. And I think golf is as democratized as it's ever been right now, especially like you go out in Atlanta, which is very African-American town and you go out to public courses. And you know, these are where I'm playing and the driving range like right near my house and like I'm a minority in a lot of cases. And it's great to see the love that the game is being spread around to more and more people, one of the fun segments on the show I'm gonna do is I got these little, you know, the little microphones that you see for Instagrammers. And I'm gonna go out to the range and like talk to people and stuff. And you know, that's gonna be one of the segments. So it's, it's changed a lot over the years for the better, I think. And people are, I see guys with their girlfriends out there a lot now, which seems something I'd never used to see that it's becoming like a coupled sport more than ever, which is awesome. - Yeah, I've noticed that too. - Yeah, it's cool. I love it. - So I think this is high time that you tell everybody the name of your podcast again and win they can get it and where they can get it, Chuck. - Yeah, thanks, dude. In fact, I'm gonna do this in lieu of listener mail since we're running long. But, you know, once again, the show is with myself and Adam Pranika. Adam's gonna be on the cruise, by the way. - Yeah, yes. - He's my plus one. So we're gonna have a good time, the three of us are. And along with Ben is coming instead of Jerry now. We should probably announce that. - Yes, it's gonna be fun. - I know we told everyone Jerry was coming, but she can't come now. - You're gonna meet producer Ben, who may or may not actually be Jerry. - That's right. Yeah, once again, it's called three putt bogey and it's already out. It's live, everybody. It was released once again this past Friday, September 25th. So give it a listen. I appreciate your support and appreciate your support. Josh for allowing me to do another solar record. - I don't have any say in it whatsoever. - Well, not allowing, being encouraging of it. Yeah, that's what I mean. - Encouraging makes more sense. Yes, I am very encouraging. Go knock them out of the park. - I appreciate that. And is that a golf metaphor? - It absolutely is a home run. - And I look forward to you into the world part too. - Oh, thanks, man. Someday, someday. - You think so? - Something like it, probably eventually. I'm not sure what, but yeah, I think I don't know. Yeah, we'll see how it goes and I'll let you know if it's how taxing it is on me to do a second show again. - Right, you're just gonna be like, not worth it. - Yeah. No, I'm sure it's gonna be fun. And plus, I mean, you'll have a great excuse to golf, golf. And I imagine expensive or at least right it off. - No, you know what? I can't do that. I actually checked with my accountant. - Why can't you? That doesn't make any sense. - Well, it's funny, 'cause I was like, that was it the reason I started it? But I was like, hey, man, that'd be great. If I could like write off stuff. - Sure. - She actually has, my accountant has a golf influencer and someone else on her roster. So like she really knows about this. - Okay. - She was like, your dreams of writing off golf rounds and equipment are not gonna happen. She said, but if you travel for a golf trip that is part of the show, which is gonna be part of the show when Adam and I do our golf trips, we're gonna like talk about them and bring microphones and stuff. She said, you can probably write off the travel. - No, that's good. - So like playing tickets in hotel maybe. - Okay. - That's good. - Well, that's something. It's big stuff. I'll let everyone know how the write-offs are going. - Yeah, and I'll let everyone know that you went to prison. - That's right. - Okay. Well, that's Chuck's and Adam's podcast that's coming out. So keep an ear out for it. It's gonna be great. And in the meantime, you can always email us here at stuffyshadknow@[email protected]. Stuff you should know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts, myHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app. Apple podcasts are wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human