How golf took root in Ireland

It was not until the second half of the 19th century that the expansion of golf in Ireland truly took flight, writes Paul Rouse.

The modern game of golf emerged in the 1740s in Scotland.

The origins of the game lie on the commonage of sheep-grazing lands but cannot be detailed with any certainty. The men who developed the game were drawn from the Scottish aristocracy and from a new administrative and mercantile elite, including lawyers and merchants. They banded together as the Company of Edinburgh Golfers in 1744, when they produced the first written rules for the game. This was the world’s first golf club.