Golf Pipe Putter

The History of Crazy Golf

When holidaying at any UK coastal resort most will have crazy golf courses where you can spend some time having some fun. Children not only find the obstacles on these courses a challenge but enjoy watching their parents in difficulty as well. But do you know where this particular sport comes from? Below we take a brief look at the history of crazy golf.

The first course of its kind was opened at St Andrews, Scotland and which is where the actual game of golf is believed to have begun. Here an 18 hole course was developed in 1867 made up of short putting greens so that women could play this game if they were interested. So allowing them to participate in a sport where because of the violence of the movements to swing the golf club was not something women should be doing.

Yet it was several more decades before the kinds of crazy golf courses available now were to be seen. The courses built through this time until the early 1900's were much more similar in design to real golf courses. The real difference is that they cover far less space and in most cases to play a course one just requires a putter to do so.

Then in the 1920's the game altered and all because of a golf fanatic called Thomas McCulloch Fairbairn. He developed a new type of material which the greens of the crazy golf courses were made in 1922. By mixing together oil, dye, sand and cottonseed hulls the greens were much easier and cheaper to produce. So this was a game that people from all social backgrounds could participate in.

In the USA alone throughout the 1920's tens of thousands of crazy golf courses were being built and in New York City alone you would find there were 150 courses built on to the roof tops of some buildings. But with the economic depression taking hold in the 1930's the game begun to take a back seat as people simply didn't have the money to play and it was at this time a great many of the courses were closed or demolished.

But once the economy had begun to improve when it comes to the history of crazy golf so things begun to change as well. Two brothers from Binghamton, New York, Robert and Joseph Taylor started to build and operate crazy golf courses again. However these one differed greatly from those that had been built previously as far more obstacles were being introduced. Instead of just trying to get the ball into the hole by putting it over banks, curves and rolls one needed to get it past obstacles such as pipes, castles, wishing wells and windmills.

About the Author

TrophyStore.co.uk Ltd is a leading supplier of trophies and awards for all sporting events and occasions, with trophies, centre discs and engraving all available online. Trophies and awards available for a range of sports including golf trophies, football, tennis and cricket trophies.

MGTT: Peach's Castle Grounds -6 using ONE CLUB (p. 3)