Link: Rough justice: it was the Romans who invented golf - Sunday Times - Times Online.
The Roman version of golf was called paganica, and was first recorded in 30BC as a generic ball game. However, by the time of the Roman invasion of Scotland, it was played with a curved stick used to strike a feather-filled leather ball. The ball was hit towards a predetermined target such as a tree, the aim being to strike the “mark” in the fewest strokes.
How's this for a sequel... Gladiator 2: Fore!
Surely, golf/paganica is something that contributed to the fall of the Empire, definitely not the rise of it.
Is it me, or is it too much of a coincidence that the Roman name for golf is very close to the word "pagan"? I know many times golf has made me take all sorts of gods' names in vain.
[tip of the Ben Hogan cap to Geoff Shackelford]
