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The origins of golf are not universally agreed upon and there are disputes on when exactly the ancestors of the game emerged. There are records of a Roman game called <i>Paganica </i> that comprised of a ball stuffed with feathers and hit with wooden sticks. While the game is very different from today's golf, the sort of Roman game may have inspired later Medieval memory and reemergence of a similar game that then led to golf. Other similar games may include the Chinese game of <i>Chuiwan</i>, which also involved a stick and players tried to sink a ball into holes. There were sets of up to 10 clubs, with balls made of wood and holes spread across an area, where the holes each had different degrees of difficulty. The depictions also suggest there was a tee or place to shoot hit the ball toward a given hole.<ref>For more on the ancient origins of golf, see: Mallon, Bill, and Randon Matthew Newman Jerris. 2011. Historical Dictionary of Golf. Historical Dictionaries of Sports, no. 3. Lanham, Md: Scarecrow Press.</ref>

One possible modern origin is in Medieval Netherlands, where the term "golf" seems to have a Dutch origin. The game of <i>kolven </i> involved sticks or bats, perhaps similar to a shepherd's hook or stick, but the game may have not contained holes. The earliest records that depict golf come from Medieval paintings in the 15th century and the first book, called Tyrocinium linguae latinae, talks about daily life in the Netherlands where people played a game with sticks and at this points holes seem to have been utilized, where balls were hit into the holes.<ref>For more on the origins of the sport in Netherlands, see: Gillmeister, Heiner. 2002. “Golf on the Rhine: On the Origins of Golf, with Sidelights on Polo.” The International Journal of the History of Sport 19 (1): 2–30. doi:10.1080/714001691.

In Scotland, where many people believe the modern game of golf originated, records from the 15th century suggest a game of golf existed. Early records indicate the Scottish king tried to ban the game of golf, as it distracted his soldiers from other pursuits such as archery that were needed for military discipline. In fact, several bans seem to have been initiated as the sport was seen as something that made people less moral or it was "unprofitable." King James IV soon, however, began to enjoy the game of golf and with royal sponsorship the game began to spread in popularity in Scotland by the 15th and early 16th centuries. The first clear record of the use of balls and clubs are from 1503 that state that the king use used a set of golf clubs and balls to play. Throughout the 16th century more accounts indicate the game was popular, where prohibitions include not playing golf on the Sabbath, although the game by now was more accepted by the establishment. In fact, female royalty such as Mary Queen of Scots are recorded as playing golf.<ref>For more on early Scottish developments in golf, see: Hamilton, David. 2009. The Scottish Golf Guide: With Best Holes, Gazetteer, Golf Miscellany and Quotations. 3rd expanded ed. Edinburgh: Birlinn, pg. 221.</ref>

In the 17th century, the oldest continuously used golf links came into existence (Figure 1). The Musselburgh Links are recorded to have been used for golf in 1672, making it the oldest known continuously used golf course in the world. It is even possible that golf was played here in the 16th century; however, those accounts are not substantiatedby original sources.<ref>For more on the Musselburgh Links, see: Hutchinson, Horace G. 2014. The Classic Guide to Golf.</ref>