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The first known Rules of Golf were drawn up in 1744 in Edinburgh for the world's first open golf competition at Leith by the Gentlemen Golfers of Edinburgh, who would go on to become The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. THE FIRST SET OF RULES OF GOLF
For centuries, the rules were thought lost but, in 1937, they were re-discovered by Mr CB Clapcott, on the last two pages of the Honourable Company's Minute Book. The pages contained the original thirteen Articles and the signature of John Rattray, the first winner, who was ‘Captain of the Golf’ 1744-1747 and 1751. Ten years later in 1754 the golfers at St Andrews, who would later become the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, adopted these rules almost verbatim for their own competition, including references to features in Rule 13 that only existed at Leith. In the eighteenth century, other clubs, including the Burgess and Bruntsfield at Bruntsfield Links in Edinburgh and those at Aberdeen and Crail also drew up their own rules. Sometimes these rules would differ in important ways. The most serious example of the problems this could create occurred at the medal competition on 18th July 1807 of the Burgess club at Bruntsfield Links. It concerned the 'Stymie', which allowed an opponent to position their ball between your ball and the hole. Under the Leith rules you could lift the ball, much as you can today, but under the Brunonian rules, you could not and you had to play round or you risked a penalty on hitting the other ball. The winner, Francis Braidwood, had used the Leith rules to lift an opponent's ball and there was an objection. The initial ruling was that the match would be replayed on 1st August 1807 under the 'Leith' rules, but this was not the end of the matter and many members continued to object until the club virtually split into two with separate captains. The matter rumbled on until April 1809, when a reconciliation was effected, which, included the astonishing condition that all the papers and minutes of the last two years would be burnt to ensure that there was no records of the insults that had been traded. The chronicler of the Burgess records with some regret that this was diligently carried out. In the nineteenth century, apart from the further rules for the clubs already mentioned, the rules from clubs at Blackheath, Burntisland, Glasgow, Leith Thistle, Montrose, Musselburgh, and Perth have all been recorded. It was not until 1897 that the Royal & Ancient Golf Club (R&A) were given control of the Rules and Golf, by common agreement of the the existing clubs, who were mostly British. The R&A published the first 'national' set of rules in 1899. The US Golfing Association, founded in 1894, adopted the R&A rules of 1899 and published them in 1900 for American golfers. Golf associations outside of USA and Mexico continued to recognise the jurisdiction of the R&A in the matter of the rules of golf. For fifty years from 1900, the R&A and the USGA operated separately but, since 1952, they have worked co-operatively to produce a universal code. Website on the history of the Rules of Golf Website of current Rules from Royal & Ancient Website of current Rules from US Golf Association
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