Aye, McCaddy knows a thing or two about the beloved game of golf, or “gowf” as it was known in Scotland ages ago. You see, I come from a long line of distinguished Scottish golfers, and the game is a proud part of my heritage. In fact, my fellow Scotsmen played golf as early as the 15th Century, and it is believed that the modern game is a direct descendant of the Scottish style of play.

Golf lore tells that the first Scottish golfers were sheep herders who became skilled at hitting rounded stones into rabbit holes. I can’t say for sure if that’s true, but what I do know is that a game with the same basic premise caught on and a lasting tradition was born.

The first courses were simply parcels of land with dug-out holes as cups, but before long they were being built with intentionality. As golf increased in popularity, a golfing society was born, and with it developed a set of consistent rules (and the inevitable creation of specialized equipment). My Grandfather told me the first golf clubs were individually made out of dogwood, beech, holly, apple and pear wood, and the golf balls were hand-stitched leather stuffed with boiled feathers! And while golf has made incredible advances in technology since those days, it remains, at heart, the same glorious game.

Today, golf is played just about everywhere, and on every continent on Earth. In the U.S., the earliest golf began in the late 1700s. By 1925 over 4,500 courses were open throughout the United States. If my figuring is correct, there are over 32,000 courses across the globe today. Now that’s a lot of courses, and a heck of a lot of holes. With 18 holes on almost every course, that’s up around 576,000 opportunities at birdie. With most courses adopting a 72-shot par, that’s over 2,304,000 opportunities to hit that once in a lifetime shot. Aye, there is no finer game!