Scots Most Likely Inventor of Golf

Have you ever wondered who invented golf? Well, no one knows golf’s true beginnings, but a stained glass window dating back to 1340 in Gloucester Cathedral in England shows someone swinging something that looks like a golf club.

The sport as we now know it probably stems from a game played in 15^th century Scotland. Players used a tick or primitive club to hit a pebble around a course of sand dunes, rabbit runs and tracks.

A game from Belgium, called chole, probably influenced golf. Chole’s targets were not holes, but such things as church doors. Two teams would bid on the number of strokes it would take to reach the target.

The Dutch game called colf, which came onto the scene around 1296, may be the true forerunner of golf. A 4,500-yard colf course in Holland sported targets, which were doors, and there were no out-of-bounds markers. Players trampled through graveyards, kitchen windows – anywhere the ball landed.

The true game of golf undoubtedly was Scottish in origin. All other stick and ball games are missing the ingredient unique to golf – the hole. The Scots also eliminated the interference of other players.

By the mid-15^th century, Scotland was preparing to defend itself against English invasion. To defeat the English armies, Scottish King James II needed well-trained archers – but instead of training for battle, the locals preferred to play golf. This generated the first written record of golf: the king signed a ban on the game. This and subsequent bans were lifted after England and Scotland were joined in an alliance by marriage.

– Adapted from the Inventors Museum website 

 What Makes Us Want to Laugh?
 

Luckily, though the world is imperfect in many ways, humans still can find reasons to laugh with others – and at themselves. However, the reasons we laugh may have more to do with evolution than our excellent senses of humor.

Laughter, which is physiological in nature, has two parts. The first is a set of gestures. The second is the production of sound. The brain conducts both responses at the same time. A “laughter sensor” in the brain triggers other neural circuits and generates more laughter.

Interestingly, laughter happens almost spontaneously during pauses at the end of phrases – that’s why scientists call it “the punctuation effect.” Humans are the only species that laughs. The average adult laughs 17 times per day. Children laugh hundreds of times a day.

Laughter lowers the blood pressure and increases the vascular blood flow and oxygen to the blood. It also reduces our level of stress hormones. Laugher exercises the diaphragm and the abdominal, respirator, facial, leg and back muscles. Laughing 100 times is equivalent to a 10-minute workout.

A good chuckle also defuses the damage done by negative emotions, such as anger, fear and sadness, which can cause harmful biochemical changes and undermine our overall emotional well-being. So laugh it up!

– Adapted from AbsoluteTrivia.com