GOLDZIHER, gOlt'tse-er, IGNAZ (1850—). An Hungarian Orientalist, born at Stuhlweissen burg. He studied at the universities of Buda pest, Berlin, and Leipzig, and made special investigation of Oriental manuscripts in the li braries of Leyden and Vienna. He was appointed a lecturer at the University of Budapest in 1872, and became professor there in 1894. In 1876 he was elected a corresponding member, and in 1892 a full member of the Hungarian Academy. Ile visited Egypt, Syria, and Palestine in 1873 74. His writings in Hungarian comprise a large number of contributions to the publications of the Academy, including papers on Oriental book making (1374), on the history of philological study among the Arabs (1878), and on the prog ress and results of archaeology in Palestine (1886). His chief publications are in German, among them such scholarly works as: Studien fiber Taneham Jeraschalmi (1871) ; the treatise Der 3f ythos bei den Hebrdern and seine ge schichtliche Enttcicklung (1876; in an English translation, London, 1877) ; and Mohammeda nische Studicn (2 vols., 1889-90). Gold2.iher is considered one of the foremost European schol ars in subjects connected with Mohammedanism.
GOLF (probably from Dutch kolf, OHG. chol bo, Ger. Kolbe, Kolben, club, Icel. kolfr, bolt, kylfa, club). The game of golf is of Scottish origin. When James VI. of Scotland succeeded Queen Elizabeth on the English throne, his Scot tish train played the game on Blackheath: where by came about the curious fact that the oldest organized golf club is English. It was an exotic, however, and remained the only one south of the Tweed for two hundred and fifty years. Mean while in Scotland the game maintained its popu larity, and was so generally indulged in by all classes of society that any village in East Lothian could be sure of competitors, from the village cobbler to the laird of the neighborhood. The early conditions were as democratic as the company.
A tent erected upon special occasions was the only rendezvous of the local golfers; and the links were laid out across a tract of common land by the seaside, over which every inhabitant of the district had some right. The prize was
seldom more than a club with a silver band round it; or a dozen balls; or later on a simple medal; even the great national prize was only a silver club, and that never became the property of the winner. The association for which the winner played had its custody until the next yearly contest. The earliest implements with which it was played were practically as good as they are to-day, except in the case of the balls, which were formerly made of a leather case stuffed with feathers. The two great Scotch associations, while younger than the English one mentioned above, are of far greater importance to the history of the game. The Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers was in organized existence previous to 1744. Its members played on the links of Leith until 1831, and from 1836 have played at Musselbrogh. The Royal and Ancient, more popularly known as Saint Andrew's of Scotland, was established in 1754, and ever since has been the acknowledged leader in the sport. The first clubs established outside Great Britain were the Calcutta Golf Club of East In dia, established in 1829, and the Royal Bombay Club, incorporated in 1842. Another club was in full vigor in Madras at a somewhat later date. The next foreign settlement was at Pau, in Southern France, where numerous Scotchmen were in search of health. It was not until 1864 that the invasion of England proper began, with the establishment of the Golf Club of Westward Ho, in Devonshire, followed in the next year by the London Scottish, at Wimbledon; and shortly afterwards by the Hoylake, at Liverpool; and then by hundreds of others throughout the coun try. Canada caught the infection in the early seventies, resulting in the organization of the Royal Montreal Golf Club in 1873. In the United States, New York (1890) was the first to take up the game, followed almost immediately by the country at large, so that at the beginning of the twentieth century public links were to be found in the public parks of the large cities, and nearly every town and village in the country had its public or private golf-links.