While the modern game of golf originated in fifteenth-century Scotland, the game’s ancient origins are unclear and much debated. The first written record of golf is King James II’s banning of the game in 1457, as an unwelcome distraction from learning archery. The world’s oldest golf tournament still in existence, and golf’s first major, is the Open Championship, which was first played on 17 October 1860 at Prestwick Golf Club in Ayrshire, Scotland.

Horace Gordon Hutchinson won the British Amateur twice, in 1886 and 1887, and he has been described by many as the Father of Golf Instruction, writing several books on the subject. In The Classic Guide to Golf, he shares his insight into the game, and instructs the casual player or beginner in how to become truly great.

• The latest title in Amberley

  Publishing’s new Classic Guide

  series.

• PGA EuroPro Tour, UK, 11-13, 18-20,

  25-27 June 2014.

• European Challenge Tour, Scotland,

  26-29 June 2014, 9-11 July.

• Open Championship, UK, 16-20 July 2014.

• European Senior Tour & USPGA Champions Tour, 25-27 July.

• ‘There is no question that Horace

  Hutchinson was a teacher extraordinaire and is clearly the father of golf

  instruction’ – United States Golf Teachers Federation.

• Reproduced from Horace Gordon

  Hutchinson’s 1895 Hints on the Game of

  Golf (Blackwood & Sons: out of copyright).