Golf is having a moment with various eyebrow-raising headlines from Saudi’s sportwashing to Rory McIlroy’s divorce and Scottie Sheffler’s Louisville arrest on the way to the PGA.
The beginnings of golf are lost several centuries back though in 1457, King James II, in an Act of Parliament banned citizens from playing football and golf because the naughty natives had been skiving off practicing archery skills for their mandatory military training. The Scots lay claim to the game’s invention but the Chinese also played a version of “hit ball” about the same time.
Stockbroker Charles Blair MacDonald, who learned the game at the St. Andrews Golf Links, is considered the father of American golf course architects. He was born 14 November 1855 Niagara Falls, Canada with a Scottish father and Canadian (part Mohawk) mother and grew up in Chicago.
He was a Sun Scorpio opposition Uranus square Jupiter in Aquarius; with a publicity-attracting Mars in Virgo opposition Neptune. Confident certainly and a risk-taker with his posthumous chart on the alert at the moment.
Scottie Scheffler, 21 June 1996 Ridgewood, New Jersey, is a Sun Cancer square Saturn and inconjunct Pluto with his Pluto opposition Mars. Hard-driving, not an easy temperament and would not appreciate being hustled/hassled by the police.
Rory McIlroy, 4 May 1989 Belfast, Ireland, no birth time, is a determined Taurus Sun and Venus opposition Pluto; with his Mars in Cancer in an excitable and volatile opposition to Uranus (Neptune Saturn) in Capricorn. There’s no birth time but his Sun/Moon midpoint is in early degrees Taurus and may be catching the tr Pluto square. But divorces don’t happen overnight and he has had a sticky several years with his Solar Arc Saturn square his Sun opposition Pluto four years back and SA Neptune in a confused, undermining square to his Sun and Pluto in 2022.
‘Golf is a game whose aim is to hit a very small ball into an even smaller hole, with weapons singularly ill-designed for the purpose.’ Winston Churchill
‘Golf is a day spent in a round of strenuous idleness.’ William Wordsworth
‘Golf is a good walk spoiled.’ Mark Twain
Wow. Thanks for the deep historical dive and the fun quotations, Marjorie!
If not for the fatality that preceded it, Scheffler’s arrest would be hilarious. (And will probably be featured on Saturday Night Live.) It will be interesting to see how Louisville handles it. Under the circumstances — directing traffic to a golf tournament, not guarding a Presidential motorcade, the policeman attaching himself to Scheffler’s vehicle and then claiming felony assault seems a little over the top. Louisville police are already under scrutiny because of the Breonna Taylor killing. Scheffler’s hearing is scheduled to occur between the Sun-Jupiter cazimi and the Full Moon in Sagittarius.