HP and the history of golf...[28391]

[carolynwhite2]

>2. Where does Wood get a bunch of golf balls? There is no mention of
>wizards playing golf anywhere and he doesn't know about basketball,
>why would he know about golf.

Ah, time for a history of golf, as I researched it for a silly one-
liner in a long-ago chapter of Surfeit of Curses. 

Golf existed long before the split between the Muggle and Wizarding 
worlds. From one of the history sites, I found this - the earliest 
known instances of playing golf was in the 15th century using wooden 
clubs. http://www.golfsite.com/golfhistory.html Wooden shafted golf 
clubs were handmade in various shapes and sizes and very expensive. 
Many different kinds of wood were used with hickory being the most 
popular, hence, most wooden shafted clubs are call "hickorys." 
Considering the clubs were also easily broken, only the wealthy could 
afford to play. 

I also found this about golf balls: The leather cased and internally 
stuffed (feathery) golf ball period may have begun as early as the 
1400s or as late as the 1600s and lasted into the early 1850s. The 
golf balls used during the pre-1700s period may have been wooden 
balls or leather cased balls that were stuffed with uncombed wool 
flock (the sajet ball?) or hair. The use of hair or flock as stuffing 
was most likely a short-lived process as the flock quickly lost its' 
resilience. Ultimately, early ball makers found using feathers 
produced a lively, longer lasting golf ball.

A feathery golf ball? Sounds vaguely like a Snitch - even looks a bit 
like one - see http://www.webcom.com/oldgolf/opfeath1.jpg or read 
about them at http://webcom.com/oldgolf/feathery.html - clearly, golf 
existed when the wizarding and muggle worlds were more interrelated 
and there was interraction between the two groups. Further, even 
though matches were played with Snidgets, it's unlikely that they 
were commonly used in practices - it would've made more sense to use 
the feathery golf balls that the wizards used while playing golf for 
this purpose as well. 

I believe that Hogwarts, which exists in the Land Where Golf Was 
Created (Scotland) has traditionally used golf balls in play, perhaps 
from St Andrews' course, which is the oldest of the prestigious - 
maybe they traditionally send a gross of balls to some post box 
annually, from which they are delivered to Hogwarts, without either 
side interacting with each other. This is the kind of transaction 
that could have its roots in time immemorial, and it's Just Done That 
Way.