Golf Balls, was Re: Chapter Summaries

[Joywitch M. Curmudgeon]

No: HPFGUIDX 28537

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., rcraigharman at h... wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)" 
> <catlady at w...> wrote:
> > > 2. Where does Wood get a bunch of golf balls? 
> > 
> > I think Wood has no idea that they ARE golf balls, only that they
> > are what Madam Hooch uses for training Seekers. Madam Hooch may 
not
> > know anything about golf either, but merely be following what
> > generations of Quidditch coaches did before her. It may be part of
> > her job to conjure up golf balls or transfigure something into
> > golf balls, or it may be part of her job to order them from a
> > supplier.  [etc.]
> 
> I think there is a more rudimentary explanation.  If Hogwarts is
> near/in Scotland, it would be little matter to obtain old golf balls
> from nearby golf courses, regardless of how much commerce most
> Wizards have with Muggles.  There would be no need for a special
> supplier, since many courses gather dinged-up stray balls to 
sell....

I think there's an even more rudimentary explanation.  According to 
my copy of "A History of Magic," by Bathilda Bagshot:

Quidditch became more and more popular during the 15th century, 
especially in what is now called Great Britain.  It was so popular 
that wizards and witches did not want to stop playing after dark.  
They did not want to attract muggle attention by lighting the 
thousands of candles necessary to illuminate an entire Quidditch 
pitch, but they found that it was near impossible to see the small, 
elusive Golden Snitch at night.  An inventor named Zacharias Potter 
made his family's fortune with his invention of the "snowy snitch," a 
small, inexpensive round white ball which could be charmed to behave 
somewhat like a snitch, but was much easier to see.  These balls are 
still used today, particularly for nighttime Quidditch practice.

Many of these Quidditch practice balls have been lost over the 
centuries.  It is rumored that the muggle game of "golf" has its 
roots in 15-century Scotland, where a muggle coming upon a lost snowy 
snitch accidently hit it with a stick and was surprised to find how 
well it seemed to "fly" across a field.  Since muggles can not, of 
course, perform even the most rudimentary charms, they are satisfied 
with the rather dismal sport of knocking balls about with sticks and 
watching them fall into holes in the ground.

--Joywitch