On 26th May 2007, the German Golf Federation will celebrate its 100 year anniversary in Hamburg, at the place where golf in Germany first started, in the presence of the Federal Minister for Sport, Wolfgang Schà¤uble.
To celebrate this important date, the German Golf Federation has published an 800-page chronicle which is illustrated with over 1,600 pictures. Using archived material twelve writers have provided details of golf in Germany during the last 100 years, including some never previously published details of the sport’s past history.
Golf was first played in nine major areas around Germany, mainly due to the Anglo Saxon influence, and by 1907 there were already 800 registered golfers. These included member of the upper classes of the Hansa cities of Bremen, Hamburg and Kiel, diplomats and graduates from Berlin and Dresden, the wealthy merchants of the major cities of Cologne and Leipzig and European nobility from the spa towns of Bad Homburg and Baden-Baden.
The growth and popularity of the game suffered under National Socialism and, although there were encouraging signs for golf in the Federal Republic in the late 1940s, in West Berlin the lack of space for golf courses was a problem while the Communist East Germany refused to acknowledge the sport at all.
It was several years later that interest in golf finally started to grow. The German golf boom led to an increase in golf participation that had never been known before. In 2005 alone more than half a million people joined the German Golf Federation (DGV).
Further information about the German Golf Federation’s 100 year Anniversary is available at www.golf.de/100jahredgv
The book “100 Jahre Golf in Deutschland” is published as a limited edition and can be ordered at a price of €89 from www.golf.de/bookshop
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German Golf Federation www.golf.de