Before 1890, there were only 80 golf clubs in England – and none in Hertfordshire.

Early forms of golf can be traced back to the Roman game of paganica, in which participants used a bent stick to hit a stuffed leather ball.

The modern game of golf is believed to be a Scottish invention.

The first documented mention of golf appears in a 1457 Act of the Scottish Parliament. This was issued by King James II of Scotland (later James VI of England) prohibiting the playing of games of golf and football as these were a distraction from archery practice for military purposes.

Bans were again imposed in 1471 and 1491, with golf being described as “an unprofitable sport”.

The ban on golf was lifted in 1500 and within two years King James himself had taken up the game.

King James’s son, Henry, and his courtiers played golf at Blackheath, London, from which the Royal Blackheath Golf Club traces its origins.

Before James united England and Scotland under one monarch, the relationship between the English and Scottish was not particularly amicable. Few Englishmen would have heard of golf, let alone played it, so the sport gave Scots an excuse to stick to their own company.

However, there is evidence that Scottish soldiers, expatriates and immigrants took the game to British colonies and elsewhere during the 18th and early 19th centuries.

In the 1850s, Queen Victoria had Balmoral Castle built in the Scottish Highlands. Together with the increase in railway services from London to Edinburgh, this caused a boom in tourism in Scotland and a wider interest in Scottish history and culture.

This also coincided with the invention of the Gutty, a latex golf ball which was cheaper to mass produce and more reliable than the leather balls used previously.

In March, 1890, with interest in golf reaching new heights, a small group of enthusiasts formed the West Herts Golf Club to play at Bushey Hall. Ideally situated for London golfers, the club soon reached 300 members.

On failing to agree a lease with its landlords, the club moved to the grounds of the Earl of Essex at Cassiobury in 1897.

Old Tom Morris, a successful Scottish golfer, laid out the new course but he did not include the siting of bunkers. This was done three months later by five time Open Championship winner J.H. Taylor.

The club house was located in Rickmansworth Road, on the site now occupied by Watford Boys Grammar School.

In its early days, the club included many eminent members, including Prime Minister Arthur Balfour and Lord Howe.

With a membership of 400 in 1903, West Herts was listed amongst the largest golf clubs in the world.

In 1908 Lord Essex sold the land east of the canal and granted the club a new lease with increased acreage. This involved the construction of five new holes designed by well-known golf course architect, Harry Colt, who participated in the design of over 300 courses during his career.

In 1922, the course was remodelled by Dr Alister Mackenzie, then the most eminent golf architect in the world. Mackenzie originally trained as a surgeon and served as a civilian doctor with the British army during the Boer War. He made significant contributions to military camouflage, which he saw as closely related to golf course design.

The course remains mostly unaltered since Mackenzie’s redesign.

Since 1997, the club has invested over £1million on improvements to the clubhouse and facilities, assisted by Watford Borough Council.

The club has held an annual dinner for over 100 years. In 1893, club poet R. Andre gave a speech following the dinner which began: ‘Now all the world is Golf/And all the men and women would be players/They pay subscriptions and their entrance fees/And one man in his time breaks many clubs’.

His after dinner speeches became something of a tradition, and his address in 1895 began: ‘Time-honoured custom bids me not delay/Our annual little after-dinner play/And I must find the plot – ‘twoud not be wise/If I were only to soliloquise’.

Golf was first played at the Olympics in 1900, only to be removed after the St Louis Olympics in 1904.

In 2016 golf returned to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro for the first time in 112 years. 15,000 tickets were available for spectators on the first day, and the event sold out. British golfer Justin Rose won gold, contributing to Team GB’s most successful overseas Olympics in history.

The Rio Olympics also marks the first time that women will compete in golf at the Olympics. The women’s tournament began on Wednesday and will conclude on Saturday, August 20.