Golf is one of the oldest sports with roots beginning in Scotland as far back as the 1400s. Several other countries invented sports similar in ways to golf, but Scotland gets the proud honor of its invention. It was in 1457 that James II of Scotland tried having the sport banned through a legal Act of Parliament, apparently it was causing conflicts with the practice of local archery. Another story claims that near St.Andrews in Scotland, that shepherds came up with the game to pass the time while guarding their sheep on the fields. This tells of the shepherds using wood crooks as primitive clubs to hit rounded rocks for balls. Perhaps they hit them into gopher holes. King James VI was the Scottish baron who brought golf to English territories in the 1600s. Written histories make note that the game found its way to the United States about 1659. That year golf was made illegal to play on the streets in Albany, New York. By 1744 there were rules of golf written by the Honorable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. The history of golf really begins about here, as the first tournaments between England and Ireland were soon officially played.