Colf

The game of colf was played in the Netherlandish speaking part of the Low Countries, the present Netherlands and Flanders in Belgium. The oldest reference dates from the 13^th century when Jacob van Maerlant, a Flemish author, writes 'mit ener coluen' (with a colf) in his transcription of the 'Livre de Merlin'. The players used curved wooden clubs and spherical wooden balls in the streets, churchyards and open fields in or around the towns. In a later period, lead-headed clubs replaced the wooden ones.

The early rules of the game are unknown. It was probably a one target team game.

The team reaching the target (a tree, a stake or perhaps a hole) in the fewest number of strokes was the winner. When more and more accidents occurred in the towns, such as hitting passers-by and breaking glass windows from churches and houses, the councils banned the game from town into the unprepared open fields. During the Little Ice Age in the 16^th and 17^th centuries, colvers enjoyed playing on the ice surface of the canals, ponds, lakes and rivers. Playing on the ice required different equipment, like Scottish cleeks and leather balls. The crowded 'ice fields' changed the colf game from a distance-oriented into a target-oriented game.

By the end of the 17^th century, the interest in the colf game reduced significantly and finally ceased to exist. For a while, the French 'jeu de mail' took its place, to be replaced once more by the indoor game of 'kolf', a mix of the ancient colf game and the mail game. Today the indoor kolf game is still played in the provinces of North-Holland and Utrecht of the Netherlands.

Publications on colf/kolf

Publication	Author	Published (in)
Some reflections about the Reformation and the game of colf	Sara Kieboom-Nijs	2024 May
Interpretations of the colf game in museums	Sara Kieboom-Nijs	2023 December
Colf near Windsor Castle	Sara Kieboom-Nijs	2021 October
‘Schotse kliek’, een bijzondere vondst in de Leidse bodem	Do Smit	2018 February (summary report in October 2017) https://static.golfgeschiedenis.nl
The Schotse Kliek: report on the Holy Grail of Dutch Colf/Golf Collecting	Iain Forrester	2017 December - Through The Green (magazine of the British Golf Collectors Society)
Paintings in words	Geert Nijs	2016 April
Playing Colf in the Arctic	Geert & Sara Nijs	2016 March - Through The Green (magazine of the British Golf Collectors Society)
Nautical Archaeology - Part Two	Geert & Sara Nijs	2015 September - Through The Green (magazine of the British Golf Collectors Society)
Nautical Archaeology Part One	Geert & Sara Nijs	2015 June - Through The Green (magazine of the British Golf Collectors Society)
The first international golf/colf match?	Geert & Sara Nijs	2015 April
Early Colf in America	Geert & Sara Nijs	2015 March - The GCS Bulletin (magazine of the Golf Collectors Society)
Earliest paintings of colf players	Geert & Sara Nijs	2015 February
A present with a long history	Geert & Sara Nijs	2014 March - Golfika no. 13 (magazine of the European Association of Golf Historians and Collectors)
The Golf Book of Hours (Golf Illustrated & Outdoot America) Max Behr,1915	Geert & Sara Nijs	2012 Spring - Golfika no. 9 (magazine of the European Association of Golf Historians and Collectors)
750 Jaar 'Mit ener coluen'	Geert & Sara Nijs	2011 Voormalig Webmuseum van de Koninklijke Nederlandsche Kolfbond
750 Years 'Mit ener coluen'	Geert & Sara Nijs	2011 April - Golfika no. 7 (magazine of the European Association of Golf Historians and Collectors)
From Colf to Kolf	Geert & Sara Nijs	2010 December - Golfika no. 6 (magazine of the European Association of Golf Historians and Collectors)
From Colf to Kolf	Geert & Sara Nijs	2010 October Presentation at the AGM of the European Association of Golf Historians & Collectors at Zandvoort, The Netherlands
1297, Loenen aan de Vecht: Fact or fairy tale?	Geert & Sara Nijs	2009  September - Golfika no. 4 (magazine of the European Association of Golf Historians and Collectors)
Steven JH van Hengel	Rick van den Boom	2007 December - Through The Green (magazine of the British Golf Collectors Society)
Een Kleine Golfgeschiedenis	Ab Bloemendaal	1999 September Golf & Country Club Hooge Graven, Ommen
Colf at Beverwijck, Albany, New York State Material Culture in seventeenth-century Dutch Colonial Manuscripts	Charles T. Gehring	1987 January New World Dutch Studies: 1986 Symposium Proceedings