 Why did the Scottish King ban golf in the 15th century? On the 6th of March 1457, King James II banned golf in Scotland. In the words of the Act of Parliament, it was to be utterly condemned and stopped. Yet what was his rationale for banning the sport? Did his mate just beat him at golf? At that period in time, it was compulsory for all males over 12 to participate in military training. Archery was a core feature of this training. Instead of practising their archery however, many people would spend their spare time playing golf and football, as the 1457 Act of Parliament states, It is ordained and decreed that the lords and barons, both spiritual and temporal, should organise archery displays four times in the year, and that football and golf should be utterly condemned and stopped, and that a pair of targets should be made up at all parish churches and shootings should be practised every Sunday. In concerning football and golf, we ordained that those found playing these games be punished by the local barons and failing them by the King's officers. The ban on football and golf was reiterated in the Act of Parliament in 1471 and 1491. Many seem to ignore the ban however, in the early 1500s the ban was essentially lifted under James IV of Scotland, a King golfer himself. Some sources suggest however that the ban on golf and football technically remained on the legal books until 1906 when it was fully removed. In addition, the importance of archery soon began to decline, from a military perspective at least, as gunpowder became more commonly used. Golf went on to become increasingly popular over the centuries.