Maliën, played outdoors, was the older version of kolf,
which was played indoors.
The word malië derives from the French mail a la chicane.
Objective was to make as few as possible hits with a stick
to a ball targeting certain goals.
The game can be compared to croquet though on a much larger
scale (the field always measured 696 by 752 m.).
Many names of places in Netherlands' cities remind of this game.
First mentioning of rules for the kolf game are found in Brussels
in 1360.
The game of kolf is still played in some regions in Holland.
The indoor kolf mall can differ in size but be as long as
about 36m.
It is generally taken for granted that golf has derived
from the kolf-game. For golf the first rules were laid out
in Scotland in 1744.
This is a summary of the article
from De Colve V, which is published in full at the Dutch language section.
(To go there, you go to the Dutch pages: follow this link) |