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Amazing 1892 Golf Novel Predicted Bullet Trains, TV and More
Did you hear about the strange little book, written in 1892, that predicted such wonders as bullet trains, digital watches, television and women's liberation decades before those things came to pass' The book leapt into the news in early 2005 when a rare first edition sold at auction for more than $2,000. The strangest thing about the book is that it is not a work of science fiction, as we would generally understand the term, nor some obscure tract of religious prophecy. Instead it's a novel about, of all things, golf. Written by a 19th-century professional Scottish golfer named J. (or Jay) McCullough, about whom very little is known, Golf in the Year 2000; or, What We Are Coming To also predicted the advent of golf carts and international golf competitions. Published under McCollough's pseudonym, J.A.C.K., the book chronicles the tale of a character named Alexander J. Gibson who falls into a near-comatose state on March 24, 1892. He awakens 108 years later (on March 25, 2000) into a world, where, among other things, women dress like men, run businesses and hold most of the top government positions.
Gibson also learns, to his considerable delight, that women do all the work in this evolved society while the men play golf full time. Upon being informed of this fact, he cries out that it's "the dream of my former existence come true! I am, indeed, a lucky man to see it. ... The world is evidently getting things ship-shape. ... Oh, how I would like to wake up
some of my old chums. I know a few who would appreciate the arrangement." But Gibson finds that his beloved golf has changed radically, too. He has to adjust to the existence of driverless golf carts, golf clubs that automatically register their user's score and jackets that yell "Fore!" whenever the golfer begins to swing. He finds the jackets to be particularly grating, but it's the rule at every club in Britain: you can't play unless
you're wearing one. He also gets to watch -- via a television-like device that works through an elaborate mirror arrangement -- a golf competition between Britain and the United States, much like the Ryder Cup (an event which did not begin until 1927). And, he learns that wars have ceased, at least among the European powers, because international disputes are now settled by ... golf matches. One thing about golf hasn't changed, Gibson reflects following a round of golf in which he emerges the victor--and has to listen to his defeated opponent grousing about bad luck. "The same old excuses, I thought. Among all those inventions, surely they might have got something new in that line." The main character's adventures in the year 2000 also include taking a ride in an underground tubular railway, which people familiarly call the "tub," and reading about a new London-to-New York speed record of two hours and 32 minutes, which is achieved by a bullet-type train traveling beneath the Atlantic Ocean. Little things, too, amaze him: He no longer has to shave every day; instead, he brushes a miraculous preparation of some sort over his ......
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