The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. It is a private members-only club based in St Andrews in Scotland. It was previously known colloquially as "The R&A", but in 2004, a new organisation known as The R&A was spun off, assuming the club's functions as one of the governing authorities of the game and organiser of tournaments such as The Open Championship. Despite this legal separation, one of the club's objectives remains to contribute, through its members, to the governance, championship organisation, and golf development roles now carried out by The R&A.
A golf handicap is a numerical measure of a golfer's ability, or potential ability, that is used to enable players of different abilities to compete against one another. Better players are those with the lowest handicaps.
Sport in the United Kingdom plays an important role in British culture and the United Kingdom has played a significant role in the organisation and spread of sporting culture globally. In the infancy of many organised sports, the Home Nations were heavily involved in setting out the formal rules of many sports and formed among the earliest separate governing bodies, national teams and domestic league competitions. After 1922, some sports formed separate bodies for Northern Ireland, though many continued to be organised on an all-Ireland basis. For this reason, in many though not all sports, most domestic and international sport is carried on a Home Nations basis, and England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland are recognised as national entities.
The following is a partial timeline of the history of golf.
The Curtis Cup is the best known team trophy for women amateur golfers, awarded in the biennial Curtis Cup Match. It is co-organised by the United States Golf Association and The R&A and is contested by teams representing the United States and "Great Britain and Ireland". The same two teams originally contested the Ryder Cup, but unlike that competition, the Curtis Cup has not widened the Great Britain and Ireland team to include all Europeans. Many women who have gone on to become stars of women's professional golf have played in the Curtis Cup.
The Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA), branded as Golf Canada, is the governing body of golf in Canada.
The Ladies' Golf Union (LGU) was the governing body for women's and girls' amateur golf in Great Britain and Ireland. It was founded in 1893 and was based in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland until merging with The R&A at the start of 2017.
The English Women's Golf Association (EWGA) was the governing body responsible for many aspects of women's and girls' amateur golf in England. It ran from 1952 to 2011, until it merged with the men's English Golf Union to form England Golf.
England Golf is the governing body for male and female amateur golf in England. It represents over 1,900 golf clubs with over 740,000 members and is affiliated to The R&A, the joint global governing body of golf. It was formed in 2012 as a merger between the English Golf Union, the governing body for men, and the English Women's Golf Association, the equivalent body for women. England Golf is a member of Council of National Golf Unions (CONGU).
The R&A is the collective name of a group of companies that together play a significant role within the game of golf. Historically, "the R&A" was a colloquial name for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews; in 2004, the club spun off its previous governance and tournament organisation roles into the current R&A group, with the club itself reverting to a private members-only club. The R&A is based in St Andrews in Scotland. The R&A is the sole owner of three subsidiary companies: R&A Rules Limited, R&A Championships Limited, and R&A Group Services Limited.
The Golfing Union of Ireland (GUI) (Irish: Aontas Gailf na hÉireann (AGÉ)) was the governing body for men's and boy's amateur golf across the island of Ireland. Formed in 1891, the GUI was the first national golfing union to be established anywhere in the world, and operated separately from the (female) Irish Ladies Golf Union (ILGU) which was founded shortly afterwards in 1893. In 2018, the two "oldest governing bodies in world golf" agreed to amalgamate to form a new joint governing organisation, with this successor body, Golf Ireland, initially operating in a transitional capacity. The GUI ceased operations once Golf Ireland became fully operational on 1 January 2021 (holding its first general meeting in February 2021).
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit a ball into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Barbara Amy Bridget Jackson is an English amateur golfer. She won the 1954 Girls Amateur Championship, the 1956 English Women's Amateur Championship and the 1967 Canadian Women's Amateur. She played in three Curtis Cup matches, 1958, 1964 and 1968.
Golf in Ireland dates to at least the mid-19th century, with the Royal Curragh Golf Club being founded in 1858. The two "oldest governing bodies in world golf", the Golfing Union of Ireland (GUI) and the Irish Ladies Golf Union (ILGU), were formed in 1891 and 1893 respectively. By 2008, the GUI had 166,419 members and the ILGU had 49,822 members, making them the third and seventh largest sports associations by membership base in Ireland. Operating as separate unions for over 120 years, the two entities formed a combined organisation, Golf Ireland, which ratified its first board in early 2021.
The European Golf Association (EGA) is a non-profit organisation based in Epalinges, Switzerland, which was founded in 1937 in Luxembourg.
Emma Victoria (Duggleby) Brown is an English amateur golfer. She was born Emma Duggleby, her married name is Brown. She won the British Ladies Amateur Golf Championship in 1994 and played in three Curtis Cup matches, in 2000, 2002 and 2004.
William Laidlaw Purves MRCS, LRCP was a Scottish-born surgeon who worked in London as an aural and ophthalmic surgeon. He contributed specialist articles to the medical literature but is mainly remembered for his contributions to golf. He planned and designed the course that became Royal St Georges in Kent and was an important figure in the establishment of the Ladies Golf Union in the United Kingdom. He was a prime mover in introducing the rules of handicapping into British golf.
Amy Boulden is a Welsh professional golfer who plays on the Ladies European Tour.
Helena Agnes Thomson was an amateur golfer. She won the Womens Amateur Championship at Great Yarmouth & Caister in 1898. She was born in England to Scottish parents.
Alison Jane Rose is a Scottish amateur golfer. She won the 1997 Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship and played in the Curtis Cup in 1996 and 1998.