The following is a partial timeline of the history of golf:
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is the oldest and most prestigious golf club in the world. It is based in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, and is regarded as the worldwide "Home of Golf". Formerly, it was also one of the governing authorities of the game, but in 2004 this role was handed over to a newly formed group of companies, collectively known as The R&A.
Robert Tyre Jones Jr. was an American amateur golfer who was one of the most influential figures in the history of the sport; he was also a lawyer by profession. Jones founded and helped design the Augusta National Golf Club, and co-founded the Masters Tournament. The innovations that he introduced at the Masters have been copied by virtually every professional golf tournament in the world.
A country club is a privately owned club, often with a membership quota and admittance by invitation or sponsorship, that generally offers both a variety of recreational sports and facilities for dining and entertaining. Typical athletic offerings are golf, tennis, and swimming. A country club is most commonly located in city outskirts or suburbs, and is distinguished from an urban athletic club by having substantial grounds for outdoor activities and a major focus on golf.
The following is a glossary of the terminology currently used in the sport of golf. Where words in a sentence are also defined elsewhere in this article, they appear in italics. Old names for clubs can be found at Obsolete golf clubs.
The Walker Cup is a golf trophy contested in odd-numbered years by leading amateur golfers in two teams: United States, and Great Britain and Ireland. The official name is the Walker Cup Match. It is organised by The R&A and the United States Golf Association (USGA). In 1921 the Royal Liverpool Golf Club hosted an unofficial contest which was followed by official annual contests from 1922 through 1924. From 1925 they became biennial, held on even-number years. After World War II they switched to odd-numbered years. They are held alternately in the U.S., and Ireland or Britain.
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 United States Amateur Championship, commonly known as the U.S. Amateur, is the leading annual golf tournament in the United States for amateur golfers. It is organized by the United States Golf Association and is currently held each August over a 7-day period.
Situated on the northern boundary of Royal Park, Melbourne, Victoria, the Royal Park Golf Course is a 9-hole golf course located only 3 km from the city. It has the honour of being possibly the only golf course with both tram and trains running through it: the route 58 tram and Upfield railway line.
The Madras Gymkhana Club (MGC) is a club in Chennai, India, which was founded in 1884 to promote sports and social and cultural activities. It owns and operates one of Chennai's two 18-hole golf courses, one of Asia's oldest courses. Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala published The Glory Years, a coffee-table book commemorating the club's 125th anniversary, in 2009.
In the sport of golf, the distinction between amateurs and professionals is rigorously maintained. An amateur who breaches the rules of amateur status may lose their amateur status. A golfer who has lost their amateur status may not play in amateur competitions until amateur status has been reinstated; a professional may not play in amateur tournaments unless the Committee is notified, acknowledges and confirms the participation. It is very difficult for a professional to regain their amateur status; simply agreeing not to take payment for a particular tournament is not enough. A player must apply to the governing body of the sport to have amateur status reinstated.
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 Royal and Ancient in 2017.
In golf, par is the predetermined number of strokes that a scratch golfer should require to complete a hole, a round, or a tournament. Pars are the central component of stroke play, the most common kind of play in professional golf tournaments. The term is also used in golf-like sports such as disc golf, with the same meaning.
The 1998 Fed Cup was the 36th edition of the most important competition between national teams in women's tennis. In the final, Spain defeated Switzerland at Palexpo Hall in Geneva, Switzerland on 19–20 September, giving Spain its fifth title.
The 1998 Presidents Cup was held 11–13 December in Australia at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Black Rock, Victoria, a suburb southeast of Melbourne. The International team won the competition by a margin of 20½–11½. This was the first time the International team won the competition, and through 2017, is their sole victory. The honorary chairman was Australian Prime Minister John Howard. It was the third Presidents Cup competition and the first held outside the United States. The competition returned to Royal Melbourne in 2011.
The 1860 Open Championship was a golf competition held at Prestwick Golf Club, in Ayrshire, Scotland. It is now regarded as the first Open Championship. Until his death in 1859, Allan Robertson was regarded as top golfer in the world. The Open Championship was created to determine his successor. Eight golfers contested the event, with Willie Park, Sr. winning the championship by 2 shots from Tom Morris, Sr.
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
The University Golf Match is the annual golf match contested between the Full Blue golf teams from Oxford and Cambridge universities. Dating back to 1878, it is the oldest amateur event in golf, as the first Amateur Championship was played in 1885. It is also the oldest team event in English golf. Scottish team matches were common after 1849, and included St Andrews University matches against Fife artisan clubs. The Varsity Match was most recently contested in March 2018, at Royal Porthcawl Golf Club, and was won by Cambridge.
Golf in Russia is not yet widespread, not only because of adverse natural conditions, but also because the construction of golf courses requires large capital investments. The first 18-hole golf course was built in the suburban area of Nakhabino in 1994, and remained the only one in the country for many years.
History of Golf in the Philippines is the history of golf in the Philippines as a pastime play, as an amateur game, and as a professional sport. Golf was introduced to the Philippines more than a hundred years ago. From then onwards, the Philippines has produced its own notable "corps of golf masters" and players.
