Oldest Courses around the world

Golf dates back to the 1400’s and beyond, and a number of courses including Musselborough, St Andrews and Edinburg lay claim to being the oldest still in existence. In England, Royal Blackheath is the oldest club and dates back to the 17th century, but the oldest course still being played is Royal North Devon, founded in 1864 and designed by Old Tom Morris. The first course outside the British Isles was Royal Calcutta. Established in 1829 near the present day Calcutta airport, the club has moved twice and settled in its present site in 1910. The following year King George conferred Royal status to commemorate his visit to India.

Australia’s oldest golf club is Bothwell in Tasmania, that was established in1839, thirty-one years ahead of Royal Adelaide Golf Club, which was founded in 1870. For mainland Europe, Pau in France is on record as the first course to be built. Two golf-loving Scottish officers were struck by the natural beauty of the countryside when they were billeted in Pau during the Napoleonic wars. They returned after the war and influenced the formation of a British community in Pau in the shadows of the Pyranees, which led to the formation of the golf club in 1856. Manchester Golf Club in Mandeville, Jamaica was established in 1868 and predates all the courses in mainland North and South America. Golf arrived in North America five years later, with Canada claiming the honour of having the first club by way of Royal Montreal in 1873. The first golf club in the USA was Oakhurst, in White Sulphur Springs, W. Virginia in 1884, but the oldest surviving is St. Andrews Golf Club in Yonkers, New York, which started in 1888. South Africa’s oldest club is Royal Cape, founded in 1885.

In 1910 we saw the centenary celebrations of Castlebar Golf Club in County Mayo on Ireland’s west coast, Vancouver Golf Club in Coquitlam, British Columbia, and Mowbray Golf Club in Cape Town. For 1911 we can look forward to similar milestones being reached by Clonmel Golf Club in County Tipperary, Ireland, Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, North Carolina, and Rondebosch Golf Club, which is less than fifteen minutes from Cape Town’s city centre and offers wonderful views of Table Mountain and Devil’s Peak.