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The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St AndrewsRetired schoolmaster and friend of AIG, Campbell Savage, has been a member of the Royal & Ancient GC for 22 years. He shares his thoughts on the club's history and traditions.The R & A, as it is popularly known, will celebrate its 250th anniversary in 2004 and, as part of the celebrations, The Amateur Championship will return to St Andrews after a gap of 23 years. Excluding the USA and Mexico, the R & A has been the governing authority for the Rules of Golf since 1897 with more than 120 countries, unions and associations affiliated to it. Since 1920 the club has exclusively run the Open and Amateur Championships. The multi-million pound income generated from the Open has funded projects of all sizes throughout the world - yet the organisation still operates as a private members' club. But how did it all start? In May 1754 twenty-two "Noblemen and Gentlemen" formed the Society of St Andrews Golfers. The first written record of the society reads that the original members "being admired of the Ancient and healthful exercise of the Golf, and at the same time having the interest and prosperity of the ancient city of St Andrews at heart..did in the year of our Lord 1754 contribute for a silver club..to be played for on the Links of St Andrews upon the fourteenth day of May said year, and yearly in time coming..". By forming the society, the founders were following the example of the Company of Gentlemen Golfers of Leith - later to become the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers - who had formed their club 10 years earlier. They adopted the CGG original thirteen "Articles and Laws in Playing the Golf" and even imitated their playing for a Silver Club. The first winner of the Club became Captain for the year, and this proved to be the method of selection for the first 50 years of the club's existence. In 1806 the Society began playing for the Golf Medal at the Autumn Meeting and only from around that date did the Captaincy become an elected position. In other ways, however, the Society gradually began to influence the wider playing of the game. Until 1764 twelve holes were cut on the Old Course and a round comprised 22. Golfers played to the same hole on the way out and way in, except for the End Hole (at the far end of the course) and the last hole (Hole o' Hill). It was decided that the first four holes were too short and they were compressed into two, thus making a round of 18 holes. The choice was dictated entirely by the layout available but other golf courses started to follow suit and 18 holes became the accepted standard round. Yet, for many years the Society led a somewhat informal existence. In the absence of a clubhouse, meetings were normally held at local taverns, in common with most organisations of the era. Records of 1766 note that members were instructed to meet "once every fortnight by 11 o'clock and to play around the Links. To dine together at Baillie Glass..and to pay each a shilling for his dinner - the absent as well as the present". Even by 1834, when the Society was granted royal patronage by King William IV and became the Royal and Ancient Golf Club, no proper clubhouse existed.  In 1835 the Union
Parlour was opened on Golf Place, one hundred yards from the site of
the present clubhouse. Golfers (and archers!) were allowed use of the
parlour and to store their equipment for 5 Shillings per year. Although
the site was obtained many years earlier it wasn't until 1853 that sufficient
funds were accumulated to commence the construction of a proper clubhouse,
in its current location. Officially opened in 1854 the clubhouse was
expanded and updated six times in the following 70 years, into the immediately
recognisable form that it takes today.The 1850s also saw the first steps towards national golf events. In 1857 the R & A arranged the Grand National Tournament. It was a team event for pairs, each pair representing a leading club of the day, in a knockout matchplay competition. In the following year the tournament was adapted as a singles event and 28 competitors took part. Another took place in 1859 but was superseded the following year when Prestwick Golf Club established the Open Championship. Whereas the Grand National tournament had been, in the language of the day, "open to all gentlemen players of any established golf club" - ie amateurs only - the Prestwick event was established for leading professionals. Eight competitors took part over 3 rounds of the 12-hole course and Willie Park from Musselburgh (near Edinburgh) was the winner. In an attempt to increase the entry, the event was opened to professionals and amateurs alike in the following year. In 1872 the R & A, together with Prestwick and the Honourable Company, took over joint responsibility of the Open's running. Royal St George's, Royal Liverpool and Royal Cinque Ports later joined them. In 1885 Royal Liverpool organised an amateur event, to which 44 players from 12 clubs were invited, and the Amateur Championship was born. In the following year the competition was opened to all amateurs and 24 leading clubs contributed towards the cost of a fine trophy. As golf in the UK grew in popularity during the 1880s & 1890s demand intensified for a uniform set of rules and a governing body. The R & A set up a Rules of Golf Committee in 1897 to officially administer the rules domestically. By this time the USGA had already been established and was responsible for rules in the United States. The club's membership was also growing and more competitions were taking place. In addition, under the 1894 Links Act it became liable for the maintenance of the Old Course and also decided to construct a second course, The New Course, which opened for play in 1895. These increased responsibilities justified the appointment of the first full-time Secretary - Colonel R Elliot Lockhart. In December 1919 the R & A was invited by the consortium of 26 clubs that ran the Amateur Championship to take over sole responsibility, followed by a similar request from the Open Championship's host clubs. In 1920 the Championship Committee was therefore formed and in the same year the first formal Rules of Golf conference was held with the USGA. Opportunities to meet with the latter on a more regular basis were also helped by the start of the biennial Walker Cup matches. The two governing bodies eventually established uniformity on the rules (with the exception of golf ball specification) in 1952 and since then any revisions have been made every four years.  Today, the club's
involvement in the game far exceeds the above. It is responsible for
a total of 11 championships and international matches. Profits from the
Open Championship go towards encouraging junior golf, coaching programmes,
the spread of the game in emerging golfing countries and university scholarships
in Great Britain and Ireland. The British Golf Museum in St Andrews - a
treasure trove of ball, clubs, memorabilia, pictures and paintings etc - was
built with, and is subsidised by, R & A funds. The organisation has
grown to a point that the old clubhouse can no longer accommodate all
the administrative staff. The Championship and Rules offices occupy Beach
House on Golf Place and the former Forgan golf club factory/St Andrews
Woollen Mill site adjacent to the 18th green has been turned into extensive
office and conference facilities.However, despite the enormous developments it is still a members' club at heart and many traditions have been maintained through the years. At the Annual Dinner during the Autumn Meeting the Silver Clubs, with the Captains' silver and gold balls attached, are displayed in front of the head table, where the Captain and former Captains sit in their red coats of office. Since 1806 new Captains have always - to the accompaniment of a cannon shot - ceremonially driven from the 1st tee. Local caddies, spread along the fairway, compete to retrieve the ball and return it for a gold sovereign. A couple of practice swings are usually all it takes for the more experienced caddies to size up the Captain-elect's ability and the best place to position themselves. In 1922, when the Duke of Windsor (later Edward VIII) played into office it was noted that the caddies "stood disloyally near the tee"! No doubt, these traditions and others will continue well into the future. The Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews should exert a strong influence on the game for many years and also provide a convivial and thriving environment for generations of members to come. |
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