On this day in golf
Nearest anniversary
17 October 1860
The 1860 Open began at Prestwick. Willie Park Snr ultimately won the championship.
Golf history becomes more interesting when you can connect a name on a trophy with a place you can visit. Start with a championship, follow a course through its changing layouts, or choose a famous finish and look at the ground on which it happened. This section brings those routes together, alongside the practical travel guides elsewhere on Off to the Golf.
If you are planning a championship visit, begin with the event guide for tickets and travel, then use its history to put the competition in context. The history pages are also useful between events: a town, a clubhouse or a stretch of links can reward a visit even when there are no grandstands. Public access and playing access are separate questions, so use the linked venue guide before deciding how to spend the day.
A champions list answers who won; a course history explains why the venue matters. Read the two together. A low total on one layout cannot be compared casually with a total from another era, and a famous club is not always the same thing as an unchanged course. The results pages explain the format and identify years when a championship was not held. Their tables keep the year, place and outcome together so that the story remains easy to follow.
For a first journey through the subject, choose one championship and one course rather than trying to absorb every record at once. Read the longer account, follow the related stories that interest you and then decide whether the venue belongs in your trip. If you are travelling with someone who follows golf less closely, a single well-chosen moment can provide a more enjoyable introduction than a long list of statistics.
When history gives you a destination, the next step is practical. Each detailed history ends with a Visit today panel leading to the appropriate event, venue and accommodation guidance. Build the journey around confirmed admission and realistic travel times, leaving enough space to enjoy the place as well as the competition.
Start with the timeline
Championships
A short history of The Open
The Open began at Prestwick in 1860, and its first champions played for a belt rather than the Claret Jug. Its history connects coastal courses, changing generations of players and the championship visitors still travel to watch today.
A short history of the Ryder Cup
The first official Ryder Cup was played in 1927 between Great Britain and the United States. Continental European players joined in 1979, creating the Europe-versus-USA contest that returns to Ireland for its centenary in 2027.
AIG Women’s Open: the story of a major
The Women's Open has two beginnings worth keeping in mind.
Scottish Open: from inland courses to links
The Scottish Open has travelled from Dundee and St Andrews to Glasgow, Gleneagles, Carnoustie, Loch Lomond and the modern coastal venues that make it a natural companion to The Open.
The PGA Championship before and after Wentworth
The BMW PGA Championship began in 1955 and has become the professional championship most closely associated with Wentworth.
The British Masters: a travelling championship
The British Masters began as the Dunlop Masters in 1946 and has been won by many of the central figures in British, Irish and European golf.
The Irish Open: a championship across Ireland
The Irish Open began at Portmarnock in 1927 and has travelled across the island through long interruptions, a successful revival and an uninterrupted modern run since 1975.
From the Dunhill Cup to the Dunhill Links
The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship began in 2001, combining an individual professional tournament with a professional-amateur team competition across St Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns.
The Senior Open: another chapter on the links
The Senior Open began at Turnberry in 1987 and has grown into Europe's senior major championship, bringing leading players aged fifty and over to many of Britain and Ireland's great courses.
The Women’s Irish Open: a championship revived
The Women's Irish Open is a national championship with an interrupted history.
The Amateur Championship: match-play history
The Amateur Championship offers a different route through golf history from a professional tournament.
The Women’s Amateur: champions across generations
The Women's Amateur Championship begins in 1893, more than eight decades before the first Women's Open.
The Walker Cup and Curtis Cup
The Walker Cup and Curtis Cup offer a different route into golf history from the professional majors.
The Solheim Cup in Europe
The Solheim Cup's European history runs from the outskirts of Edinburgh to the Netherlands, taking in Wales, Ireland, Sweden, Germany, Spain and two Scottish resorts along the way.
Champions and results
Every Open champion, 1860–2026
The Open’s roll of honour begins at Prestwick in 1860 and runs here through Ryan Fox’s victory at Royal Birkdale in 2026.
Every Ryder Cup result, 1927–2025
A complete Ryder Cup record needs more than a winner's name.
Every Women’s Open champion, 1976–2026
The Women’s Open roll begins in 1976, when amateur Jenny Lee Smith won at Fulford, and continues through Shiho Kuwaki’s 2026 victory at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
Courses
St Andrews Old Course: a living history
The Old Course is best understood as a piece of St Andrews that became a championship stage, rather than a stadium designed around a championship.
Carnoustie: a championship shaped by its links
Carnoustie's reputation for difficult championship golf can obscure a much longer story.
Muirfield and the Honourable Company
Muirfield's history begins with an important distinction: the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers existed long before the course at Gullane.
Royal Troon: a championship on the Ayrshire coast
Royal Troon sits in a coastline with a much older Open connection at neighbouring Prestwick, but its own championship identity developed later.
Turnberry: the Ailsa course and its Opens
Turnberry's history has several starting points, and keeping them separate avoids a common mistake.
Royal Birkdale: dunes, design and champions
Royal Birkdale's own history dates the club's establishment to 30 July 1889, when its first home was in the Shaw Hills.
Royal Liverpool: Hoylake and championship golf
Royal Liverpool's history begins at Hoylake in 1869.
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Royal Lytham & St Annes: a championship history
Royal Lytham & St Annes began in 1886, but the present playing ground belongs to a later stage of its development.
Royal St George’s: The Open comes to England
Royal St George's occupies a distinctive place in championship history: in 1894 it became the first course outside Scotland to host The Open.
Royal Portrush: The Open across the Irish Sea
Royal Portrush began in 1888 as the County Club.
Prestwick: where The Open began
Prestwick's importance begins with a distinction that even a long list of famous champions cannot quite convey: this is where The Open first happened.
Musselburgh: golf inside the racecourse
Musselburgh Old Links asks the reader to put aside a modern assumption: a championship course does not have to contain eighteen holes.
Royal Cinque Ports: championship golf at Deal
Royal Cinque Ports belongs to a remarkable stretch of golfing coastline.
Prince’s: Sarazen’s Open and a changing links
Prince's occupies an unusual position among Open venues.
Gleneagles golf history: Braid and the Cups
Gleneagles is a meeting point between several versions of golf history: the railway resort, James Braid's inland architecture, the rise of international team matches and the modern championship built for large crowds.
Wentworth history: Colt, match play and the PGA
Wentworth's history is larger than the annual championship now associated with its West Course.
The Belfry history: its four Ryder Cups
The Belfry's place in golf history rests on an unusually concentrated run of Ryder Cups.
The K Club and Adare Manor: Ryder Cup history
The K Club and Adare Manor connect two different chapters in Ireland's Ryder Cup history.
Royal County Down, Portmarnock and Lahinch history
Royal County Down, Portmarnock and Lahinch tell three different stories about Irish links golf.
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Royal Porthcawl and Celtic Manor golf history
Royal Porthcawl and Celtic Manor show two different routes into Welsh championship golf.
Sunningdale, Walton Heath and Woburn history
Sunningdale, Walton Heath and Woburn offer an inland route through championship golf in England.
Legends of the game
Old Tom and Young Tom Morris: Golf’s First Family
Old Tom Morris and Young Tom Morris won eight Opens between them, but the family’s place in golf cannot be reduced to that combined total.
The Great Triumvirate: Vardon, Braid and Taylor
Between 1894 and 1914, Harry Vardon, James Braid and J.H.
Seve Ballesteros in Britain and the Ryder Cup
Seve Ballesteros's British golf story can be followed through three courses and one team competition.
Tom Watson and The Open: Five Wins, Five Courses
Tom Watson won five Opens at five different courses in nine years.
Nick Faldo: Three Opens and a Ryder Cup Career
Nick Faldo’s three Open victories offer three different versions of championship golf: a final round made entirely of pars, a five-stroke success on the Old Course, and a late recovery when a comfortable lead had almost disappeared.
Women Who Shaped Golf in Britain and Ireland
The history of women’s golf in Britain and Ireland is not a short preface to the modern professional tour.
Irish Golf’s Golden Era: Five Major Champions
Irish golf’s modern golden era is best understood as a sequence of different achievements, rather than the story of one player handing a trophy to the next.
Scottish Golf’s Great Champions
Scotland’s golfing champions belong to several different histories.
Famous moments
The Duel in the Sun: Turnberry, 1977
Tom Watson won the 1977 Open by one stroke from Jack Nicklaus.
Carnoustie 1999: Van de Velde and Lawrie
Jean van de Velde reached Carnoustie's final tee with a three-stroke lead in the 1999 Open.
The Belfry 1985: the long wait ends
When Europe won the Ryder Cup at The Belfry in September 1985, the significance reached far beyond a 16½–11½ scoreline.
The K Club 2006: an emotional Ryder Cup
Ireland's first Ryder Cup ended with Europe beating the United States 18½–9½ at The K Club in County Kildare.
Shane Lowry’s Open at Royal Portrush, 2019
Shane Lowry's victory at Royal Portrush brought together a returning championship, a course on a major stage again and a player winning his first major.
Ten of the greatest Open finishes
There is no official ranking that can settle which Open finish was the greatest.
Great Ryder Cup moments in Britain and Ireland
Some Ryder Cup memories are attached to one shot; others belong to an entire day's reversal or a change in the competition's identity.
Records
Ryder Cup venues in Britain and Ireland
The Ryder Cup's British and Irish map is broader than the familiar championship links.
Every Open Venue: All 14 Courses and Host Counts
Fourteen courses have hosted The Open, and together they account for the 154 championships completed between 1860 and 2026.
The Open Records: Wins, Scores, Ages and Play-offs
An Open record needs a clear definition.
Ryder Cup records: players, captains and margins
A Ryder Cup record is meaningful only when the category is clear.
Course records and notable championship scores
A course record is meaningful only when its scope is clear.
Golf’s oldest clubs and courses: the evidence
Golf's oldest clubs and courses do not fit into one uncontested league table.
Sources and useful official links
Visit today
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