What is the oldest golf club in North America?

History of Royal Montreal Golf Club

Royal Montreal is the oldest golf club in North America, having been founded in 1873. In that year, a small group of eight gentlemen sat in a dockside office and formed the Montreal Golf Club.

Eleven years later, in 1884, permission was granted by Queen Victoria to use the “Royal” prefix.

The first golf course was a 9-hole layout on Fletcher’s Field, part of Mount Royal Park, which was shared by the red-coated golfers and other citizens relaxing in what was then the outskirts of Montreal.

In 1896, the Club moved to Dixie, in the parish of Dorval, where it remained until the pressures of urban growth again dictated a decision to move. The clubhouse at Dixie became Queen of Angels Academy for Girls and is now Académie Sainte-Anne.

The last move was to Ile Bizard in 1959, where 45 holes were designed and constructed by Dick Wilson. The Blue Course, updated by Rees Jones, continues to be ranked as one of the “100 Greatest Courses in the World”.

Royal Montreal was one of the five founding Clubs of the Royal Canadian Golf Association, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1995. The RCGA is the governing body of golf in Canada and organizes the major national championships, including the Canadian Open, the first of which was played at Royal Montreal in 1904. Since then, the Club has played host to the Canadian Open in 1908, 1913, 1926, 1950, 1975, 1980, 1997, 2001 and 2014. Of special note is that the Canadian Open was won in 1954 by Pat Fletcher, who served as the Club’s Head Professional from 1955 to 1975. This was the last Canadian Open victory, to date, by a Canadian player.

In September 2007, Royal Montreal wrote another chapter in its history when it hosted The Presidents Cup; an event which enables the World’s best non-European players to compete in an international team match play competition against the Top 12 PGA TOUR players in the United States.

Source Royal Montreal Golf Club: www.rmgc.org

Other significant old clubs in North America

­The Savannah Golf Club

The Savannah Golf Club in Georgia, USA, can trace its origins back to 1794, making it potentially the oldest golf club in North America. However, its history is not continuous:

Original club founded on October 1, 1794.

Present course dates to 1899.

Became an 18-hole course around 191.7

Niagara-on-the-Lake Golf Club

Niagara-on-the-Lake Golf Club in Ontario, Canada, claims to be the oldest surviving golf course in North America. Some notable facts:

Founded in the 1870s by John Geale Dickson.

Officially organized in 1881.

Three of its original greens (1st, 2nd, and 8th) remain unchanged since the course was built.

Other Historic Golf Clubs

Oakhurst Links: Reportedly laid out in 1884.

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club: Founded in 1891, it has the oldest extant 18-hole golf course in America.

Chicago Golf Club: Established in 1893, it created the first 18-hole course in North America in 1893.

These historic golf clubs have played significant roles in the development of golf in North America, hosting major tournaments and contributing to the sport's growth and popularity over the past century and a half.