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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is the one of the oldest golf clubs in the world, the oldest being the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers at Muirfield. It is based in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, regarded as the worldwide "Home of Golf".[1] 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.
The organisation was founded in 1754 as the Society of St Andrews Golfers, a local golf club playing at St Andrews Links but quickly grew in importance. In 1834 King William IV became its patron and the club became known under its present name. In 1897 the Society codified the rules of golf, and was gradually over the next 30 years invited to take control of the running of golf tournaments at other courses.
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews itself is now simply a golf club. It has 2,400 members from all over the world. Although the clubhouse is situated just before the first tee of the Old Course of the St Andrews Links, the R&A members enjoy the privilege of using a significant part of the tee times there but do not own the course, which is run by the St Andrews Links Trust, a charitable organisation that owns and runs all the St Andrews Links golf courses at St Andrews.
