The Royal Musselburgh Golf Club is a

golf club A golf club is a club used to hit a golf ball in a game of golf. Each club is composed of a shaft with a grip and a club head. Wood (golf), Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; iron (golf), irons, the most versatile class ...

Prestongrange House Prestongrange House is a historic house at Prestongrange near Prestonpans, East Lothian, Scotland, UK. It is situated near to two other historic houses, Hamilton House and Northfield House. Prestongrange House is now the site of Royal Musselb ...

Prestongrange Prestongrange is a place in East Lothian, Scotland, United Kingdom, situated between Musselburgh to the west, and Prestonpans to the east. The place name derives from "Preston", meaning "priest's town", and a grange (or granary) which was wo ...

near

Prestonpans Prestonpans ( gd, Baile an t-Sagairt, Scots: ''The Pans'') is a small mining town, situated approximately eight miles east of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the Council area of East Lothian. The population as of is. It is near the site of the 1745 ...

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the histo ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, on the B1361. Between 1774 and 1926, the club was based at Levenhall Links,

Musselburgh Musselburgh (; sco, Musselburrae; gd, Baile nam Feusgan) is the largest settlement in East Lothian, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth, east of Edinburgh city centre. It has a population of . History The name Musselburgh is Ol ...

History

The first golf clubs were founded in the 18th century. The first was the Royal Blackheath Golf Club, instituted in 1706, followed by the

Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain ...

in 1744,

the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews is one of the oldest golf clubs in the world. It is a private members-only club based in St Andrews in Scotland. It was previously known colloquially as "The R&A", but in 2004, a new organisation kn ...

in 1754, and the Royal Musselburgh Golf Club in 1774. These clubs gradually accepted some responsibility for the links on which they played. What is now the Royal Musselburgh Golf Club was established in 1774 as the Musselburgh Golf Club, and the Old Club Cup was played for the first time. It is the oldest golf trophy that has been played for continuously in the world, and it can be seen in the

Clubhouse Clubhouse may refer to: Locations * The meetinghouse of: ** A club (organization), an association of two or more people united by a common interest or goal ** In the United States, a country club ** In the United Kingdom, a gentlemen's club * A ...

. In 1811 the first Lady Golfer competition took place, and in 1834 the club issued a new set of rules. The RMGC is the fifth oldest golf club in the world. It was originally played over the nine-hole course at Levenhall Links, and in 1872 the first clubhouse was built at the Links. In 1876 the club became the Royal Musselburgh Golf Club. The royal title was granted by

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (Arthur William Patrick Albert; 1 May 185016 January 1942), was the seventh child and third son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He served as Gov ...

, godson of the

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish soldier and Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of 19th-century Britain, serving twice as prime minister of ...

. He remained as Patron of the club until his death in 1942. In 1908 RMGC merged with the New Club, one of four golf clubs on the Links. In 1922 the Club entered a new era through the move to

and Estate, made possible through CISWO, the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation. The new clubhouse was a 12th-century

historic house A historic house generally meets several criteria before being listed by an official body as "historic." Generally the building is at least a certain age, depending on the rules for the individual list. A second factor is that the building be in ...

, originally owned by the

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...

s of

Newbattle Abbey Newbattle Abbey ( gd, Abaid a' Bhatail Nuaidh) was a Cistercian monastery near the village of Newbattle in Midlothian, Scotland, which subsequently become a stately home and then an educational institution. Monastery It was founded in 1140 by mo ...

. An 18-hole course was designed by renowned golf course architect James Braid as a traditional parkland course, yet close to the sea. The yardage is 6237.

The club in the 21st century

Royal Musselburgh Golf Club is part of

Lothian and Borders Police Lothian and Borders Police was the territorial police force for the Scottish council areas of the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and West Lothian between 1975 and 2013. The force's headquarters were in Fettes ...

's "Golf Initiative" which enables school pupils to have free coaching and support. In the Telegraph newspaper's search for the most characterful golf course in Scotland, RMGC won the accolade of "Most venerable" golf course.

Photo gallery

Image:PrestongrangeHouse06.jpg, Royal Musselburgh Golf Club Image:PrestongrangeHouse01.jpg, Main entrance of Prestongrange House Image:PrestongrangeHouse03.jpg, Front of Prestongrange House Image:PrestongrangeHouse07.jpg, Golfers on the Royal Musselburgh golf course

References

*Baker,Sonia; (2000); "Prestongrange House"; Prestoungrange University Press, 2000
Website of CISWO, the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation
*RCAHMS DPM 1860/137/1 - 10 plans/sketches of Royal Musselburgh Golf Club building, 1865 - 1875]
Telegraph newspaper: RMGC the "Most venerable" of golf clubs

A Royal and Ancient Game
by Robert Clark 1875 and 1893, reprinted 1975 by EP Publishing.
Scottish Golf Book
by Malcolm Campbell, Glynn Satterly; publ. 1999 by Sports Publishing LLC, 224 pp.
History of Royal Musselburgh Golf Club 1774-1999
by Robert Ironside and H. Douglas, priv. prtd. 1999, 213pp'

External links

*
Visit East Lothian on Edinburgh's Doorstep (map leaflet)
{{Authority control 1774 establishments in Scotland Sports clubs established in the 1770s Golf clubs and courses in East Lothian Organisations based in Scotland with royal patronage Musselburgh Organisations based in East Lothian Royal golf clubs

History

The club in the 21st century

Photo gallery

See also

References

External links