When the Royal Portrush Golf Club was founded, it was called simply “the Country Club.” Starting in 1892, the club was renamed “the Royal Country Club,” and in 1895, it became the “Royal Portrush Country Club.” The changing names have to do with the British royal family, and the history of royal golf clubs.
In 1892, the then-Duke of York (later King George V) became the club’s royal patron, and the institution added “Royal” into the title. In 1895, patronage changed to his father, Prince Albert Edward (later King Edward VII), becoming “Royal Portrush.” Around the world, around 70 golf clubs have “Royal” in their title. Per Links Magazine, “Officially, clubs must apply for the royal title and only the sovereign has authority to grant it. Furthermore, the grants of the royal title and royal patronage are separate honors.”
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The Duke of Windsor playing golf in 1962.
In 1833, King William IV granted the first “Royal” title to a country club in Perth. Per Golf Digest, “The captain of the Perth Golfing Society, Lord Kinnaird, went on a trip to London to address King William IV, who had recently taken up the game. While there, Kinnaird asked the King if he would become a patron of the Society and if the club could, in turn, call itself the Royal Perth Golfing Society. William agreed, and a movement was born.” In 1834, the Society of St. Andrews Golfers renamed itself to the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews.
In 2024, Balmoral Golf Club in Aberdeenshire—a course that used to just be open to the royal family—became the most recent course to get royal status, becoming the Royal Balmoral Golf Club. “We have had a course here since the 1920s, but the golf club was formed in 1973 and we started playing competitions,” Balmoral ladies’ captain Mandy Cruickshank told Press & Journal. “As 2023 was going to be our 50th anniversary and the King’s coronation, I thought how lovely it would be to get royal in the name.”
She continued, “I took it upon myself to find out how you would go about doing that and I wrote to one of the King’s private secretaries. That was in October 2023, and I didn’t get a reply until April 2024 when I was told it was actually the Scottish Government you have to write to.”
Royal Portrush Country Club, where the British Open is taking place this weekend, has no current royal patron.
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The Duke of York at Royal Portrush in 2019.
In 1999, Prince Andrew became the royal patron of Royal Portrush Country Club, but in 2022, Queen Elizabeth stripped her son of all his royal patronages. That led Andrew to “lose his honorary titles at Royal Portrush, Royal Belfast and Royal County Down golf clubs in Northern Ireland,” per the Belfast Telegraph. A source close to the royal clubs told the paper at the time, “There will be immense relief by members that this decision has been taken out of their hands.”
Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, celebrities, the royals, and a wide range of other topics. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma, a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram.
