The Royal Colombo Golf Club is the oldest

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. Woods are mainly used for long-distance fairway or tee shots; irons, the most versatile class, are used for a variety o ...

in Sri Lanka. Established in 1879, it is located in the capital city of

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

at ''The Ridgeway Links'' also known as the ''Anderson Golf Course''. It is home to the Sri Lanka Golf Union, the governing body of Golf in Sri Lanka and maintains links with

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 ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

History

On 13 March 1880 ten founding members, led by Edward Aitken (founder of Aitken Spence), met at the

Colombo Club The Colombo Club is the second oldest gentlemen's club in Sri Lanka. The Colombo Club was established on 4 March 1871 by prominent British colonialists in the island at the Colombo Club building, Colpity Race Course Grandstand. The original re ...

and held the first General Meeting of the Colombo Golf Club. The first Chairman and Captain was W. Law and the Committee consisted of W. Somerville, F. A. Fairlie and R. Webster. The competitive trophy of the club dates back to 1887. In 1888 the Calcutta Golf Club presented a silver medal to the club; the Calcutta Medal is a permanent challenge medal still contested at the club. The club was maintained at

Galle Face Green Galle Face Green is a ocean-side urban park, which stretches for along the coast, in the heart of Colombo, the financial and business capital of Sri Lanka. The promenade was initially laid out in 1859 by Governor Sir Henry George Ward, alth ...

until June 1896, when the club was told by the Colonial Secretary that the

Governor of Ceylon {{Use dmy dates, date=November 2019 The governor of Ceylon can refer to historical vice-regal representatives of three colonial powers: Portuguese Ceylon * List of captains of Portuguese Ceylon (1518–1551) * List of captain-majors of Portugue ...

would give the golf club a part of the Model Farm in

Borella Borella is the largest suburb in Colombo, Sri Lanka represented by divisional code 8. Demographic Borella is a multi-religious and multi-ethnic area. The major ethnic communities in Borella are Sinhalese people, Sinhalese and Tamils. There are a ...

. The land and funds for the Model Farm were provided by Sir Charles Henry de Soysa. The golf course was opened in July 1896 by Governor Joseph West Ridgeway, after whom the Ridgeway Links were named. In 1928,

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

bestowed upon the club a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

, which enabled the club to use the prefix "Royal", and consequently the club came to be known as the Royal Colombo Golf Club. Originally membership was limited to British and European members, but in 1936 membership was extended to the Ceylonese. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

the clubhouse and the golf links were used by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

code breakers of the

Far East Combined Bureau The Far East Combined Bureau, an outstation of the British Government Code and Cypher School, was set up in Hong Kong in March 1935, to monitor Japanese, and also Chinese and Russian (Soviet) intelligence and radio traffic. Later it moved to Sing ...

and were known as "HMS Anderson".

References

External links

* * Sports venues in Colombo Golf clubs and courses in Sri Lanka Sports clubs and teams established in 1880 Sport in Colombo Sports clubs and teams in Colombo Military history of Sri Lanka World War II sites in Sri Lanka Gentlemen's clubs in Sri Lanka Royal golf clubs {{Golfcourse-stub

History

See also

References

External links