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Royal Troon Golf Club is a links golf course in Scotland, located in Troon, South Ayrshire. The club was established in 1878, and originally only consisted of five holes whereas today, it has increased to a total of 45 holes. Its Old Course is one of the host courses for The Open Championship, one of the major championships on the PGA Tour and European Tour. The Club most recently hosted in 2024 for the tenth time. It also hosted the Women's British Open in 2020.
On 1 July 2016, Royal Troon members voted overwhelmingly to admit women into the club as members, avoiding a potential controversy that could have led to the club being removed from the Open Championship rota.
History
Establishment
The club, which now has a total of 45 holes, was founded in 1878, initially with five holes. It lies adjacent to the Firth of Clyde. George Strath was appointed in 1881 as the club's first golf professional, and together with 1882 Open champion Willie Fernie, designed the original course, expanding it to 18 holes by 1888. The two were assisted by Charlie Hunter, greenskeeper of the neighbouring Prestwick Golf Club, in Troon's formative years.
When Strath left the club's employ in 1887, Fernie became head professional, and served in that role until his death in 1924. He laid out the club's Relief course, on the site of what would become Troon's New course, designed by Alister MacKenzie; Shortly after opening the New course was renamed in honour of the 6th Duke of Portland, an essential early Troon Golf Club patron and facilitator, who was one of the region's largest landowners.
Royal designation
Troon was granted its "Royal" designation in 1978, during its centenary. Its clubhouse, designed by Henry Edward Clifford and built in 1886, is richly decorated with historical golf artifacts. James Montgomerie, father of Colin Montgomerie, served as Secretary in the 1980s.
Its Old Course is one of the host courses for The Open Championship, one of the major championships on the PGA Tour and European Tour. The club has hosted 11 Open Championships, ten for men (most recently in 2024), and the 2020 Open for women (no men's equivalent that year).
Recent history
On 1 July 2016, Royal Troon members voted overwhelmingly to admit women into the club as members, avoiding a potential controversy that could have overshadowed the 2016 Open Championship and led to the club being removed from the Open rota. Two holes earlier, the par-5 6th ("Turnberry") extends to a lengthy and until the championship at Royal Liverpool in 2023 was the longest hole in Open history.
The 11th hole ("The Railway") is one of the most difficult holes in major championship golf. Now a long par-4, a blind tee shot has a long carry over gorse with out of bounds all along the railway on the right. The lengthy approach shot is to a small green that falls away, with nearby out of bounds.
The Portland and Craigend Courses
The Old Course is the championship layout at Royal Troon. Its second course, the Portland, also an 18-hole layout from 1895, but significantly shorter than the Old Course, was redesigned in 1921 by golf course architect Dr. Alister MacKenzie, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. The Portland is also of very high standard. It is located slightly further inland and further north than the Old Course, with no holes bordering the Firth of Clyde; it has its own clubhouse. The Craigend Course is a nine-hole par-3 course.
The club is private; guests are allowed at certain times, under advance booking, with a handicap certificate establishing proficiency. The Old Course has four tees – "Ladies", "Short", "Medal" and "Championship".
Layout
For The 2024 Open Championship:
{| class=wikitable style="text-align:center"
!Hole!!Name!!Yards!!Par!! !!Hole!!Name!!Yards!!Par
|-
|1||align=left|Seal||366||4||rowspan=10 style="background:#E6E8FA;"| ||10||align=left|Sandhills||450||4
|-
|2||align=left|Black Rock||389||4||11||align=left|The Railway||498||4
|-
|3||align=left|Gyaws||376||4||12||align=left|The Fox||451||4
|-
|4||align=left|Dunure||599||5||13||align=left|Burmah||473||4
|-
|5||align=left|Greenan||220||3||14||align=left|Alton||200||3
|-
|6||align=left|Turnberry||623||5||15||align=left|Crosbie||502||4
|-
|7||align=left|Tel-el-Kebir||403||4||16||align=left|Well||572||5
|-
|8||align=left|Postage Stamp||123||3||17||align=left|Rabbit||242||3
|-
|9||align=left|The Monk||440||4||18||align=left|Craigend||458||4
|-
| colspan=2|Out||3,539||36|| colspan=2|In||3,846||35
|-
|colspan=5 align=left|<small>Source:</small>||colspan=2|Total ||7,385||71
|}
Lengths of the course for previous Opens (since 1950):
- 2024 : , par 71
- 2020 : , par 71 (women's)
- 2016 : , par 71
- 2004 : , par 71
- 1997 : , par 71
- 1989 : , par 72
- 1982 : , par 72
- 1973 : , par 72
- 1962 : , par 72
- 1950 : , par 70
Opens from 1962 through 1989 played the 11th hole as a par-5.
The Open Championship
The Open Championship has been held at Troon on ten occasions:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!rowspan=2|Year!!rowspan=2|Winner!!colspan=5|Score!!rowspan=2|Winner's<br>share (£)
|-
! R1 !! R2 !! R3 !! R4 !! Total
|-
|1923 || Arthur Havers <!--<sup>1st</sup>-->||73||73||73||76||295||align=right|75
|-
|1950 || Bobby Locke <sup>2nd</sup>||69||72||70||68||279 (−1)||align=right|300
|-
|1962 || Arnold Palmer <sup>2nd</sup>||71||69||67||69||276 (−12)||align=right|1,400
|-
|1973 || Tom Weiskopf <!--<sup>1st</sup>-->||68||67||71||70||276 (−12)||align=right|5,500
|-
|1982 || Tom Watson <sup>4th</sup>||69||71||74||70||284 (−4)||align=right|32,000
|-
|1989 || Mark Calcavecchia <!--<sup>1st</sup>-->||71||68||68||68||275 (−13)<sup>PO</sup>||align=right|80,000
|-
|1997|| Justin Leonard <!--<sup>1st</sup>-->||69||66||72||65||272 (−12)||align=right|250,000
|-
|2004 || Todd Hamilton <!--<sup>1st</sup>-->||71||67||67||69||274 (−10)<sup>PO</sup>||align=right|720,000
|-
|2016 || Henrik Stenson <!--<sup>1st</sup>-->||68||65||68||63||264 (−20)||align=right|1,175,000
|-
|2024 || Xander Schauffele <!--<sup>1st</sup>-->||69||72||69||65||275 (−9)||align=right|2,400,680<!--$3,100,000 / 1.2913-->
|}
- Note: For multiple winners of The Open Championship, superscript ordinal identifies which in their respective careers.
Women's Open
The Women's Open Championship has been held at Troon once:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!rowspan=2|Year!!rowspan=2|Winner!!colspan=5|Score!!rowspan=2|Winner's<br>share (US$)
|-
! R1 !! R2 !! R3 !! R4 !! Total
|-
|2020 || align=center| Sophia Popov || 70 || 72 || 67 || 68 || 277 (−7) ||align=right|675,000
|}
Hosts further significant events
- Royal Troon has hosted the Amateur Championship on five occasions: 1956, 1968, 1978, 2003, and 2012.