The Old Course at Royal Troon Golf Club will host the Open Championship for the 10th time this year.
From the first Open in 1923 to Henrik Stenson’s unforgettable final-round 63 in 2016, the iconic South Ayrshire links has staged some of the greatest moments in Championship history.
Get to know Royal Troon a little better with these 15 facts.
1. Royal Troon Golf Club was founded on 16 March 1878 as a six-hole course built on vacant farmland. The club had 55 members in its first year.
2. The course was expanded to 18 holes over the next decade by course designer George Strath, who also served as the club’s first professional.
3. In 1910, 1882 Open champion Willie Fernie laid out two of Troon’s most iconic holes, the Postage Stamp (eighth) and the Railway (11th), laying the foundations of the modern day Troon.
4. Royal Troon hosted its first Open Championship in 1923, which saw Arthur Havers win his first and only Major. Havers holed a bunker shot on the 72nd hole to beat defending champion Walter Hagen by one stroke. The Englishman won £75 in prize money.
5. Royal Troon is the only club in Great Britain to have been granted Royal status during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign. The club received the designation in 1978 on its 100th anniversary.
6. The eighth hole at Royal Troon, known as the Postage Stamp, is one of the most infamous and iconic par 3s in golf. Originally called ‘Ailsa’, the hole got its name from two-time Open winner William Park Jr, who compared the hole’s tiny putting surface to a postage stamp. “A pitching surface skimmed down to the size of a postage stamp,” Park famously wrote in Golf Illustrated.
7. Playing just 123 yards, the Postage Stamp is also the shortest hole in Open history. It could break the record once again this year, with the opportunity to play as short as 99 yards with forward tees and a front pin location.
(Image credit: Getty Images)
8. Royal Troon also has the longest hole ever at the Open with the 601-yard sixth. The hole known as Turnberry will play even longer this year at 623 yards.
9. The 482-yard, par-4 11th, known as the Railway, is considered to be one of the toughest holes in golf. The hole was played as a par-5 from 1962 through to the 1989 Open.
10. In 1915, Royal Troon was given what is thought to be the oldest…
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