15 Things You Didn't Know About Royal Troon

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.

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 set of golf clubs in existence. The eight clubs were discovered hidden in Maister House in the City of Hull in 1898, sealed in a cupboard with a newspaper dated 1741. The clubs are currently on display at the R&A World Golf Museum.

11. Royal Troon hosted the Women’s Open for the first time in 2020. The Championship was won by German golfer Sophia Popov, who was world number 304 at the time.

12. The course record at Royal Troon is 63, which was shot by both Phil Mickelson and eventual winner Stenson at the 2016 Open. Mickelson claimed the record first in the first round, before Stenson equalled the feat with a stunning final-round 63 to claim the title. Stenson also claimed the lowest 72-hole score in Open history of 264 at Royal Troon in 2016. That record was later matched by Cameron Smith at the 2022 Open at St Andrews.

13. The worst score at Royal Troon is held by Albert Tingey Jr, who carded a 23-over 94 in the first Open held at the venue in 1923. Tingey also has the highest 72-hole score at Troon that year of 331.

14. The first four-hole aggregate playoff in Open history happened at Royal Troon in 1989, when Mark Calcavecchia beat Greg Norman and Wayne Grady to claim the Claret Jug. Previously, the playoff was decided with 18 holes the following day.

15. Aside from the championship Old Course, Royal Troon has two other courses at the club. Its second course, the Portland, was redesigned in the 1920s by legendary course architect Dr Alister MacKenzie. The club also has a nine-hole par-3 course called the Craigend Course.