This week Royal Dornoch Golf Club is welcoming representatives from 57 of the world’s 66 Royal Clubs for a week of golf and hospitality. The representatives, including presidents, captains, managers and members, are joining Royal Dornoch Golf Club members and committee to help celebrate 400 years of Golf at Dornoch.
Neil Hampton, General Manager of Royal Dornoch commented: “We believe this is the largest number of Royal Golf clubs to be present in the one place. We are delighted that so many of the clubs accepted our invitation, from our nearest local Duff House Royal in Aberdeenshire to Royal Wellington in New Zealand.”
Each Royal Club will have their own Fear Failte “welcomer” a local Royal Dornoch member who will host them for the week, helping build ties of friendship and camaraderie.
The weeklong celebration starts with many of the international and national guests playing golf at the local partnership clubs Brora, Golspie and Tain, while also enjoying a tour of many of the local distilleries, museums, and tourist attractions on the first 3 days.
A welcome cocktail party on Wednesday in partnership with Glenmorangie, is the start of the official Royal celebrations. Thursday and Friday is a chance for the club representatives to play over the Royal Dornoch Championship course and Royal Dornoch Struie course. This will be an opportunity for each of the clubs to meet and play with the many other visitors.
The final celebration is the Royal Dornoch Gala dinner, where a commemorative photo will be taken of all the representatives in all their finery before they join the invited guests and Royal Dornoch hosts.
There will the final presentation by Wade Cormack on his extensive research of Sport and Golf in the Inner Moray Firth funded by Royal Dornoch Golf Club with closing comments on the week given by Gavin Caldwell, Captain of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.
Royal Clubs
There are 66 official Royal Golf Clubs in the UK and around the world that have been granted Royal status by the British monarchy. To receive the honour the club typically invites a member of the Royal family to be a patron or honorary member, or they apply for the title. Ultimately, the approval must be granted from the reigning monarch.
The first Royal Club was Royal Perth Golf Club, founded in 1824 and granted Royal status. The oldest golf club to bear the Royal name is The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, founded in 1745 and granted Royal status by King William IV in 1834. Royal Dornoch Golf Club received its Royal charter in 1906. The latest club to join the Royal ranks is Royal Homburger, the third oldest club in Germany, awarded the title on April 8, 2013 in commemoration of the role of English visitors and members of the Royal Family.
Royal Dornoch Golf Club www.royaldornoch.com