The Silver Clubs

On 14th May 1754 the first Challenge for the Silver Club was held over the links at St Andrews. Presented by 22 subscribers for annual competition, local merchant William Landale won the challenge and became the first Captain.  He hung a silver ball from the club, a tradition followed by every Captain since.

In forming their new club, the St Andrews Golfers recorded that it was to help, ‘the interest and prosperity of the City of St Andrews,’ and their Silver Club competition was initially open to all-comers.  The first competition was decided by the winner of the greatest number of holes, which was a complicated calculation, and, by 1759, this became the lowest number of strokes, as is customary today.

Many players were drawn from the East Coast lairds and aristocracy but also from the Edinburgh Golfers. The St Andrews Golfers invited the Leith Society to play at their early competitions and advertised the St Andrews meetings in the Edinburgh newspapers.

There is reason to believe the societies were friendly.  St Andrews largely copied the set of rules from the Edinburgh Golfers for their event and written on the first page of the Club’s first Minute Book which is on display in The R&A World Golf Museum.  The Challenge for the Silver Club was also used to determine the Captain, the regulations state:

“Every Victor is to append a Silver Ball to the Club for the year he wins…The Victor shall be called Captain of the Golf, and all disputes touching the golf amongst golfers shall be determined by the Captain and any two or three of the subscribers he shall call  to his assistance, and that the Captain shall be entitled next year to the first ticket without drawing.”.

Silver Club No.1

This has balls on it dating from 1754 to 1839. During the 18th century, the winner of the Challenge for the Silver Club became Captain for the year.  The Captain started to be elected by 1806 and possibly as early as the 1790s.

Silver Club No.2

Paid for by subscription by the Members, the second Silver Club was presented for the 1819 Autumn Meeting.  Four gold balls represent Royal Captains: the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) in 1863, Prince Leopold (1876), the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) in 1922, and the Duke of York (later George VI) in 1930.

Silver Club No.3

Presented by the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) to mark the end of his year as Captain in 1923, the first ball to adorn it was Herbert Edward Taylor's in 1933.  The Duke of Kent's captaincy in 1937 and the Duke of York's in 2003 are each represented by gold balls.

Silver Club No.4

Engraved with the Scottish Coat of Arms of Queen Elizabeth II, the fourth Silver Club was presented by Her Late Majesty The Queen in 2021, in commemoration of Her Patronage of the Club which commenced in 1952.

Hannah Fleming
World Golf Museum Learning and Access Curator