The Royal Montreal Golf Club

 The Royal Montreal Golf Club

The Royal Montreal Golf Club (French: Le Club de Golf Royal Montréal) is North America's oldest and longest-running golf club. It will be commemorating its 150th anniversary in 2023. It was started in 1873 in Montreal by eight persons. Queen Victoria allowed permission to use the prefix "Royal" in 1884.

The club's original course was a 9-hole layout on Fletcher's Field in Mount Royal Park, which the red-coated players shared with the general public on Montreal's outskirts. Mr. Alexander Dennistoun, a Scotsman, was the inaugural Captain of the Club. The club continues to honour his name by naming the men's club champion trophy after him. Mrs. William Wallace Watson (née Florence Stancliffe), the first woman to join and the first female member of any golf club in North America, was elected in 1891. The Royal Montreal Golf Club Ladies' Branch soon followed.

Since then, the club has relocated twice. In 1896, the Ladies moved to Dixie in the parish of Dorval; three years later, they moved into their own clubhouse. The main clubhouse is located there. The demands of urban expansion forced a relocation to its current position in Île-Bizard, Quebec, in 1959. Dick Wilson, an American golf course architect, designed 45 holes. The Blue Course is frequently considered as a premier Canadian golf course, as well as one of the greatest in the world.

Royal Montreal was one of the five founding Clubs of the Royal Canadian Golf Association, which was founded in 1895 as Canada's governing body of golf. Among other things, it organises significant national tournaments like as the Canadian Open, the first of which was held in 1904 at Royal Montreal.

In 2007, Royal Montreal hosted the Presidents Cup, and in July 2014, it hosted the Canadian Open. The Presidents Cup will be presented on the blue carpet once more. In September 2024, the Presidents Cup will be held on the blue course at Royal Montreal Golf Club.

The club's inaugural course was a nine-hole course at Fletcher's Field, a section of Mount Royal Park on Montréal's outskirts. The club relocated to Dixie in Dorval in 1896, where it stayed until urbanisation forced it to relocate once more. In 1959, the club relocated to Île Bizard, where 45 holes were constructed, including the 18-hole championship Blue Course, the 18-hole Red Course, and the 9-hole Dixie Course. The Blue Course is consistently regarded as one of the top 100 golf courses in the world.

In 1873, a modest group of eight gentlemen convened in an office and established the Montreal Golf Club. Eleven years later, in 1884, the club got permission from Queen Victoria to add the word "Royal" to its name, and it was renamed the Royal Montreal Golf Club.

The first golf course was a 9-hole course created on Fletcher's Field, which was owned by the City of Montreal. In 1896, the club relocated to Dixie, Dorval, where it stayed until the constraints of urban expansion forced it to relocate once more. In 1959, the club relocated to L'Île-Bizard, L'Île-Bizard-Sainte-Geneviève, where it erected a 45-hole course. There are two 18-hole courses and one 9-hole course on the 45-hole layout. The Royal Montreal Golf Club was one of the five oldest golf clubs in 1995, when the " Royal Canadian Golf Association " celebrated its 100th anniversary. To date, the RCGA has held several national golf competitions, including the Canadian Open. This golf club hosted the inaugural edition of the Canadian Open.