Royal Montreal Golf Club

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'The Royal Montreal Golf Club' (French: Le Club de Golf Royal Montréal) is the oldest golf club in North America, founded 145 years ago in 1873.

On the 4th day of November 1873, in the youthful but growing port city of Montreal, a small group of eight gentlemen sat in a dockside office and formed the Montreal Golf Club. This was the first effort to place golf on an organized basis, not only in Canada but in North America and it is, therefore, the oldest golf club in continuous existence on the continent. Eleven years later, in 1884, permission was granted by Queen Victoria to use the "Royal" prefix.

The first golf course was a 9-hole layout on Fletcher's Field, part of Mount Royal Park, which was shared by the red-coated golfers and other citizens relaxing in what was then the outskirts of Montreal.

The first female member, Mrs. William Wallis Watson, was elected in 1891 - the first woman of any golf club in North America. With her election, began the Ladies' Branch of the Royal Montreal Golf Club. In 1899, the Ladies moved into their own clubhouse at Dixie.

In 1896, the club had moved to Dixie, in the parish of Dorval, where it remained until the pressures of urban growth again dictated a decision to move. The clubhouse at Dixie is now the Saint Anne Academy, formally Queen of Angels Academy for Girls. Charles Murray served as the head professional at Royal Montreal from 1905 until his death in 1938.

The last move was to Île-Bizard, Quebec in 1959, where 45 holes were constructed by American golf course architect Dick Wilson. The Blue Course is routinely cited as a preeminent Canadian golf course and among the best in the world.

Royal Montreal was one of the five founding Clubs of the Royal Canadian Golf Association, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1995. The RCGA is the governing body of golf in Canada and organizes the major national championships, including the Canadian Open, the first of which was played at Royal Montreal in 1904.

Royal Montreal hosted the Presidents Cup in 2007 and the RBC Canadian Open in July 2014.

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