About The USGA
Historical evidence demonstrates that golf has been played in the United States of America for well over 200 years. Records show that immigrants to America founded a golf club in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1786, although the longest continuing club operation is credited to the St. Andrew’s Golf Club in Yonkers, New York, which was organized in 1888.In the 1890’s, a dispute arose over the question of a National Amateur Champion. In 1894, St. Andrew’s and Rhode Island’s Newport Golf Club each staged invitational tournaments and each declared its winner to be the National Amateur Champion. The confusion made it clear that an impartial governing body was needed to administer golf, conduct national championships and oversee the codification and interpretation of the game’s rules, as well as Rules of Amateur Status.
The formation of the United States Golf Association (USGA) was the end result of a December 22, 1894, meeting of delegates in New York City from Newport, St. Andrew’s, Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, The Country Club (Brookline, MA) and the Chicago Golf Club. Theodore A. Havemeyer was elected as the USGA’s first president.
Dedicated to the promotion and conservation of the best interests in golf, the USGA is guided by its 15 member Executive Committee, which is the organization’s policymaking board and represents more than 9,700 member clubs, courses and training facilities. More than thirty committees, comprised of approximately 1,200 men and women volunteers, augment the Executive Committee. All donate their services and pay their own expenses.
Championship golf began in this country in October 1895, with the playing of the first U.S. Amateur, won by Charles Blair Macdonald. The first U.S. Open was played the very next day and was won by Horace Rawlins, an English professional. Both championships were played at the Newport Golf Club and conducted by the USGA.
One-month later, Mrs. Charles S. Brown won the Women’s Amateur, arranged on short notice and played at the Meadow Brook Club in Hempstead, New York. Today, the USGA conducts 13 national championships annually, and the number of players who enter grows at a phenomenal rate.
The 13 national championships conducted by the United States Golf Association are:
United States Open |
United States Women’s Open |
United States Senior Open |
United States Girls’ Junior |
United States Junior Amateur |
United States Women’s Amateur Public Links |
United States Amateur Public Links |
United States Women’s Amateur |
United States Amateur |
United States Women’s Mid-Amateur |
United States Mid-Amateur |
USGA Senior Women’s Amateur |
USGA Senior Amateur |
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(The USGA also operates the State Team Championships, conducted for teams of men and women from around the country and held biennially in odd-numbered years.)
In cooperation with the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, Scotland, the USGA conducts the Walker Cup, a biennial competition between teams of male amateur golfers, the United States of America on one side and Great Britain and Ireland on the other. Similarly, since 1932, the USGA, with the British Ladies Golf Union, conducts the Curtis Cup Match, played between teams of women amateur golfers. The USGA conducts both championships when they are played in this country.
In addition to conducting national championships, the USGA also oversees:
1. The process of interpreting and refining the rules (Rules of Golf).
2. A national handicapping system (Golf Handicap and Information Network [GHIN]).
3. Turfgrass and environmental research to improve golf course playing conditions and reduce certain maintenance costs and water use (Green Section).
4. The constant testing of clubs, balls and other equipment to preserve the element of skill in golf (Research and Test Center).
5. The pursuit of the rigid distinction between amateurs and professionals to keep amateur competitions equitable (Amateur Status and Conduct).
6. The relationship and cooperation between local, state and regional golf associations (Regional/Sectional Affairs).
7. The dissemination of authoritative information on the game of golf through publications, films and catalogues (Communications).
8. Custody of the game’s history in the United States of America with artifacts and over 14,000 volumes in a museum and library (Golf House).
9. The support of individual golfers with direct contact and gives golfers an opportunity to support the USGA (Members Program).
10. A 10-year $50 million initiative “For The Good of The Game”, to make golf more affordable and accessible (USGA Foundation).