The SOCIETY Newsletter #93

October: Golf’s Unlikely Powerhouse Month

Autumn is golf’s quiet poet.

The fairways thin, the days shorten, and the light turns golden. The game slows to a reflective pace—just as it did in the moments when golf’s very foundations were laid.

For all the talk of Augusta in April or St Andrews in July, it’s October—the month of harvest and wind-swept melancholy—that stands as the true cradle of championship golf.

Hidden in the crisp air of this month are the birth dates of nearly every cornerstone event the game has ever known.

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The First Open – October 1860

The story begins on October 17, 1860, at Prestwick Golf Club on Scotland’s rugged Ayrshire coast.

Eight professionals gathered to play for a curious prize: a crimson leather belt with a silver buckle—the Challenge Belt. There was no silver cup, no great crowd, and no hint that this modest gathering would shape golf’s competitive destiny.

Willie Park Sr., a clubmaker from Musselburgh, captured the title that day, defeating Old Tom Morris by two strokes. The “Open Championship” was born—not out of spectacle, but out of the simple desire to measure skill among peers.

Each autumn thereafter, the greatest golfers of Britain returned to Prestwick to vie for that red belt, marking October as the month that gave golf its first major.

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The American Experiment – October 1894

Fast-forward thirty-four years, and the seeds of golf had crossed the Atlantic. The game was still young in America—played mostly by small groups of enthusiasts in the Northeast. But these early clubs longed for a national contest worthy of the game’s rising stature.

In October 1894, Saint Andrew’s Golf Club of Yonkers, New York—America’s oldest continuously existing golf club—hosted the first U.S. Open. The event was played over one day and 36 holes, with Willie Dunn emerging victorious.

Yet, this championship was unsanctioned; there was no official governing body. Even so, it represented America’s first attempt at defining its own national champion—a brave echo of Prestwick’s spirit three decades earlier.

In that same October, another competition—the U.S. Amateur—was held at Newport Country Club. These twin tournaments signaled that America’s golf community was ready for something larger.

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The Birth of the USGA and the Real Beginnings – October 1895

The following year, everything changed.

In December of 1894, the United States Golf Association was founded to bring order to a game spreading faster than anyone anticipated. And when the first official USGA championships were played in October 1895, golf in America was, at last, unified under one flag.

On the links of Newport Country Club, Horace Rawlins, a 21-year-old English professional, won the inaugural U.S. Open, while Charles Blair Macdonald—a Chicago amateur educated at St Andrews—claimed the first U.S. Amateur.

That single month formalized the structure of competitive golf in America: amateur ideals on one side, professional aspiration on the other. October once again stood as the threshold of new eras.

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The Professionals’ Crown – October 1916

Two decades later, as professional golf gained identity and respect, another October moment would seal the evolution of the modern game.

At Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, New York, the first PGA Championship was played in October 1916. The event was the brainchild of department store magnate Rodman Wanamaker, who sought to elevate the professional class of golfers—men who taught the game by day and played by passion when they could.

Jim Barnes, a towering Cornishman known as “Long Jim,” claimed that first title, and with it, the inaugural Wanamaker Trophy. From that day forward, the PGA Championship would serve as the professional’s proving ground—a third major, and another October birth.

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A Month Unlike Any Other

It is a quirk of history both poetic and profound:

 • The Open Championship (1860)

 • The U.S. Open (1894)

 • The U.S. Amateur (1895)

 • The PGA Championship (1916)

Four of golf’s great cornerstones—all born in October.

Three of the game’s four modern majors trace their lineage to this single month.

And yet October rarely receives its due. It lacks the azaleas of Augusta and the fanfare of summer links, but what it does have is something deeper: origin. October is when golf, time and again, reinvented itself—quietly, purposefully, and with an enduring sense of tradition.

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The Autumn Soul of Golf

Perhaps it’s fitting that golf’s grand institutions were born as the leaves fell and daylight waned. Golf, after all, has always been a contemplative game—equal parts creation and remembrance.

In October, the light softens, the air sharpens, and the game seems older, wiser. It was in this month that golf’s past met its future: when the sport first found its champions, its governing bodies, its identity.

So, as the wind whips across the fairways and the last rounds of the season are played, pause for a moment.

Every shot you take this month, every round you play beneath a canopy of gold and red, is a quiet tribute to the month that made golf what it is.

October—the unlikely powerhouse of golf history.

GOLF HISTORY TRIP TO IRELAND

This past August the Society of Golf Historians hosted its first ever golf history trip abroad. Myself and seven new friends traveled to Scotland where we played the Ancient Links of Musselburgh, St Andrews Jubilee, the Old Course, Carnoustie, Prestwick and Royal Troon. In between the golf we explored museums, graveyards and some of the great history displayed in the great clubhouses of Scotland.

In September of 2026 I will be hosting our second trip- this time to see the Historic Links of Ireland.

I am working with Perry Golf to build our itinerary and the cost will include ground transportation, lodging and the golf rounds. I am hoping you are as excited about this trip as I am.

Don’t have any friends to join you? No worries I promise you after the first day you will have a bunch of new friends. Every round we mix up the groups so that you will have a chance to play with everyone. It’s insane fun!

X MARKS THE SPOT

THE ANTIQUITY GOLF CO’s new hat will be released for pre-orders late November. The hat is called “X MARKS THE SPOT” and it’s our homage to that wonderful major in the month of April. I love the design so much we may offer T-shirts and hoodies.

It’s simple- it’s classic and it’s the ultimate “if you know, you know.” We have shared a preview with some golfers and it’s been a unanimous hit!

REMINDER

If you are interested in attending the first annual Society of Golf Historians Meeting on January 19, 2026 please connect with me. I think I already have enough commitments to sell out the event, so I will soon be asking those folks to finalize their registration. I will then beg the club to expand the number of possible guests. I don’t want to pressure you - but I want to make sure those who want to join us, can join us.

Thank you

Thank you for taking the time to read our newsletter. I would also like to thank the Golf Heritage Society for inviting me to drop in on their National Show this week. I had a fantastic time connecting with old friends and making new ones.

My only regret was that I couldn’t spend more time with everyone…and perhaps that I didn’t run off with Todd Hamilton’s Claret Jug (sorry Todd) but the Golffice needs a Claret Jug. I won’t trade one of my kids for a Claret Jug, but I will let you pay for their college tuition.

If you have ideas for the newsletter or want to write a short article or story reach out!