Anniversary bash

The world's oldest golf, the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St Andrews in Scotland, turns 250 this year. Understandably, there's a lot of excitement with a series of events and dinners being planned to mark the celebrations.

For the record, the game was formalised at St Andrews on 14 May, 1754, with the foundation of the St Andrews Society of Golfers. Twenty-two "Noblemen and Gentlemen" contributed to a silver club to be played for annually over the links.

Interestingly, the world's second oldest golf club, the Royal Calcutta Golf Club, formed in 1829, also has a series of festivities planned out to mark its 175th anniversary.

Kolkata's (previously known as Calcutta) die-hard golfers and prominent people of the city are believed to be getting together to mark the occasion with fanfare.

Meanwhile, several events have been planned at St Andrews. Its showpiece will be the Amateur Championship, to be played over the Old and Jubilee courses from May 31 to June 5. Around this main event, several competitions for local golfers, juniors and an international foursomes event will be held.

St Andrews is a historic tournament, which from its early beginning as a religious centre, has grown into a place of pilgrimage for golf addicts. It is said that around 390 AD, a monk brought the remains of St Andrew from Patras, Greece.

Evidence, however, suggests that the relics were found in possession of a bishop fleeing from England almost 400 years later. The city took the name after its patron saint St Andrews.

It was in 1123 that the famous stretch of links land, which had been left by the receding waters of the North Sea, was granted by King David I to the bishops who controlled St Andrews. The rights of local citizens to the links have been protected since then.

When Scotland's oldest university was founded at St Andrews in 1413, golf was already a popular sport. But with its popularity increasing, King James II had to ban the game in 1457 by an Act of the Scottish Parliament because archery practice, which was the country's main defence, was getting neglected.

The game, however, resurfaced in the beginning of the 16th century and local golfers shared the links with monarchs, ambassadors, bishops and university academics.

With the Reformation, St Andrews was stripped of its religious significance. In 1754, the Society of St Andrews Golfers was formed which was later renamed the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.

Coming back to the celebrations, for the main Amateur Championships, one of the largest marquee is being erected to seat 1,200 guests at a time.

Various other events will take place around the course, which is being done with the cooperation of bodies like the Royal & Ancient Golf Club, the St Andrew Links Trust and the local authorities.

For the Amateur Championship beginning on May 31, there will be two days of strokeplay qualifying rounds on the Jubilee and Old courses.

During this period, the initial entry of 288 players will be reduced to the leading 64 and those tying for the 64th place as the championship moves into the matchplay stage. The finals will be held over 36 holes on June 5.

Another high point during the week will be the three special dinners, one each for the Royal & Ancient Golf Club members, those who are assisting in running championships from The Open to the Walker Cup, the Junior Open to the Seniors, and one for the worldwide bodies that support the Royal & Ancient Golf Club in its role as the game's governing authority.

Earlier this month, the Duke of York, who is also the Captain of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club, officially opened a new shop and a reception area in the British Golf Museum, also in St Andrews, in time for the anniversary. A new five-pound note will also be issued to mark the event.

The museum's new exhibition space has some of the most popular pieces of golfing art, including an installation of bronzes featuring the golf grips of champions like Arnold Palmer, Nick Faldo and Greg Norman by sculptor and Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres. The museum, which tells the history of British golf, will remain open through the season.

Today, as the Royal and Ancient Club turns 250, it attracts golfing pilgrims rather than those of a religious nature. And for all them there is just one dream "" to play at least once on the world's oldest surviving golf course.