Royal Malta Golf Club

The Royal Malta Golf Club was founded in 1888 by Lieutenant-General Sir Henry D’Oyley Torrens KCB KCMG. A career soldier, Sir Henry was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant in the 23rd Foot, Royal Welsh Fusiliers in 1849. His rise through the ranks was very rapid, reaching the rank of Colonel in 1864, Major General in 1869 and finally Lieutenant-General in 1884; when he was appointed to command British troops in South Africa. He was only 52 when he arrived in Cape Town, his exceptional ability reflected in the high rank he held at a comparatively early age. Within ten days of his arrival he had launched the game of golf in South Africa. Thus the Cape Golf Club (the forerunner of Royal Cape) came into being.

Sir Henry’s final posting was as Governor and Commander-in-Chief Malta. He arrived in Malta on 28 September 1888 and within one month he had founded Royal Malta; with a clubhouse in St Anne’s Ditch and a 9-hole course laid out around the bastions (better known as the Hornworks) of Valletta. Not much of a golf course - with practically no turf and with 'greens' of puzzolana concrete, covered with sand to give the ball some stop. The so-called fairways were no more than 20 yards wide stone walls, in some cases 150 feet high, on both sides. The ball could either ricochet from one side to another or become lodged in the battlements. At least this form of golf satisfied the voracious appetite for golf of the servicemen stationed on the island. Fortunately some photographs of this unique course still survive and are on the wall of the club house. Golf was also apparently played at the Mosta garrisons but no record of this 'course' exist.

At the time the then Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Albert Ernest Alfred, third son of Queen Victoria, also served in Malta and became one of the founder members of the club. Hence the royal patronage from where the club gets its name. The circle of golf clubs in the Commonwealth with Royal status is an exclusive one, with just 61 members. The relationship between golf and the British monarchy started in 1833 when King William IV bestowed the appellation upon Scotland’s Royal Perth Golfing Society. The king was also a patron of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews, which he crowned one year later. Since then clubs in 12 countries have been honoured.

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Wikipedia