GOLF
It is almost 125 years since the Royal Colombo Golf Club was inaugurated. The stone was laid and a course was built on the Galle Face esplanade. The Royal Colombo is the second oldest Royal Golf Club outside the British Isles , with the Royal Calcutta Golf Club established 175 years ago identified as the oldest. During this period of time every imaginable game was played on Galle Face and the playing area was so impossibly crowded, that golf was getting choked due to unlawful encroachment.
In 1895, the Colonial Secretary, a rabid golfer himself, moved in and brought immense relief to all golfers when, in consultation with Governor Sir Joseph West Ridgeway, he offered the Alfred Model Farm – named after the son of Queen Victoria – to the Golf Club. In December 1896, the course was opened by Governor Ridgeway and since then the Royal Colombo Golf Club course has been named Ridgeways, and today, after much restructuring, the course is an absolute beauty comparable with the best in the region.
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