The forgotten golf club at the heart of the Open

Look towards the right of the long, testing par-3 17th at Royal Troon and you’ll find the home of another golf club steeped in history.

The Ladies Golf Club Troon – founded in 1882 – shares this famous stretch of linksland on the Ayrshire coast and its members will be at the heart of the drama when a record 250,000 people descend on the dunes during Open week.

The clubhouse overlooks the penultimate green of the Championship course – a seat there can be considered one of the best tickets in town.

Many will be familiar that Royal Troon belatedly scrapped its male-only policy and overwhelmingly voted to admit female members before it last staged this tournament back in 2016. That decision was welcomed not only by the vast majority of members, but also the R&A, as it ensured Troon would keep its place on the Open rota.

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Not everyone, however, will be aware that a vibrant club of over 300 female members is still thriving on the very same plot of land. 

The members at Ladies Golf Club Troon give up playing for a large chunk of the Open summer, as the adjacent Portland course that they are most familiar with becomes a practice area for the world’s best players. 

“Seeing all these stars at close hand and we’re located right in the middle of the venue, it’s exciting,” Ros Prior, the club’s captain says.

Prior grew up in Troon and is the first third generation captain in the club’s history. Her grandmother Lyla was the captain when the Open was staged there in 1962.

The retired pharmacist was due to become captain in 2023, but then received a blood cancer diagnosis that required extensive chemotherapy. Thankfully, now in remission, she is grateful to have accepted such a proud role during Open year.

“I feel like its a full time job!” she says. “It’s a really vibrant club with a buoyant atmosphere and good home baking and a well maintained clubhouse. We’re constantly trying to do things to update it and maintain its values and traditions.”

Like many of her fellow members, Prior will spend much of Open week feeling privileged to be inside the ropes. 

“We do less and less because its a well oiled machine by the R&A,” she explains, “but I’ve done scoring at a number of Opens here going back to the early 80s. I’m doing that again this year. Being the captain of our club, I might get a decent game! 

“1982 was my first year and I was fortunate to be out with some later games on the Saturday and the Sunday. I scored for Rory McIlroy on the Saturday in 2016, but it wasn’t one of his better days. I remember he snapped his club on the 16th getting angry with himself. 

“The exciting thing about being a scorer is getting so absorbed in the game. You see the crowds but you’re just so engaged. You feel involved and you can see them playing the course at such close hand.”

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The members also have a unique perspective of how the Championship course quickly evolves into an Open test – even if they do play it sporadically. Prior has learned that the hard way.

“We don’t really want to play it that often as its far too difficult,” she says. “As members at the Ladies Club we have a couple of competitions on it. Then we can choose three rounds in the year to play.

“Only a certain group of us will play it. It’s simply too long and too tough for most of us. The course is setting itself up for the Open. But I managed to get my own golf ball the whole way round which is definitely a victory.

“You come away and think I’m glad I’ve done that – lets go back to the Portland course!”

Prior, however, does have one “abiding memory” at Royal Troon. She recalls making a hole-in-one on the 17th on the Championship layout when she was just 17 years old.

And if her magical feat is repeated during the drama of Open Sunday, the captain will be the one with the best seat in the house.

Ben Parsons is the Senior Writer at bunkered and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.