Established in 1879, The Colombo Club as it was then known began golf at the Galle Face esplanade was inaugurated despite not having clubhouse nor a proper golf course. The esplanade in itself was an impressive piece of vast real estate bounded by the Beira Lake, the Indian ocean, the ramparts of the Colombo Fort and the first hotel in Ceylon, The Galle Face Hotel. However, it was not the ideal venue for golf because through the middle of the Galle Face esplanade ran a carriageway providing passage from the Fort to Cinnamon Gardens for the Governor and gentry to travel in their horse drawn carriages, and the esplanade was open to other sporting events such as Horse Riding & Polo, Rugby, Soccer and Cricket.
In 1880 on the 13th March, nine English gentlemen met at the Colombo Club and held the first Annual General Meeting. It was a historical occasion; the Golf Club was a year old and it was time to elect a committee and create a set of rules to handle the affairs of the Golf Club.
Mr. Edward Aitken was elected Chairman, Mr. R.L.M. Brown Honorary Secretary and R L Law Captain.
The inaugural committee consisted of eminent luminaries such as Edward Aitken founder of Aitken Spence & Co, W. Sommerville founder of Sommerville & Co, Major Frank A Fairlie from the famous Fairlie family of Prestwick in England, R Webster and R L M Brown founder of Lewis Browns.
Senior clerks of Lewis Browns recorded the Minutes of the inaugural and subsequent meetings. The Rules were formalized borrowing closely from the rules book published by the Royal Calcutta Golf Club which was established 50 years earlier and several new rules were added. The entrance fee was Ceylon Rupees (LKR) 10, with an annual subscription of Rs. 5. Medals were to be offered as prizes for major events, and an order was placed with a U.K. company to supply the silverware.
As time went by the numbers taking to golf in Ceylon increased. However, with Polo and Cricket crowding the Galle Face Esplanade for space and members of the general public believing they too had the inalienable right to enjoy the esplanade, the game of golf was threatened to be restricted and eventually even snuffed out.
Fortune however gave the answer to this problem in a manner that had nothing to do with golf!
Sir Charles Henry De Soysa, a Ceylonese gentleman and philanthropist who unsuccessfully was chasing his dream of creating a center of excellence for agriculture and animal husbandry, and set up a farm named Alfred Model farm which never took off. Eventually the land of the farm eroded to waste overgrown with weeds and shrub, becoming a grazing ground for stray cattle. Sir Henry gifted this piece of prime land on which was the Model Farm to the colonial government.
This also coincided with the time when Sir West Ridgeway arrived in Ceylon and took office as the British Governor of Ceylon. He was a golfer himself with a keen interest in the game, and when the rapidly growing golf community of Colombo made several requests for suitable facilities, they found a sympathetic ear with Sir West Ridgeway. And so it happened that in July 1896, Alfred Model farm was officially transferred to the Colombo Golf Club. The Executive Committee of the Golf Club authorized the release of the princely sum of LKR 500 for expenses to clearing the land and preparation work to build a golf course.
The Colombo Golf Club rapidly developed the golf course at the former Model farm land and it was felicitously named ‘The Ridgeway’ after governor Sir West Ridgeway who was invited to formally open the new facilities. The opening was held on the 9th Dember 1986 and was a glittering affair with the guest list and participating invitees comparable with the Ascot or the Derby in England.
Among the list of distinguished attendees – in addition to Sir West Ridgeway, Lady Ridgeway and Miss Ridgeway – was Maha Mudliyar S D Bandaranaike, later knighted as Sir Solomon Dias Bandaranaike and who was the father of S W R D Bandaranaike, Prime Minister of Ceylon in 1956 and grandfather of Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, President from 1994-2005.
In 1928, His Majesty, King George V conferred upon the Club the privilege of using the prefix “Royal” and thereafter the Colombo Golf Club came to be known as the Royal Colombo Golf Club.
British skills in administration and organization were strongly established over the hugely expanded British empire and included Ceylon. The British system in Ceylon was established in most parts of the island beginning from in 1796 when they took over occupation of the island from the Dutch, and eventually expanded over the entire island after 1815 when the era of Kings of Lanka ended. With the arrival of commerce and settlements of British personnel in various areas of industry and commerce sports of England came to stay in Ceylon prominently golf, rugby, cricket, polo and soccer.
After these sports were strongly established in Colombo, they moved to the outstations particularly to plantations areas where the owners and management were almost exclusively British. Golf is recorded to have moved to Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Diyatalawa, Bandarawela, Badulla and Ratnapura, and surprisingly even to Jaffna where it was played around the Jaffna Fort.
Beauchamp de Saram and his cousin F J de Saram were the first Ceylonese to be admitted to the Colombo Golf Club when it was at the Galle Face Esplanade. The De Saram family left an indelible mark on golf in Ceylon as great exponents of the game as well as having solid administrative skills. Beauchamp and FJ de Saram were the founders of two eminent firms of lawyers in Ceylon D L & F de Saram and F J & G de Saram that still are prominent names in the legal fraternity in the country.
The climate of Ceylon was found to be more conducive to golf than the climate of India and the island being much smaller than India less time taken to travel between places was also a positive factor.
April historically is the hottest month in the island and to escape from the heat in 1889 the links golf course in Nuwara Eliya was established. It also gives even today a significant change as Nuwara Eliya is very different to Colombo, geographically and climatically. After British occupation on the island ended in 1948, more golf courses came into being; three 18-hole golf courses in Kandy, Hambantota and Trincomalee and three 9-hole golf courses in Diyatalawa, Koggala/Galle and in the ancient capital area of Anuradhapura.