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Official HGU Website

History of the Hampshire Golf Union

The Hampshire, Isle of Wight and Channel Islands Golf Union was formed in 1893 with Clubs from Hampshire and the Isle of Wight thus becoming the FIRST County Union in England.

In 1894 the first County Championship was held at Royal Winchester Golf Club and in 1897 the Channel Island Clubs joined the Union. In 1921 the then President, Major R C H Sloane, presented a silver challenge cup for the winner of the County Championship. The Hampshire Open Championship was inaugurated in 1967 and was transferred to the Hampshire PGA in 1989.

In addition to the Championship, the Union runs the events shown below:- 
(The date in brackets relates to the inauguration date)

From 1894 to 1925 the County Championship was decided by 36 holes Stroke Play. From 1926 it has been decided by match play after a qualifying round of 36 holes stroke play. In 1921 the then President, Major R C H Sloane Stanley, presented a siver challenge cup to be held by the winner of the Championship for the year. A random draw was made for the match play stages of the competition until 1997 when it was decided to seed the draw based upon the position achieved in the qualifying rounds.