The following is a partial timeline of the history of golf.
1851–1860
1851
The Prestwick Golf Club is founded.
1856
Pau Golf Club is founded, the first in continental Europe.
A rule change is enacted that, in match play, the ball must be played as it lies or the hole be conceded. It is the last recorded toughening of the rules structure.
1857
The Golfer's Manual, by "A Keen Hand" (H. B. Farnie), is published. It is the first book on golf instruction.
The Prestwick Club institutes the first Championship Meeting, a foursomes competition at St Andrews attended by eleven golf clubs. George Glennie and J.C. Stewart win for Blackheath.
1858
The Royal Curragh Golf Club is founded at Kildare, the oldest golf club in Ireland.
The format of the Championship Meeting is changed to individual match play and is won by Robert Chambers of Bruntsfield.
Allan Robertson becomes the first golfer to break 80 at the Old Course, recording a 79.
The King James VI Golf Club is founded in Perth, Scotland.
1859
The first Amateur Championship is won by George Condie of Perth.
Death of Allan Robertson, the first great professional golfer.
1860–1870
1860
The Prestwick Club institutes a Professional Championship played at Prestwick; the first Championship Belt is won by Willie Park, Snr.
1861
The Professionals Championship is opened to amateurs, and The Open Championship is born. The first competition is won by Old Tom Morris.
1864
The North Devon Golf Club is founded at Westward Ho!
1865
The London Scottish Golf Club is founded on Wimbledon Common
1867
The Ladies' Golf Club at St. Andrews is founded, the first golf club for women.
1869
The Liverpool Golf Club is founded at Hoylake, later Royal Liverpool.
Young Tom Morris, age 17, wins the first of four successive Open Championships. His streak would include an 11-stroke victory in 1869 and a 12-stroke victory in 1870 (in a 36-hole format). His 149 in the 1870 Open over 36 holes is a stroke average that would not be equalled until the invention of the rubber-cored ball.
1870–1880
1870
Young Tom Morris wins his third consecutive Open Championship, thus winning permanent possession of the Belt.
The Royal Adelaide Golf Club is founded, the first golf club in Australia.
1871
The Forfar Golf Club is formed, Tom Morris Snr lays out the course.
The Otago Golf Club is formed, the first club in New Zealand.
1872
The Open Championship is reinstituted when Prestwick, St. Andrews and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers offer a new trophy, with the Open Championship to be hosted in rotation by the three clubs.
Young Tom Morris wins his fourth consecutive Open Championship.
1873
The Christchurch Golf Club is formed, the second club in New Zealand.
The Royal Montreal Golf Club is formed, the oldest surviving golf club in Canada and North America.
The Open Championship is held for the first time at the Old Course.
1874
The Royal Quebec Golf Club is formed in Quebec City, and remains the second oldest surviving golf club in Canada and North America.
1875
The Oxford and Cambridge University Golf Clubs are founded.
Young Tom Morris dies at age 24. He did not emotionally recover from the death of both his wife and their daughter in childbirth earlier that year.
1876
The Toronto Golf Club is established, the third oldest golf club in Canada and North America.
Originally located on the Fernhill property in Toronto, the Club moved to its current location on the banks of the Etobicoke River in 1911.
1877
Jamie Anderson wins the first of three consecutive Open Championships.
1878
The first University Match is played on the London Scottish Golf Club course at Wimbledon, won by Oxford.
1880–1890
1881
Royal Belfast is founded.
The use of moulds is instituted to dimple the gutta-percha ball. Golfers had long noticed that the guttie worked in the air much better after it had been hit several times and scuffed up.
1882
Great Yarmouth Golf Club is founded by Dr. Thomas Browne R.N, who moved to the area to work at the Royal Naval Hospital
1883
Bob Ferguson of Musselburgh, losing The Open in extra holes, comes one victory shy of equalling Young Tom Morris' record of four consecutive titles. Ferguson ends up later in life penniless, working out of the Musselburgh caddy-shack.