Governing bodies: who runs the game.

The R&A and the USGA: the Rules

The Rules of Golf belong to two bodies. The R&A's guide to the Rules describes them as governed by the R&A and the USGA, and the current edition, the 2023 Rules of Golf, has been in effect since 1 January 2023. According to Wikipedia, the USGA governs in the United States and Mexico and the R&A everywhere else, both applying one shared code, and the two have issued the Rules jointly since 1952, after a joint drafting conference in 1951. The World Handicap System is also a joint R&A and USGA product, explained on the handicaps page.

The R&A

According to Wikipedia, today's R&A was formed in 2004, when the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews passed its governance and championship roles to a newly formed group of companies called The R&A, and the club itself became a private members' club. Wikipedia also says the R&A organises The Open and founded what became the Official World Golf Ranking in 1986. In 2016 the R&A had 152 affiliated organisations worldwide, Golf Business News reported. Its chief executive as of April 2026 was Mark Darbon, quoted in that role in the R&A's article of 22 April 2026 launching a five-year strategy under the purpose "Opening Golf to the World". The club's own history is covered on the St Andrews and the R&A page.

The USGA

Wikipedia records that the USGA was formed on 22 December 1894 as the Amateur Golf Association of the United States and renamed soon after. It came about because two clubs, Newport and Saint Andrew's, had each staged a rival national amateur championship in 1894. The five founding clubs, listed by both Wikipedia and Golf Monthly, were Newport Country Club, Saint Andrew's Golf Club in Yonkers, New York, The Country Club, Chicago Golf Club and Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. Wikipedia names Theodore Havemeyer as the first president. Its roles, per Wikipedia, include writing and interpreting the Rules with the R&A, providing the national handicap system, testing clubs and balls for conformance, and running 14 national championships, 10 of them for amateurs, including the U.S. Open.

The PGAs: the professionals' associations

The PGA (Great Britain and Ireland)

The PGA was formed on 9 September 1901 as the London and Counties Golf Professionals' Association, prompted by a letter in Golf Illustrated that April. J.H. Taylor, James Braid and Harry Vardon are credited with the idea behind it. In February 2026, marking its 125th anniversary, The PGA reported 8,500 members and trainees working in more than 80 countries as club professionals, coaches, and managers or directors of golf (Golf Business News).

The PGA of America

According to Wikipedia, the PGA of America was founded on 10 April 1916 in New York City, following a luncheon hosted by department store owner Rodman Wanamaker on 17 January 1916, which LINKS Magazine also describes. Wikipedia says it had 35 charter members, including Walter Hagen, and that Robert White was its first president. Wikipedia adds that it has more than 30,000 members, is based in Frisco, Texas (its campus there opened in August 2022), and runs the PGA Championship, the Senior PGA Championship and the Women's PGA Championship, as well as co-organising the Ryder Cup. Wikipedia also records that from 1934 until November 1961 its bylaws contained a "Caucasian-only" membership clause; the access and integration page covers that history.

The tours

PGA Tour

Wikipedia describes the PGA Tour's birth as a break from the PGA of America in 1968: a split in August of that year was followed by a December compromise that created the Tournament Players Division, which took the name PGA Tour in 1975. Wikipedia's infobox gives 2 December 1929 as a founding date, counting the earlier tour run by the PGA of America, so the founding year depends on which history you count. The tour is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. On 17 June 2025 it named Brian Rolapp, previously the NFL's Chief Media and Business Officer, as CEO of PGA TOUR, Inc. and PGA TOUR Enterprises, and said Commissioner Jay Monahan would remain on its boards through the end of 2026. The tour also runs the Korn Ferry Tour, PGA Tour Champions and PGA Tour Americas. See the PGA Tour page.

DP World Tour

The European Tour's own timeline dates its first season to 1972, with John Jacobs as founding father; its first official event was the Open de España at Pals Golf Club, won by Antonio Garrido on 12 April 1972. Ken Schofield succeeded Jacobs as Executive Director on 1 January 1975. The Race to Dubai replaced the Order of Merit from the 2009 season. The European Tour and PGA Tour announced a Strategic Alliance on 27 November 2020 and extended it on 12 January 2022. From the 2022 season, its 50th, the tour became the DP World Tour; it noted at the time that only 23 of the 47 events on the 2022 schedule were in Europe. See the DP World Tour page.

LPGA

According to Wikipedia, the LPGA succeeded the Women's Professional Golf Association, which was founded in 1944 and stopped operating in December 1949, and Patty Berg was the LPGA's first president. It is based at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Florida, and its official development tour is the Epson Tour. The LPGA's founding in 1950 by 13 women appears in summaries of LPGA and World Golf Hall of Fame pages, but those pages could not be opened for this site, so the founding details are not confirmed here.

Ladies European Tour

Wikipedia says the LET began in 1978 as the Women's Professional Golfers' Association, part of the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland, with its first season in 1979. The members formed their own company in 1988, it took the name Ladies European Tour Limited in July 2000, and it has been based at Buckinghamshire Golf Club since 2008. In January 2020 it entered a joint venture with the LPGA Tour. Its development tour is the LET Access Series. See LPGA and LET.

International Golf Federation

The IGF says it was founded in 1958 and is based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is the recognised international federation for golf in the Olympic and Paralympic Movement, and it runs the Eisenhower Trophy and the Espirito Santo Trophy. It lists seven delivery partners: the R&A, the USGA, the PGA TOUR, the European Tour, the PGA of America, the LPGA and the Masters Tournament. See Olympic golf.

National federations

National federations also have a role. In Great Britain and Ireland, for example, the R&A says the World Handicap System is administered locally by England Golf, Scottish Golf, Wales Golf and Golf Ireland.