In 1744, a committee of the Gentlemen Golfers of Edinburgh drafted the first 13 rules of golf to compete for a silver golf club, presented by the City of Edinburgh, over Leith Links. John Rattray, a physician and champion archer, was the first winner and was declared ‘Captain of the Golf’ on 2nd April 1744.
The Gentlemen Golfers built a clubhouse at Leith in 1768. Until then, they usually met in a tavern called Luckie Clephan’s,
Known by various names, the Gentlemen Golfers became ‘The Honourable, the Edinburgh Company of Golfers’ in 1800. Subsequently, this was streamlined to the present ‘Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers’.
Source: scottishgolfhistory.org