International Golf Federation

Golf was on the programme of the Paris 1900 and St. Louis 1904 Olympic Games, with the former edition including events for both men and women.

In January 1958, the United States Golf Association (USGA), having received numerous invitations for international matches against individual countries, proposed the creation of a global team competition that would allow many nations to compete together. In March of that year, USGA representatives met with officials of The Royal & Ancient Golf Club (R&A) and, together, proposed St. Andrews (Scotland) as the site of the future first World Team Championship for men golfers.

In May 1958, representatives from 35 countries met in Washington, D.C., United States, hosted by the USGA and the R&A, to establish the World Amateur Golf Council (WAGC), with 32 member organizations forming the Council and adopting its governing articles. Later that year, the very first championship was held in October at St Andrews. The men’s championship prize, the Eisenhower Trophy, took its name from then USA President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and symbolized the goal of fostering friendship and sportsmanship among the peoples of the world.

France hosted the first Women’s World Amateur Team Championship event at the St. Germain Golf Club, near Paris, in October 1964, awarding the Espirito Santo Trophy.

In 2003, the name of the organization was changed from the World Amateur Golf Council to its current name, International Golf Federation (IGF). Golf was re-instated to the Olympic Programme, with individual events for men and women, at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. Two years prior, the sport had already joined the programme of the Youth Summer Olympics, at Nanjing 2014.

As of January 2026, the IGF has 154 National Federation Members and 21 Professional Members. The headquarters of the IGF is located by the shores of Lake Génève, in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the organization’s current president is Sweden’s Annika Sörenstam. Although golf has never appeared at the Paralympics, the IGF is an International Paralympic Committee (IPC)-recognized federation.