The Claret Jug: The Surprising History Behind Golf's Most Famous Trophy
If I asked you to picture a golf trophy, chances are you'd imagine the Claret Jug, in the hands of a champion standing on the 18th green. The silver gleaming in the sun, cameras flashing and names being engraved in history.
But what about a belt?
Would you ever picture a red Moroccan leather belt decorated with silver buckles and emblems?
Before the Claret Jug, There Was a Belt….The Challenge Belt.
The Open Championship, the oldest major in golf, didn't originally award a silver trophy.
Instead, winners received something called the Challenge Belt, a red Moroccan leather belt decorated with silver buckles and emblems.
Honestly?
It looked more like a boxing championship belt than something you'd expect to see in golf.
This belt had rules
The rules stated that any player who won The Open Championship three years in a row would permanently keep the belt.
And in 1870, that's exactly what happened.
Young Tom Morris won The Open Championship in 1868, 1869, and 1870, earning permanent possession of the Challenge Belt.
Which meant golf's oldest championship suddenly had no trophy…..because there was no backup. And agreement on what to do next.
The result?
The Open Championship wasn't played in 1871.
It's almost impossible to imagine today. A major championship disappearing for a year because organizers couldn't agree on a trophy.
But that's exactly what happened.
The Birth of the Claret Jug
In 1872, three clubs joined together:
Prestwick Golf Club
The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews
The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers
Together, they commissioned a new trophy. Officially, it was called The Golf Champion Trophy.
But that's not the name people remember.
The trophy quickly became known as The Claret Jug because it resembled the silver pitchers once used to serve claret wine in the 1800s.
And honestly? The nickname is much more memorable.
It's Smaller Than You Think
One of the most surprising facts about the Claret Jug is its size. Television makes it look enormous but in reality:
Height: just over 20 inches
Weight: approximately 5.5 pounds
To put that into perspective The Wanamaker Trophy weighs nearly 30 pounds
The Claret Jug weighs less than many trophies awarded at local golf clubs
Yet many golfers consider it the most coveted trophy in the sport.
Because its value isn't in the silver. It's in the history.
The Original Trophy Isn't the One Winners Hold Today
The Claret Jug presented today isn't actually the original. Eventually, the original trophy ran out of room for additional names.
A replica was commissioned in 1927, and that's the version modern champions lift. The original now resides safely at St Andrews Links.
So when players like Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Tiger Woods, and Rory McIlroy lift the Claret Jug, they're lifting a continuation of the original story rather than the original artifact itself.
Young Tom Morris Never Held the Trophy
This might be my favorite piece of golf trivia.
Young Tom Morris is the reason the Claret Jug exists.
His three consecutive victories created the need for a new trophy, but he never actually held it.
He won The Open Championship in 1872 and became the first champion whose name would eventually be engraved on the Claret Jug, but the trophy wasn't completed until 1873.
That means the first name engraved on golf's most famous trophy belongs to a player who never physically received it.
The first golfer to actually hold the Claret Jug was Tom Kidd in 1873.
It's one of those strange twists of history that somehow feels fitting.
The Claret Jug isn't just a trophy
It's a timeline.
Every engraving represents a moment in golf history.
Every champion becomes a temporary caretaker before passing the story to the next generation.
And honestly, that's probably why it's remained so special for more than 150 years.
In Episode 8 of Under Par Over Time, I dive deeper into the history of the Challenge Belt, Young Tom Morris, and how the Claret Jug became one of the most iconic trophies in sports.
Because some of golf's greatest stories aren't just about who wins.
They're about the history they become part of.
