Golfing Societies

[wsmorrison]

I had the great pleasure to play golf and enjoy the company of members of the golfing society of the Marylebone Cricket Club this past summer.  In Philadelphia we have two Quaker golfing societies, the Ozone Club and the Divotees and another society,  the Fairway Club   The Ozone Club was started in 1901 and held matches on courses throughout the district on the third Wednesday of every month.  The winter rounds were always played at Atlantic City CC where the ground was less likely to be covered in snow.  Members of the home course had their handicaps lowered by 2 strokes to offset home course advantage.  The Fairway Club was started in 1919 and the Divotees in 1921.  

Another Philadelphia golfing society is The Port Society, begun in 1988 and similar to the London  societies, the Golf Match Club and their rivals The Moles.  Each member, upon initiation, puts money into a fund that purchases vintage Port for the annual dinner.

What other golfing societies exist in the US?  How about abroad?  I attended a dinner at the Links Club in NY and that seems like a wonderful town club but I don't know if it exists as a golfing society with scheduled matches or a place where golfers meet.

[TEPaul]

"I attended a dinner at the Links Club in NY and that seems like a wonderful town club but I don't know if it exists as a golfing society with scheduled matches or a place where golfers meet."

Wayne:

The Links Club in NYC always had a connection to The Links GC on Long Island but probably a much looser connection than most on here have expected. Many of the members of The Links GC on Long Island belonged to The Links Club in NYC but I do not think being a member of one automatically meant you were a member of the other. The Links Club in NYC was probably more along the order of some of those fabulous old NYC business and social clubs of which there were once so many.

Those kind of old "intown" eating and business and social clubs were something of the basis on which Digby Baltzell created his entire thesis of how and why the old WASP class eventually fell out of the power range they once enjoyed in America.

His point was not that anything wrong or nefarious went on in those old WASP intown clubs, just that their memberships refused to allow anyone else into them other than WASPS.

And so, barred from access, the other burgeoning ethnic groups of the time simply created their own and eventually skirted around and passed and passed by that WASP world.

[Phil_the_Author]

"The Ozone Club was started in 1901 and held matches on courses throughout the district on the third Wednesday of every month.  The winter rounds were always played at Atlantic City CC where the ground was less likely to be covered in snow..."

I find that interesting as Tilly wrote about how he, Crump and sveral others in their group travelled to Atlantic City to play golf in the winter. In fact, he writes how it is on one of these train travels that the Pine Barrens in New Jersey were noticed by Crump.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if they were members, possibly even among the founders of the Ozone Club and that Pine Valley, in some small way, could trace its origins through it.

[KBanks]

Wayne,

One of the greatest societies in this country would be the United States Seniors Golf Association. They have their tournaments at courses which are revered by this board.

Ken

[Tom Roewer]

The Royal Burgess Golfing Society (1735) is arguably the oldest.  I have played The Royal Burgess Golf Club which is very enjoyable.  A friend is a member.  It's architects are listed as - Willie Park jr., James Braid, Harry Colt, Philip Mackenzie Ross.  It is located NW of Edinburgh, pretty close to the airport.

[Bill_McBride]

GCAer Michael Whitaker is, I believe, the head of the Greenville Golfing Society in South Carolina.  From what I've heard they have an active calendar most of the year in the Greenville area.

I think both Birmingham, Alabama, and Austin, Texas have active local groups that organize weekly competitions.

[Paul Stephenson]

Wayne,

One of the greatest societies in this country would be the United States Seniors Golf Association. They have their tournaments at courses which are revered by this board.

Ken

I think they play in international matches against Canada and GBNI.  A member at our course represented Canada when the matches were played at Pine Valley.

[wsmorrison]

Phil,

The group of Philadelphia friends that met for competitions at Atlantic City CC included Crump, Tillinghast, Thomas and others.  Between these junkets and the Lesley Cup, there were a lot of gatherings of men that would prove so important to the development of American golf.

Sean,

I know Guy well.  He is a member of my home club and also a Flynn club in Florida.  He is a very fine player (2 times club champion) and a great guy.  I didn't know about his matches in the O&C GS.  I look forward to asking him about them.  I've had my wallet nicked in St. Andrews on the first day of my trip.  That was not a pleasant vacation.  Too bad Guy had a similar experience.

[Mark Pearce]

The Royal Burgess Golfing Society (1735) is arguably the oldest.  I have played The Royal Burgess Golf Club which is very enjoyable.  A friend is a member.  It's architects are listed as - Willie Park jr., James Braid, Harry Colt, Philip Mackenzie Ross.  It is located NW of Edinburgh, pretty close to the airport.

The Royal Burgess, like the Crail Golfing Society,is a bit more than a society.  I'd say that a society with its own course has become a club, notwithstanding its continued use of the word society.

I belong to the St James, Caledonian and Penguin International Golfing Society which is a fairly eclectic group with an odd history, which hastwo annual meetings, one at The Berkshire and one at Bruntsfield Links (next door to the Burgess!).  I'm also regularly invited to play in the Motor Trades Golf Society Guest Day at the Berkshire.  Their fixture list takes in a good many of the best courses around London.

Societies are a fairly common feature of the game in Britain.

[Bill_McBride]

The Royal Burgess Golfing Society (1735) is arguably the oldest.  I have played The Royal Burgess Golf Club which is very enjoyable.  A friend is a member.  It's architects are listed as - Willie Park jr., James Braid, Harry Colt, Philip Mackenzie Ross.  It is located NW of Edinburgh, pretty close to the airport.

The Royal Burgess, like the Crail Golfing Society,is a bit more than a society.  I'd say that a society with its own course has become a club, notwithstanding its continued use of the word society.

I belong to the St James, Caledonian and Penguin International Golfing Society which is a fairly eclectic group with an odd history, which hastwo annual meetings, one at The Berkshire and one at Bruntsfield Links (next door to the Burgess!).  I'm also regularly invited to play in the Motor Trades Golf Society Guest Day at the Berkshire.  Their fixture list takes in a good many of the best courses around London.

Societies are a fairly common feature of the game in Britain.

This is yet another example of the differences between US and UK golf.  In the UK the societies can play at private clubs by booking for the group on regularly scheduled times.

Try that at Merion or East Lake or any other top level, fully  private club in the States.  

[wsmorrison]

Bill,

UK societies come over to play our top level courses.  They may not be able to do so by booking for the group, but there are ways to arrange.  In any case, the rules apply equally to all non-members.

The societies arrange golf via relationships, either friends in the club who will arrange other members to host the group in accompanied play, arranging unaccompanied play where allowed or through society members that are non-resident members of the US clubs.  

It isn't impossible for these societies to play top tier US clubs, but it does require relationships.  I don't find there's anything wrong with that.

[mike_malone]

 I'm not sure it is a society, but there are the Malone Pirates of N.Ireland.  I thought they were all members of Malone Golf Club but the logo of the club is a lion.
   When they played Rolling Green a few years ago I was fortunate enough to get one of their skull and crossbones logoed hats.

[Mark Pearce]

One I forgot.  Earlier this year I was guest at the Patent Agents' Golf Society at Swinley Forest.  Whilst this fixture may originally have been arranged through a contact who was a member at Swinley I guess it is now observed by the club as an annual fixture, as are a number of other society fixtures.  What's interesting about that is that Swinley does not normally allow unaccompanied visitor play but does honour existing society fixtures on an annual basis.  The other times I have played Swinley have been as a guest of the Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers Golf Society, a society formed from a London livery company.

[Mike_Young]

www.societyofseniors.com

[Sean_A]

The Royal Burgess Golfing Society (1735) is arguably the oldest.  I have played The Royal Burgess Golf Club which is very enjoyable.  A friend is a member.  It's architects are listed as - Willie Park jr., James Braid, Harry Colt, Philip Mackenzie Ross.  It is located NW of Edinburgh, pretty close to the airport.

The Royal Burgess, like the Crail Golfing Society,is a bit more than a society.  I'd say that a society with its own course has become a club, notwithstanding its continued use of the word society.

I belong to the St James, Caledonian and Penguin International Golfing Society which is a fairly eclectic group with an odd history, which hastwo annual meetings, one at The Berkshire and one at Bruntsfield Links (next door to the Burgess!).  I'm also regularly invited to play in the Motor Trades Golf Society Guest Day at the Berkshire.  Their fixture list takes in a good many of the best courses around London.

Societies are a fairly common feature of the game in Britain.

Mark

Is the SJCPIGS any relation to the Penguins RFC?  If so, do the golfers drink like the rugby players?  In any case, that lot gets around, I mean they really get around so getting into good clubs shouldn't be too difficult.

I belong to several societies, but only loosely.  Worcestershire Business Men's Society (only one meeting a year at Kington plus an annual match against the club), the Cleeve Prior Golf Society (4 or 5 meetings a year) and the Littletons Golf Society (4 or 5 meetings a year plus a tour Portugal).  

Of course, I have my own society of sorts, but it has no name.  We play for the Torda Cup every year on a links tour.  Next year will be at Rosses Point, Strandhill, Carne and Enniscrone.  I really should come up with a name - its been about 15 years now.  Any suggestions?

Ciao  

[Bill Brightly]

Wayne,

There is a really great one called the Seth Raynor Society. Want an application?

We are going to Minnesota next year!

[Roger Tufts]

There is a really great one called the Seth Raynor Society.

Donald Ross Society as well. Talk to Brad about that one.

[Jim Sweeney]

Around the US there are quite a few "travelling golf clubs," groups of up to several dozen members who play a number of events each season at various public and private clubs. They don't call themselves "societies" but from the responses above it sounds as though they are the same thing.

How does one define a golf "society?"

[Mike Sweeney]

I belong to Nyackers:


Founded in 1913, the Nyackers is the New York Athletic Club's Intra Club for golfers. This Intra Club has a membership of over 400 men and women ranging in ages from 25 to 70 and handicaps from scratch to 36. The Nyackers season begins and ends with four to five day tournaments at such exotic golf clubs as Pinehurst, Doral and Cobblestone Country Club. During the season (April through October), the Nyackers play monthly outings at some of the most prestigious courses in the Tri-State area. These include such courses as Wykagyl, Sleepy Hollow, Knickerbocker, St. Andrews, Plandome, Winged Foot, Old Oaks and Baltusrol Country Clubs. Recognized by the Metropolitan Golf Association (MET) as a golf club, all members of the Nyackers are registered with the MET and will be issued a Golf Handicap Index Network card (GHIN). There are computer facilities in the City House Library on the ninth floor to input your scores.

[Bill_McBride]

Bill,

UK societies come over to play our top level courses.  They may not be able to do so by booking for the group, but there are ways to arrange.  In any case, the rules apply equally to all non-members.

The societies arrange golf via relationships, either friends in the club who will arrange other members to host the group in accompanied play, arranging unaccompanied play where allowed or through society members that are non-resident members of the US clubs.  

It isn't impossible for these societies to play top tier US clubs, but it does require relationships.  I don't find there's anything wrong with that.

I don't either but I'll bet it does indeed take a lot of work!  I'd say it would be easier to put together a home and home of members of two clubs across the sea.  

[Tommy_Naccarato]

I'm not sure it is a society, but there are the Malone Pirates of N.Ireland.  I thought they were all members of Malone Golf Club but the logo of the club is a lion.
   When they played Rolling Green a few years ago I was fortunate enough to get one of their skull and crossbones logoed hats.

Do not kid yourself. The MP weren't there to play golf with Michael "Mayday" Malone at Fox Chase. They were there to try to steal Ellen Muth. You of all people should know this!

I wouldn't golf in a society that would have me as a member.

[mike_malone]

 The Naccarounds?

[Mark Pearce]

Sean,

Yes, it's the result of a merger.  Both St J & C GS and PIGS were founded by the same man, who's also the President (I think) and main backer of Penguins RFC.  As you say, he society has some pretty good connections.

Mark

[James Bennett]

The Naccarounds?

Mike

I belive there is a sub-branch in New Orleans for those over 65.  It is affectionally known as the NO Naccarounds.

 

James B

[SPDB]

While not societies, I guess, one interesting thing in Scotland is the number of Clubs that play over the same course. In St. Andrews you have the R&A, The New, Thistle, etc. In N. Berwick, you have the Tantallon in addition to the North Berwick Golf Club. I think Gullane has several, including Dirleton Castle (the oldest to play over Gullane I believe), the Artisans and, of course, the Gullane Golf Club.

What others are there associated with the great links?