Golfing Societies in the UK and beyond

[Scott Macpherson]

In the UK there are a number of Golfing Societies. The closest one to me here in Edinburgh is known as the Pirates Golfing Society. I believe it was established around 1927 and has around 60 members who play matches against each other and other societies. I am interested to learn what other golfing societies exist. e.g. the Hittite Golfing Society from Liverpool.

Are there similar golf societies in the US?

Scott

[Mark Pearce]

The Quaysiders Golfing Society in Newcastle was originally formed of business men based around the Quayside.  It has a couple of annual meetings and a dinner. 

[Joe_Tucholski]

Scott what is the difference between a club and a society?

[Adam Lawrence]

Joe - generally speaking, a golf society over here is a bunch of people who are connected in some non-golfing fashion who form an organisation to play golf together. They'll hold events at different clubs, though a lot of the older ones have long-standing arrangements with particular clubs for an annual meeting. They might be based around a profession - a good example is the Press Golfing Society, www.pressgs.com, which was founded by a group of national newspaper journalists back in 1904.

Whereas a golf club is what you know as a golf club. Typically a club will have its own course, while a society doesn't, though there are a few groupings that we'd now identify as golf clubs that have the word 'society' in their name, just to confuse matters - for example the Royal Burgess in Edinburgh. And, of course, there are some clubs that don't own their own course but have rights to play over one or more owned by someone else - the St Andrews clubs are the most obvious example, as the Links is owned by the town.

[Sean_A]

Scott

There are tons of golf societies.  Are you just looking for the high end/good player societies or all societies?

The Leatherjackets play out of Burnham & Berrow.  Its one of these societies for older very good golfers, same for the Warwickshire Bears, Wighorns is another.  There are a ton of school and military societies.   

Near to Liverpool, the NARWAL GS is traditionally based in north Wales..hence the name...I think. 

Moles GS.

Golf Society of Great Britain is a more social society which doesn't take connections for members to join.  Its probably the most active society in the UK. 

In the US, we are in the middle of formalizing the Detroit GS - a very small, select group of gentlemen 

Ciao

[Duncan Cheslett]

As Sean says, there are hundreds of golf societies, ranging from long established high-end groups with rituals bordering on the Masonic, to those whose members just happen to drink in the same pub.

I know many keen regular golfers who play only society golf, not even contemplating club membership. By being members of several societies and running a Golfshake handicap, they play 30- 40 competitive rounds a year on 30-40 different courses, paying maybe £20 each time.

Clubs are so keen to attract the society shilling, that they lose sight of the fact that the more opportunity there is to play golf regularly and competitively as a non-club member, so the attraction of club membership dwindles even further.

[Adam Lawrence]

Duncan/Sean - if you reread Scott's post, he's asking specifically about US societies.

[Mark Pearce]

Conrad Gamble, not a GCAer but a regular Pest, is a member of the Motor Trades Golfing Society, which has a very impressive trophy cabinet and meets several times a year.  Their fixture list features St Georges Hill, West Hill, New Zealand and Walton Heath.  In previous years they have been to Hankley Common, Worplesdon and Woking.

[Mark Pearce]

Duncan/Sean - if you reread Scott's post, he's asking specifically about US societies.

If you re-read it REALLY CAREFULLY, you'll see he is asking about both the UK and US!

[Duncan Cheslett]

Adam,

Not entirely true;

In the UK there are a number of Golfing Societies.

I am interested to learn what other golfing societies exist.

Are there similar golf societies in the US?

Scott

 


Bah! Mark beat me to it!

[Adam Lawrence]

true 

[Mark Bourgeois]

There might well be more golfing societies in the US than in the UK. They're just called 'golf clubs' or 'clubs without courses.' As in the UK they can be organized of coworkers, non-golf clubs, mutual interest organizations, etc.

Mike Whitaker I believe runs one.

[Sean_A]

Duncan

You are right.  I play in one society where perhaps half the members only play social, non club golf.  They won't get much mileage out of this society for golf because we only play one event a year and one match a year, both at Kington.  

Whitty's golf society is proper and above board.  It isn't one of these 9 hole league jobbies.

Ciao

[Scott Macpherson]

Hi Chaps,

My post was just a question. I know many contributors to GCA know more about this topic than I, and I thought others might like to learn more about this British institution which now has spread around the world.

I have a new found interest in society golf as I have recently been invited to join a golfing society made up of golfers who are/have been low handicappers.  I know relatively little about society golf other than that there are a great number around the UK, and they have been active for a long period. Indeed the R&A was initially known as the Society of St Andrews Golfers prior to becoming a club in 1834 – a point Adam makes in his reference to the Royal Burgess Golfing Society.

Feel free to comment on golfing society golf as you wish. Duncan's comment was an interesting contribution, as is the comment from Mark and Sean who name a few more societies.

Scott

[Tony_Muldoon]

Here's one to aspire to.

http://www.seniorgolferssociety.com/

They have a desirable list of venues. playing amongst old friends.


Note the fact they are oversubscribed and you can only enter the ballot 6 times.   I first heard about them from a rather nervous chap who was on his 5th life.   

Lets just say that if you've played in the Halford Hewitt you shouldn't be short of sponsors.

[Bill_McBride]

Mike Whitaker's group is the Greenville (South Carolina) Golfing Society, and he organizes an ambitious schedule of events every year.  My twisted knee caused me to have to withdraw from his three day event at Myrtle Beach, still disappointed about that. 

I don't know of many, or even any, other societies in the US, unless the weekly nine hole after work leagues could be considered as societies.   They typically play one nine on the same public course after work, mostly in the northern US during the warmer months. 

[Niall C]

Scott

As well as the trade societies and professional societies, there are also a number of societies around that are for the great and the good of the game. Sean mentioned the Moles which I think is one. The society in the west of Scotland that comes into that category is the 32 Club which was started by several west of Scotland players who were returning from the Walker Cup (?) in 1932. The club has several meetings/outings year at the likes of Prestwick/Troon etc, and have regular fixtures round the country against similar societies.

Membership is by invite and generally is restricted to county players, club champions etc. Monty is the honarary professional and I think I'm right in saying his father is a member. I'm fortunate to know a few members and regularly get invited to their annual dinner which is not to be missed.

Niall

[Mark Bourgeois]

I don't know of many, or even any, other societies in the US, unless the weekly nine hole after work leagues could be considered as societies.   They typically play one nine on the same public course after work, mostly in the northern US during the warmer months. 

Bill, here for example are the member clubs of the MGA -- the "E" designation in the far column are "eClubs":
http://www.mgagolf.org/mga_member_club_list

Randomly selecting Claddagh Golf Society from the list, here's their October calendar, complete with a closing day event that includes a dinner dance:
http://claddaghgolf.org/uploads/2014_Schedule__R2_.pdf

[BCowan]

The Walking Golfers Society in the US.  thewalkinggolfer.com

[Phil Lipper]

The Outpost Club is the only national golfing society that I know of in the US. To a large extent it was patterned after the golfing societies in the US. 
Other than that the only thing I know of is the NJ Seniors, which is a golfing society of mostly country club members in NJ over age 60.

[Ryan Coles]

A society is a group of golfers who benefit from a reduced green fee by visiting a Club at the same time.

[David_Tepper]

The Northern California Golf Association has quite a number of member Associate Clubs that are roughly similar to the UK golfing societies.

These are clubs that do not have an affiliation with any particular golf course, but are formed about a common interest other than golf (i.e. working for the same company, practicing the same profession, having the same ethnic heritage, etc.). These clubs typical organize outings & events at various courses in the area. Members of these Associate Clubs are able to establish and maintain a handicap thru these clubs.  

[Mark Pearce]

A society is a group of golfers who benefit from a reduced green fee by visiting a Club at the same time.

On one, very basic, level.  Other societies, such as some metioned here are nearer clubs with no home.

[Mark Chaplin]

The Dinner Match Club based around Boston is an exceptional band of brothers who play foursomes, enjoy fine wines and cigars and play some of the best courses in the state.

[Dave McCollum]

I'm sure if someone did a count there would be thousands in the States.  We'd probably call them associations.  As David T. mentioned, a lot are affiliated with State or regional golf associations that represent the USGA locally.  We run a handful of events every year for various groups like tournaments for couples, employee groups, intercity club comps, etc. that are a bit different from corporate events because the associations are made up of volunteers like charity groups.  If we are typical, multiply our 5 events or so events a year by the number of public and private courses in the US and you have a gaggle of groups.  Add in the golf leagues, charity groups, corporate outings and it represents a large, important market for golf.

For example, I was at Pebble a couple of weeks ago and they were running a multi-day tournament for LA firefighters and EMT's that has been going on for forty years.

Obviously, filling up your golf course is good for business.  Selling your services to groups creates opportunities for your food and beverage folks to operate efficiently, unlike the ebb and flow of daily tee sheet play which just doesn't put enough butts in seats to pay for the labor and overhead.