Society of the Month – April

Year Founded

2009 – website

 

Geographic Area you play most

Birmingham

Annual Tour

The European Trophy is now the highlight of the season, with a 4-night 3 game golf trip abroad for the society. The golf is not always the best, but the craic is second to none. This year we travel to Alicante Spain with a strong field of 28 players competing for the coveted trophy.

Formats

Our 2023 society season got underway with a pre-season warm up game in March with the intention of getting the group back together after the long winter lay-off.

The first game of the season starts at the end of April and will be the start of a seven-game society season playing mostly at venues within an hour’s drive of the Midlands.

The members compete for three major trophies during the season, The Knockout Cup, The European Trophy and the holy grail, the Player of the Year Trophy.

How Many golfers

40

Why did it start

The Bagot Arms Golf Society based in Pype Hayes Birmingham was formed way back in 2009. Originally a group of six golfers (Tony Roche, Tim Pearce, Ray Simmonds, Rate Montana, John Roche and Steve Smith) got together and decided to form a golf society with the sole intention of bringing local golfers together from the pub to play fun but competitive golf once a month at some nearby golf courses. The Birmingham based golf society has now grown and is one of the largest and most talked about golf societies in the Midlands with a current membership of 40 golfers. In recent years sadly the Bagot Arms pub from where it all began has since closed and is now a derelict burnt out building on the corner of Eachelhurst Road in Pype Hayes Birmingham.

The Golf Society had talked about changing the name of the society, but with so many members having fond memories and ties to the famous Birmingham pub we decided to keep the name and are proud to do so.

Mental/Physical Health benefits

Like most sports, playing golf is always better with a group of like-minded people. Whilst many find that joining their local golf club is the perfect way to enjoy their passion and meet other players, becoming a fully-fledged member at a golf club might not work for everybody. A golf society can be a great way of getting your fix of your favourite sport while at the same time adding a fun and social element to a golf day.

Charity

During the season we include a Charity Golf Day for our members and guests. In recent years we have raised thousands of pounds for Help for Heroes, Pancreatic Cancer, Cancer Research, The Make a Wish Foundation and this year we hope to do the same for our chosen charity ‘It Takes Balls To Talk’ a charity focusing on Men’s mental health.

Charity Golf Day for Pancreatic Cancer (£6,000 raised)

 

Final Thoughts

The Golf Society has two main sponsors Inciti Lettings and Hollyfields Sports and conference Centre.

We welcome new members to our golf society as it gives us a sense of pride that we are doing things right and that people from the local area are encouraged to join us for a fun but competitive golf season within the opportunity to make new friends and like minded golfers.

Like most sports, playing golf is always better with a group of like-minded people. Whilst many find that joining their local golf club is the perfect way to enjoy their passion and meet other players, becoming a fully-fledged member at a golf club might not work for everybody. A golf society can be a great way of getting your fix of your favourite sport while at the same time adding a fun and social element to a golf day.

A golf society is a great alternative to golfers that are new to the sport. There are no pressures to fit in like at a golf club where you must commit financially so early into your new sporting hobby. For those with extremely busy lives where playing golf on a consistent basis is virtually impossible joining a society is a great alternative. You are not tied down to one golf club, you get to play lots of different golf courses in some beautiful locations and society golfers really do not take themselves too seriously, well we don’t anyway!

Our golf society is professionally run. We have rules that the members must abide to. We monitor and give out handicaps based on ability for those with no official handicap and we have a committee, a treasurer and a club secretary who look after the day to day running of the golf society so you can just turn up, play golf and have some fun.

Of the 40 members of our society around 50% have an official handicap. This is no way affects the competitiveness of the society. Handicaps are adjusted game by game giving everybody the chance to win on the day.

We are proud of where we have come from, and we are proud of where we are going.

‘We are The Bagot Arms Golf Society.’

Check out courses in and around the West Midlands – West Midlands

 

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