Society of the Month – June

Year Founded

1974 – website

Geographic Area you play most

The golf society is open to all serving members and veterans of the regular or reserve Army. It does not matter how long you have served or what rank you are, everybody is welcome to join.

The North East Region is a huge area stretching from the Scottish Borders to South Yorkshire, from Hull in the East to Halifax in the West. Events are centralised to attempt to reduce travelling time for all. A central area based around York, Leeds, Selby, Ripon is currently working well. The furthest North we are playing is Catterick GC, whilst heading South as far as The Oaks GC which is between York & Selby.

Formats

Events are a standard stableford event played off the tees of the day. All events carry league points for the top 10 scoring players. There are 6 league matches (1 a month starting in Month) and a regional Grand Final over the season. The players finishing in the top 4 league positions after 6 events and the winner of the regional final are selected to represent the North East in the Army Regional Finals against all other Army regions. This is held at Worksop GC in early September.

How Many golfers

At present there are 117 registered players with the NE AGA

Why did it start

Soldiers would agree that once you have served in the Army you have a different view of life than those that have not served. So playing in the NE AGA with like minded individuals allows you to return to a point when you did serve if you are a veteran. Or if you are still serving meet individuals who have been through what you have.

Golf is great for mental health as well as keeping active. The talk and banter given out on the golf course is so valuable to ensuring we remain grounded in life. Troops can be brutal to each other on the course, even if they only met 10 minutes before on the first tee. It’s that collective understanding of a shared experience, unique for all soldiers, that allows for this instant close bond & understanding.

How do you select which courses to play

Every event so far this year has been full (40 players at each event). We are trying to build up a bank of courses that are happy to have serving soldiers and veterans playing during the week. We are not set to specific days to play and I always offer to fill any clubs ‘quiet spots’ in their calendars.

Favourite Course played with Society

In the last 2 years the most popular course played by the society was the challenging Cleveland Golf Links in Redcar. (Although the group that went to Florida and played the Copperhead Course at Innisbruck may disagree!)

 

Top Tips for running a golf society

1. Provide the forecast of events as early as possible as it enables people to plan better
2. Be flexible with cut off dates for entries as plans often change
3. Balancing out your 4balls so a mix of handicaps play together as people learn from better players.

 

 

3 reasons to join the Society

1. Joining up with like minded people, for us the sharing of past & present military experiences
2. Always a competitive element & we all like to win which ever format is played
3. Playing other courses than your home one, Each season we play a different course every month

 

Club Membership Split

We have 10 iGolf members and the rest are all club members across the region

Mental/Physical Health benefits

Having spent over 40 years in the Army, I understand the benefits of wider sporting activity and golf specifically. People should not underestimate the power that a round of golf (good or bad) can do for your outlook on life.

Final Thoughts

I will continue to grow the group and support our golf clubs around the North East as best I can. It would be nice if some clubs offered the odd special deal for our soldiers and veterans.

Happy Golfing All!

Neil Bulmer

North East AGA Secretary

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