The Formation and History of the Senior Golfers’ Society

The Senior Golfers’ Society was formed in December 1926 with the object of providing competitive interest and entertainment for experienced British golfers of 55 years and upwards. It is perhaps surprising that a society for the older British male golfer had not been formed before and, unusually in early golf, the North Americans got there first. Seniors’ golf had started in the USA in 1905, and in Canada in 1918.

In the summer of 1926 three keen North American Seniors decided to try and interest the British in Seniors golf and in a match between older golfers of the three countries. Fred Snare, the team Captain of the US Seniors, and Clarence Bogert, later President of the Canadian Seniors, played a game at Stoke Poges with Frederick Ashe and Lt Colonel Francis Popham. Afterwards, they were joined for drinks in the clubhouse by Willie Ross, a Canadian business acquaintance of Fred Snare. Crucially, Fred Snare later followed up with a letter to Ashe giving details of the US and Canadian Seniors’ Golf Associations and suggesting a three-way match – ‘Picture a three-cornered team match between, say, fifteen Britishers, fifteen Canadians and fifteen Americans, representative men over 55. Seems to me it would be worthwhile.’

Frederick Ashe showed Snare’s letter to Col Popham, probably at the Carlton Club where they were both members. They also discussed it with John Milne, who suggested involving Arthur Croome, a well-known golfing journalist. Lord Lurgan chaired the formation meeting at the Golfers’ Club in Whitehall Court. Ashe, Popham, Milne, Croome and Lurgan are regarded as the Founders of the Society. Arthur Croome arranged for Arthur Balfour, the former Prime Minister, to be the first President. Lord Lurgan, the Earl of Derby and Lord Dunedin were elected Vice Presidents.

The first Captain of the Seniors, Edward Blackwell, seen here on the right, was the immediate past Captain of the R&A and a former Scottish international who still hit the ball with the vigour of youth.

The Founders of the Society can be see below

The newly formed Senior Golfers’ Society prompted a wistful comment from Bernard Darwin, the doyen of British golf journalists, who was a little too young to be a founder member – ‘We, who are not yet qualified for the Seniors Golfing Society, can win the monthly medal’.

The Seniors took to the golf course for the first time in March 1927 for a match at Rye. In July the first Seniors Meeting was held at The Addington where John Beaumont Pease, later Lord Wardington, won the opening scratch medal with a fine 71, which might have been even better as he played the first nine in 32. Later in that first year the Seniors faced their most distinguished opposition when they played the Gutty Club at Royal Mid-Surrey. The Gutty Club team could claim eight Open Championship titles through JH Taylor, Ted Ray and Sandy Herd and two Amateur Champions in Roger Wethered and Robert Harris. Unsurprisingly, the Gutty Club won despite using the old-fashioned gutty ball.

The Seniors’ tie, now adopted by many of the Seniors Societies and Associations worldwide, was agreed within days of the formation meeting. John Milne had said – ‘It’s obvious, port and the sere and yellow’. Sere and yellow (leaf) is from Macbeth, perhaps an unwelcome reminder to Seniors of the frailties of age.

With Colonel Francis Popham as an energetic Secretary, the Society grew quickly and a limit of 650 members had to be put in place in 1934.

Edward, Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, was the guest of honour at the Seniors’ dinner in 1931 at Claridge’s. He was a keen, but inexpert, golfer and in his speech, he noted – ‘Whenever I play it is generally a case of returfing the place rather than replacing the turf’.

Following its formation, the home course of the Society was Stoke Poges, where home matches and SGS tournaments were played: in addition, Society members were able to play at Stoke Poges on weekends. Since 1949, the SGS Championship has been played in the Spring at Woking, the Society’s modern home, and the Autumn Meeting now alternates between Muirfield (since 1949) and Prestwick (since 1956), the spiritual homes of the Seniors in Scotland.

In the early days former internationals regularly played, and 18 former Walker Cup players have been Seniors. Nowadays there are fewer former internationals among the 750 playing members. In 1961 a new category of membership, Honorary Life Membership (HLM) for those aged over 80, was introduced to free up space for new members. There are currently over 250 HLMs.

The Society now plays over 140 foursomes matches annually against clubs and societies across the UK, a major exercise for the match managers, the diligent pillars of the fixture list. Fortunately, Seniors enjoy their golf and the match managers are often able to select their teams early in the year. Some of these matches are organised as mini-tours, ten mainly around the links courses in England and others to Northern Ireland, Lothian and the Scottish Highlands and South and Mid-Wales. Those lucky enough to be selected for the North-West Tour can play Lytham, Formby, Birkdale and Hoylake over the course of a few days. There are also regular Tours, both outward and inward, to play fellow Seniors from France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Australia, South Africa, Canada, Chile and the USA. The overseas Tours are deservedly popular, with the Seniors, and their wives or partners, receiving extensive hospitality at the splendid Clubs visited. The Society endeavours to reciprocate when teams from abroad visit the UK. The Seniors try to live up to the Society’s motto Possunt quia posse videntur, from Virgil’s Aeneid, and loosely translated as They can because they think they can.