A golf society is a group of golfers who play organised days together without owning a course. In the United Kingdom the word usually means this: a friendly club with a captain, a secretary, a subscription and a fixture list, hiring a different course for each day. Running one properly takes four things: a clear membership, a settled format, simple accounts and a named person who decides disputes before the day, not during it.
Elected Golf is not a society. We say so first because the word invites confusion. Elected Golf is a club entered by a 28-day card, it does not run society days, and it does not own a course. We are not affiliated with any club. The rest of this page is general guidance for people organising a society of their own.
What a society is, and is not
A society differs from a club in one respect: it has no home course. It books courses by the day, often a few weeks or months ahead, and pays the course a green fee, usually for a group rate. It differs from a loose group of friends in having written terms: who is a member, what each day costs and how the prizes are decided.
That is a description of practice, not a legal or rules definition, and different societies run in different ways. We describe what is common and make no claim about any particular society.
Step 1: decide who the society is for
Write down three things before inviting anyone.
- Who can join. Friends from one workplace, a village, a school, a profession. A narrow answer makes a society easier to run.
- How many members. Ten to thirty is a size where one organiser can manage the money and the course bookings. Courses typically want fourballs, so numbers divisible by four make the tee sheet simpler. This is advice from the way tee sheets work, not a published rule.
- How to join and leave. A short, written invitation and a plain way to resign avoid awkward conversations later.
Step 2: appoint the organisers
Even a small society needs named people. A captain presides on the day. A secretary handles bookings and email. A treasurer, who may be the same person, keeps the subscription and the green fees. The Rules of Golf give the body in charge of a competition certain decisions to make before play: the terms of the competition and any Local Rules (Rule 1.3a). In a society those decisions fall to the organisers you appoint, which is why a society should write down its rules in advance. Rule 20 covers how questions that arise during a round are resolved and ruled on.
Step 3: choose the format
For a day's competition, the usual choices are:
- Stableford. Points are awarded for each hole against par, taking your strokes into account. It speeds up play because a player is encouraged to pick up once a hole can score no points. Rule 21.1 covers Stableford, and the rest of Rule 21 covers the other forms, such as Maximum Score and Par/Bogey.
- Medal (stroke play). Total strokes minus handicap. It is the traditional form and the stricter one.
- Matchplay knockout. Suited to a season-long trophy among a small number of members.
- Fourball or foursomes. Rule 22 covers foursomes (alternate shot) and Rule 23 four-ball. Both suit mixed ability and keep the pace of play steady.
For mixed ability, Stableford is the common choice. Say in the invitation which format applies, and say what happens on a tie. A society that settles ties by a countback of the last nine, six, three and final hole has a rule that must be written down before the first tee, not invented at the prize-giving.
Step 4: handicaps
A society with players of different ability needs a way to give strokes. In the United Kingdom, official handicaps are issued through the national unions and affiliated clubs, and many courses ask visitors for one. Our page on how to get a golf handicap sets out the routes we could verify. A society can also run its own internal figures for its own days. If it does, it should say plainly that these are the society's own figures and are not official handicaps.
We do not issue handicaps. The Playing Record kept in the Candidacy is unofficial and no substitute for any society's or national body's figure.
Step 5: the money
Money is where societies most often fail, so keep it simple.
- Set the subscription to cover costs that are not green fees: trophies, a website or messaging group, prizes.
- Collect green fees and any meal money before the day, so that no one has to chase it afterwards.
- Keep a single account and show it at the annual meeting.
- Say what happens to a member who drops out after paying. A written rule, however short, ends the argument.
Check what the course requires. Courses commonly ask for a named contact, a final numbers date, a deposit and whether payment is by one invoice or by each player. Ask the course directly, as terms vary.
Step 6: the day
- Book early and confirm numbers and tee times in writing.
- Send a short notice to all players: tee time, course, dress code (see our golf etiquette page), format, how scores are to be returned and the time of the meal.
- Make the pairings so that you do not seat the same four together all season.
- Brief on pace. Rule 5.6 deals with unreasonable delay (5.6a) and prompt pace (5.6b), and a society day of fourballs drifts quickly when not managed.
- Check the cards at the end. Each player is responsible for the score on each hole, and a wrong hole score on a returned card is the player's problem under Rule 3.3b. Adding up, and applying handicaps, is the organisers' job (Rule 3.3b(4)), so check the totals at the table before the prizes are announced.
- Say thank you to the course staff. Societies are remembered by how they behave.
Step 7: the rules you need on the day
A society does not need a thick rulebook. It needs the Rules of Golf, Rule 1.3 on playing by the Rules and Local Rules, and a short sheet of its own matters: the format, the tie-break, out-of-bounds, local rules posted by the course, and who has the last word. Paraphrase is fine. Where in doubt, read the Rules themselves at The R&A and USGA's Rules of Golf.
What Elected Golf is and is not
Plainly:
- Elected Golf is a club entered by a 28-day card. You complete four weeks of practice, keep a record and write a short letter. That is the Candidacy.
- It does not run society days. There is no fixture list, no tee sheet and no green-fee collection.
- It does not own a course. You play at courses of your own choosing.
- It is not open yet. Nothing is charged and no card is asked for.
- It does not issue a handicap. Its Playing Record is unofficial.
- We are not affiliated with any club and cannot secure admission to any other.
If you are looking for a society to join, a local club, a county or national union and a course's own noticeboard are the places to ask. If you want a structured way to prepare your own game for society days, the 28-day golf practice plan is free to read whether or not you ever apply, and our strategy page covers playing a course by plan.
A short checklist
- Purpose and membership written down.
- Organisers named.
- Format and tie-break decided.
- Handicap position stated (official or the society's own).
- Subscription, green fees and refund rule set.
- Invitation sent with all details.
- Cards checked before prizes.