I organise and run a society called the Upper Wummers Golf Society, I’m the youngest member in the group at 36 and the rest are all 40-80s so I do all the organising and as the rest of the group say all the “computer stuff!!”
So a brief overview of what I know about the society.
As we are quite a “shall we say rural group” live out in the countryside The Upper Wummers is a local term for someone who has come down from out the hills! Which the majority of members have!
Local Dialect
“If you didn’t come from the area, you were probably an “Ewkin” (a valley dweller)… as opposed to an “Upper Wummer” (hill dweller)”
I am led to believe the society was formed by 4 chaps going to play away in North Wales in 1998, from there the society has grown into what is today that being a society of 25-30 members who enjoy each others company and most of all a good laugh and a few pints and more!!
We have golfers of all abilities and ages in our society, the member’s handicaps range from 5-28
Like I said earlier a society of all ages with myself being the youngest at 36 and the oldest member Richard Martinali who I think is 77 or 78 and doesn’t use a buggy he walks everywhere, in fact on his 72nd birthday he matched his age by playing and walking 72 holes in one day for charity.
I joined the society way back in 2002 (I think!)
Our normal society year consists of the following comps and trips:
- March – Golf Day locally this year at Oswestry golf club
- April/May – 1 night 2 days of golf within an hours travel of Shrewsbury, we have played Calderfields on numerous occasions and also Draycote both were very good value for money, this year we are looking at booking Wychwood Park just outside Crewe.
- July – Golf day locally arranged closer to the time
- September – Our annual trip away normally 2-3 nights and 3-4 rounds of golf, This year looking at Nottingham. In past years we have been to Cardiff, Swansea, Blackpool, Bristol, Northampton, Monmouth to name a few, all trips have been very entertaining on and off the golf course!!
- December – A Xmas golf day locally
We also have the odd golf day here and there to suit the members.
Our local club, Arscott Golf Club
Can I just take the time to introduce you to some of the Characters in the Society
- Mr Chairman Neil Jones (Smit) “Still looking for the lady in the blue dress!!”
- Rocket Ron “A Man who attends a funeral one day and the next day pulls out chicken wings and sausage rolls out of his golf bag from the funeral wake the day before”
- Steve “Grizzly” Adams “A bit hard of hearing, but he understands when you ask him if he wants a drink!”
- Charlie Brown “A larger than life character who ‘s catchphrase “Dilly Dilly, are we stopping or having another” echo’s round every pub we attend!
- Darren “Dogger” Davies (me) who smashed a buggy up trying to go over the bridge on the last hole at Puckrup Hall Tewkesbury many years ago not one of my finest moments on the golf course.
- David “Horders” Hordley “The most competitive man on the golf course! The Man who hunts down the tariff board at the bar and tells them its illegal if the prices aren’t shown!!”
As you can probably tell from some of these characters, that golf is sometimes not the priority when on a golf trip, social activities take over as the number 1 priority!
So that’s a brief overview of the society, like-minded people enjoying Golf, each others company a few beers and life!
Written by UWGS organiser – Darren ‘Dogger’ Davies
