Form a Chapter of the DGC

As you have already discovered, the only requirements for joining the DGC are a deep and enduring love for the game of golf (sadly unreciprocated by the game for you), a willingness to uphold the traditions and etiquette which make it the sociable game it is, and filling in a few answers on your application form.

But to get the most out of your new status of Fellow Duffer, we suggest you get together with family, friends and colleagues and experience Duffership as a group, both on and off the course.

Forming a Chapter is simple. Find a dozen or more Fellow Duffers (it can be fewer, we impose no minimum number, but the more the merrier!) and select a President, a Vice-President, a Captain, an Hon. Sec. and, if needed, a Treasurer.

We recognise two types of Chapter:

the geographically based (eg: East Kent - Kamchatka - the Orkneys - Kuala Lumpur - The High Street, Bridlington);
the thematically or corporate based (eg: Chartered Accountants - Used Car Salesmen - Travel Retail - Lion Tamers - Unilever). Of course, the latter can be sub-divided geographically, so there can be an HSBC Worldwide Chapter, with continent, country, city and even branch sub-divisions, or the Idaho Chiropodists Chapter.

We ask that you register your Chapter with us. Any official of the Chapter can do this; we just need the name of your Chapter, the location or theme, and the names and Duffers handicaps of the members. We ask you to do this for several reasons:

to allow us to forward any enquiries about existing Chapters to Fellow Duffers looking for a Duffing home;
to enable us to keep track of the champion Duffers in each Chapter, in order to organise national and international finals;
so that we can send you your official Club logo for inclusion on any materials you want to produce for your Chapter;
to publish a full list of Chapters, avoiding the duplication of names and possible confusion.

Once your Chapter is formed, what you do with it is up to you! We naturally expect that you would want to hold a competition to find your champion (using Duffers handicaps and rules, of course), who can go on to defend the honour of the Chapter at national or even international level. We hope that friendly matches between Chapters will be organised, and we will be happy to facilitate any contacts where needed. And more informally, we hope that fellow Duffers will simply enjoy playing together, equally matched thanks to their Duffers handicaps, in the true spirit of the game.

To make things clear from the outset, we would insist that, just as membership of the DGC is, and will remain, free, so too should membership of any Chapter. Where some form of funding may be required, for example to pay green fees or host a social event, a Treasurer needs to be appointed to organise a contribution from participating Fellow Duffers, but the Club and its Chapters are, and must remain, strictly non-profit making.

For all enquiries regarding the DGC, or the formation of a Chapter, please e-mail the Hon. Sec.

For information on existing Chapters, please click here.