OUR HOME
Our Founder – FAT PAT
T.B.Lawrence and J.Jackson of Kanan Devan
Tea, Munnar.
The original idea was to keep the Society
to about a 100 so that they could still meet
when they repatriated back to Blightly. The
very fact that, we are, today, in 2018, almost
1200 strong and thriving, is a testimony to the
ideals of our founder, so beautifully captured
in our song “I am a member of the Addicts
and Golf is my game. I cannot chip, I cannot
putt but I play it just the same. I play not for
the glory, I play not for the Cup, I Play for
what’s inside it, I hope there’ll be enough.
Easy does it, easy does it”.
In 1877, Col. Ross Thomson and his band
of merry men would play 7 holes at Island
Grounds, Madras, ride 13 kms on horseback
to Guindy, play 4 holes, ride back to Island
Grounds and complete 18! Mount Road
at Madras is 400 years old, so it is safe to
assume they did not take the scenic route!
Still, assuming it took 2 hours each way to
ride, golf was a whole day affair and folks,
today, complain if we take off for 5 hours!!!!!
It was natural that our founder, chose the
Madras Gymkhana Club as the home of the
Society.
The Society has no clubhouse and the
Madras Gymkhana Club is our HQ and where
the AGM is held. The colours of the Society
are Desert Brown (sand browns of those days
anyone?) and Green (of the palm tree between
the 3rd and 7th fairways at Guindy).
DRIVING IN
As readers will know,
the tradition at the Royal
& Ancient Golf Club of
St.Andrews is that the
incoming Captain drives
into of¿ ce on 1st/18th
fairway to the sound of a
cannon, timed perfectly.
Our Society has a play
on this tradition, the
incoming Captain of
the Society, assumes
his captaincy by hitting
a ball, teed up on a
matchbox, across the
Adyar river from inside the Cosmopolitan
Golf Club, over a 15-foot wall!
HOOKS & SLICES (from our Golden
Jubilee book)
>> The dress code for the Dinner Function
on the Saturday of the meet is formal.
>> Members are required to wear an
Addicts tie, pin or scarf at the prize
distribution function and failure to do
so, costs them Rs 50 as a ¿ ne.
>> The Captain has to regale us with a
joke or two, so Captains spend their
year boning up on jokes of all kinds!
>> The winner of the trophy is required
to ¿ ll it with all forms of molasses and
Captain Jayant Tagore (2015-16) driving into office
22 G o l f P l u s
NOVEMBER
2018
The Addicts Wooden Spoon
pass it around for a swig from “the
Cup”.
>>
The Annual Meetings of the Society
were followed by a “multi course
sit-down dinner” interspersed by
toasts proposed by the Captain, to the
President of India, to the Society, to the
Queen and to the Royal and Ancient
Game. This has been done away with
over the past few years, much to the
chagrin of many of us “old-timers” but
respect we must, the passing of time
and with it, changes that are needed to
be made.
>>
The Addicts
Song that would be
sung after the toast to
the Society is now sung
(read brayed unless its
Jayshree Bharat leading
the pack) after much
imbibing from the Cup,
to mark the closing of
the meet!
>>
The
phrase
“Easy Does It” - the
motto of the Society - is
relevant on all 19 holes!
THE WOODEN
SPOON
For those of you, not familiar with the wooden
spoon, this is the most coveted prize of all,
for the worst score of the meet. Circa, early
60’s, Parry & Co had donated, a western style
closet as a prize, for the worst score. The late
VT Kumaraswamy removed the wrapping,
blocked the hole and ¿ lled it with beer, passed
it around as the drinking cup and had the last
laugh! It is rumoured that to prevent this, a
wooden spoon was introduced!!!
This is a Society, like none other
than I have seen in my 4 decades (and more)
of playing this game. I am “tankful” to
my late father “Tiger” Rama Rao for
introducing me to this game and making me
a true Addict!