EASY DOES IT
THE ADDICTS GOLFING SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN INDIA
At ¿ rst read, this name would signify, you
would imagine, an addiction to the game of
Golf. This Society, founded in 1949, was
all about thumbing noses at the British,
for imposing prohibition in the Madras
Presidency!!
WHO WE ARE?
We are like the nomads of the steppes. We
have no home but every Clubhouse in Madras,
Ootacamund, Kodaikanal, Coimbatore,
Bangalore, Coorg, Mysore, Vishakapatnam
& Hyderabad is our home. We play at these
centres thanks to the largesse of the members
of those Clubs and we are eternally grateful
for their patronage. We go overseas once a
year, in May, to add “spice” to the experience!
An invitation member must have a
handicap of 18 or below, must play in 4
meets out of the 1st ,10, he is eligible to play
in, score 20 or more stableford points, stay
for all rounds and dinners and importantly,
be seen bending his elbow! At age 65, with
10 years under the belt, one becomes an
Honorary Member, an honour that awaits
many of us, soon enough! We have had many
a stalwart as our Captain, the 1st Indian being
the redoubtable, KS Vaidyanathan in 1963.
M.Meyappan, R.Ratnam, George Zachariah,
G.Rajagopal, PS Kashyap, Dilip Thomas,
Raian Irani, Saam Chinoy, Ashoka Katakam,
KJ Ramaswamy, VJ Bharath, MA Cariappa,
V Rajendran are some of our members who
have led this Society. The Secretary of the
Society is called the “Scribe” and our current
Captain is K.Krishnakumar from Ooty. He
leads a Managing Council of 15 of us, from
the 9 centres.
THE OBJECTIVES
K.R.N (Ravi) Menon, one of our antients
from South India and a past Captain of the
Society, writes in the book “A Golden Jubilee
of Golf - 1949- 1999, “ Rumour has it that
the founding Members wrote up the Bye-
Laws while sitting with their thirst quenching
Ishwar Achanta
Ishwar Achanta, International Golf Referee, Council
Member & Chairman - Technical, Rules & Amateur Status
Committee of the Indian Golf Union, Former Advisory
Member of the R&A’s Rules of Golf Committee.
libations in the Guindy golf course annexe
of the Madras Gymkhana Club and tried to
keep the Rules as simple as could. With the
introduction of prohibition in 1949, those
desirous of partaking liquor had to register
as an addict. Our founder RC Paterson and
friends realized that 18 holes of golf would
be lost if there were no 19th and therefore
they registered as “addicts” and formed a
Society with golf being the focal point. The
conviviality of the 19th hole takes precedence
over the capacities exhibited by swinging
the club over the preceding eighteen. In
other words, more power to the elbow! The
objective is to get together in the name of
Golf and have Fun.”
OUR FOUNDER
The Palm trees at Guindy
GolfPlus
R.C.Paterson (Fat Pat as he was known) was
born in the U.K and came out to India in 1926.
Having settled in Madras, he worked with
M/S. Hewson & Tod and in 1935 founded
Paterson & Co, which till today remains a
leading Stock broking ¿ rm! He retired as
Chairman of Consolidated Coffee Ltd in 1960
and passed on into the Great Divide in 1985.
Co-founders were L.D.Miller of King and
Patridge, W.P.Blakeslay of Thomas Cook,
A.B.Spence of Peermade Tea Co, Travancore,
NOVEMBER
2018
21