100 YEARS AND COUNTING!

2023 marks 100 years of the Staffordshire Union of Golf Clubs. From humble beginnings of 8 clubs banding together, the Union has just added its 47th club (more on that in this issue!) and goes from strength to strength. To celebrate this milestone, the Union has a full calendar of events, plus a Centenary book that has been meticulously crafted by County stalwart Pippa Dathan. We sat down with Pippa and County President Andrew Dathan to discuss everything that will be going on over the next year as we celebrate 100 years of the Staffordshire Union of Golf Clubs.

Gareth Shaw: Can you take us on a journey of how long you’ve been working on pulling the Centenary year together?

Andrew Dathan: Well, I’ve been involved with Staffordshire Golf in some way since I was a junior back in the 60s until now. In 1998, we had a special competition to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the County Union. It then occurred to me in 2013 that we were only 10 years away from our centenary. I said in executive meetings that we ought to do something about it. Eventually, Martin Payne who was the President at the time just turned round and said “Ok Andrew, it’s up to you. You’re going to be the Centenary Chairman, get something done.” Since then, we’ve been working for more than five years doing Centenary books and everything that hopefully is going to come to fruition this year.

G.S: Pippa, you’ve been heavily involved in putting the book together. Has that been an interesting journey that you’ve gone on, delving into the archives?

Pippa Dathan: Yes, I somehow found myself writing the book. I do love research and I decided after having never written a book before that I wanted just really to tell a story of how golf came to Staffordshire. The people who were involved in that are the most important part of any County Union. The Centenary book is now out. It documents everything that has happened in the County in these hundred years, along with lots and lots of photographs. There has been an awful lot of hunting in archives in Birmingham, Wolverhampton and the Stafford Archive. People all around the Midlands and indeed in Staffordshire have been really, really helpful sending me photographs along with things that they remembered.

G.S: Where did it all begin for Staffordshire?

P.D: The Grand Hotel in Birmingham! We were one of the last Counties at that time to form a Union. Questions had been asked why not? Why hasn’t Staffordshire formed a Union? Eventually they decided they had probably enough good players to start being involved in County golf. So, Frank Scarf chaired the first meeting, where there were eight clubs present and the County Union was formed. The first County match was on November the 7th against Warwickshire. We then played in more County matches and a County championship in 1924. We also played the Scarf Shield, which was a team championship, and since then we’ve gone from strength to strength.

G.S: We’re going to be celebrating that first match this year, aren’t we?

P.D: Yes, we certainly are. We’ve got it all planned that we are going to have a replay of the match against Warwickshire at Little Aston on Tuesday the 7th of November, which is the date and venue of the very first County match.

G.S: How do you see the next 100 years of the Union looking?

P.D: I think one of the most important things is that we have to re-engage with the clubs and the club members and get them to understand that the County is a very important part of club golf. It would be nice to have lots of supporters coming to cheer on our juniors and teams generally. I think that is one of the most important things, making sure we’re engaging with the clubs so they see it as an honour to host something for the County. We would have members coming out to support.

They were really enthusiastic to watch the County players. Obviously, I think the constraints of today’s life people are very busy and the members just want to play golf. If the County is there, then perhaps they’re stopping them from playing golf, which is a great shame.

A.D: I think one problem is that when I used to play County golf there was the same number of County matches that there are now, but the other competitions are just tremendous. The Counties are just amazing and if you want to, you can play in five or six competitions in a week. Also, there is now the Nick Faldo Series, the Sullivan Series and the juniors are off playing golf all over the country. Trying to get people together to make a team is very difficult. I don’t think that’s going to change unless something is done from the top levels. This interview is taken from a longer interview with Pippa and Andrew that can be listened to on the SUGC podcast.