Lincolnshire’s golfing Freemasons are going back to their beginning to stage a centenary golf match by holding it at one of the first courses played by their members – Seacroft Golf Club at Skegness.
In Freemasonry’s growing spirit of openness, the competition is open to Freemasons and non-Freemasons alike, including men, women, and juniors. The only requirement is that anyone who wants to take part on August 11th this year must hold a WHS handicap.
Said Barrie Graham, one of the organising team from the Lincolnshire Masonic Golfing Association:
'We’ve taken the decision to open the competition to all golfers in the spirit of today’s Freemasonry, which is far more open than many people have come to believe. By inviting non-Freemasons to join us for this milestone event we hope that we can show how open and welcoming we are, and to allow others to understand a little more of Freemasonry – which was more than 200 years old before the Golfing Association was created.'
Throughout the last century Association members have been raising money for charity, and it is hoped that in the Centenary year it will be possible to push the total raised to £50,000.
They are running a raffle with some truly spectacular prizes, such as five-star accommodation for a long weekend in Estoril, Portugal, worth £1,000. Other prizes include free golf, and the opportunity to fly over Lincolnshire in a light aircraft. Money raised is to be given to the national Freemasons’ charity the Masonic Charitable Foundation, which supports worthy causes throughout the UK. The Charity gives about £60,000 every day to non-masonic causes, including the Hospice movement, Air Ambulances, medical research, and other small organisations.
The competition is to be played as an Open Four-Ball Am-Am, and the entry fee of £190 per team is a subsidised price, which includes a drink and a meal - which usually incur an additional cost.
Entries can be submitted online at here, where it’s also possible to request tee times and view the Club’s impressive range of trophies.
One of the association’s founders was Colonel Stafford Vere Hotchkin, who remodelled the Woodhall Spa Golf Course in the 1920’s, since then known as the ‘Hotchkin’ course. As well as the August event, the Asociation is also holding matches at Market Rasen, Scunthorpe, Nottinghamshire (a six-Province event), Newark and Torksey.
