Rules of the Society

The name of the Society shall be the Royal Artillery Golfing Society (RAGS). The Society is a branch of the Royal Artillery Regimental Sports Fund.

All present or past officers and other ranks who are serving or who have served in a Regular or Reserve unit of the Royal Artillery, either in peace time or during a war, are eligible to become members.

The Honorary Secretary shall keep a list of all members. Only those members who are on the Honorary Secretary’s list shall have the right to wear the Society’s tie.
Officers or other ranks from Commonwealth or Allied Artillery Regiments who are seconded for a tour of duty with a unit of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, the Ministry of Defence, United Kingdom Land Forces, or a School of Instruction, may be elected ‘Honorary Members’ of the Society for the duration of their tour of duty. They will be expected to pay the appropriate annual subscription for the year or years that they remain as Honorary Members.

In addition, the Committee may co-opt other members to the Committee as may be required.

Members of the Committee shall serve until they resign, are posted abroad or retire (in the case of serving officers) or are called to resign by a vote of a General Meeting.
Any vacancies that may occur in the Committee shall be filled subject to confirmation by a General Meeting of the Society.
In addition, a President shall be elected at an Annual General Meeting of the Society and shall hold office until such time as he resigns or is called to resign by a vote of a General Meeting.
The Honorary Secretary, Treasurer and Captain shall be formally elected at the Annual General Meeting of the Society. They shall hold office until such time as they resign or are called to resign by a vote of a General Meeting.
At any Committee Meeting, three Committee members shall form a quorum. A General Meeting shall be held annually at the Society Spring Meeting. An Extraordinary General Meeting of the Society shall be called by the Honorary Secretary when so directed by the Committee or on receipt of a requisition signed by fifteen members of the Society on the Honorary Secretary’s list of members and stating the purpose of the meeting.

All members on the Honorary Secretary’s list of members are required to pay an annual subscription by Direct Debit, payable on 1st March each year. The amount will be decided by the Committee.

Two meetings of the Society shall be held annually.
Only those members on the Honorary Secretary’s list of members are eligible to compete in the Society’s competitions.
No member shall be eligible to compete in the Society’s competitions unless he has paid his annual subscription for the current year and is in possession of an official handicap that has been allotted by a recognised Golf Club, or has been allotted a Society handicap by the Honorary Secretary of the Society.
Members shall play off the lowest handicap they may have in any Club of which they are members or honorary or temporary members during the current year; or off the Society handicap they have been allotted by the Honorary Secretary.
No individual waiting to be elected as a member may enter a Society meeting. Such individuals will be required to pay a subscription for the current year before competing. Those not in possession of an official handicap allotted by a recognised Golf Club must follow the procedure described in Para 19 below and acquire a Society handicap before playing in a meeting.
At any Meeting of the Society, no member may take more than one handicap prize with the same return.
In the event of a tie in competitions, there will be no Play-Off. Instead, a winner will be determined based on the player with the better score over the last 18, 9, 6, 3 or last hole in that order.

In general, members are expected to be playing members of a recognised Golf Club and to have had an official handicap allotted by that club. In exceptional circumstances due to the exigencies of the service, members may not be members of a Golf Club in possession of a handicap. In these cases, members may submit three cards duly certified by a player with an official handicap, to the Honorary Secretary of the Society who will allocate a Society handicap for that member to play off in Society meetings only. It will not constitute an official handicap and must not be used to play in any other handicap competitions or in matches where handicap strokes are given and received.
The committee is empowered at any time to revise the handicap of any member playing in a Society Competition.

Matches will be arranged by the Honorary Secretary through promulgation of a fixture list published for each year. This will be sent to all members on the Honorary Secretary’s list of members together with a card on which members may make bids to be selected for matches as published on the fixture list.
The management of matches will be delegated to “Match Managers ” who will be responsible for:-
Making up the team for the match. As far as possible this should be done from the list of members who have bid for selection.
Making contact with the Secretary or Match Manager of the opposing team regarding any details that have to be agreed in advance.
Agreeing the date for the succeeding year with the Secretary of the Club at which the match is being played and with the Match Manager of the opposing team.
Notifying the Honorary Secretary of the Society of the result and the agreed date for the subsequent year as soon as possible after the match.
Obtaining and paying any match day green fee, subsidy or individual contribution to costs of the day.

Selection for the annual match against the RE at Royal St George’s Golf Club and for the Inter Corps Competition organised by the Army Golf Association is restricted to serving members of the Royal Artillery. Selection authority is vested in a Selection Committee consisting of the serving Captain and at least two other serving members of the Society.
The financial aspects of both the above events will be the responsibility of the Treasurer.

Regimental “Colours”, consisting of a navy blue sweater with a badge showing the regimental cypher superimposed on crossed golf clubs on the left breast, will be awarded to those who represent the Regiment:
Against the Royal Engineers in the annual match at Royal St George’s Golf Club.
In the “A” Team playing in the Inter Corps Championship at the Army Golf Association Meeting.
In the “A” Team playing for the Ordnance Cup at the Army Officers’ Golfing Society Spring Meeting.

The organisation and running of the Inter Regimental Golf Competition for the Holloway Trophy is vested in the Captain. He will be assisted as far as financial matters are concerned by the Treasurer of the Society.