A Personal Reflection on The History of the ACGA

by Founder Member Frank Skinner

Coming from a West Indian background cricket was my first love. However, I was introduced to golf by a work colleague who took me to a 9 holes course where you could hire golf clubs to play. This course was called Magpie Hall Lane GC, and that is where my golf journey began. It was whilst playing Sunday cricket that I first met Tony Johnson and Daryl Oxley. During a conversation at cricket, we discovered that the three of us had an interest in golf, along with the fourth member of the group, Tony Irish, who did not play cricket but was Daryl’s brother-in-law at the time. 

We therefore formed a four ball (commonly known as the original four) and would play mainly at Harefield Place golf course (Uxbridge GC) which was a municipal course every week. Sometimes we visited other municipal courses such as Panshanger, Ruislip and Cheshunt to name a few . Basically, anywhere that we could get a tee time we played. There was no online booking in those days, so you had to book a week in advance after queuing early in the car park. We then progressed to playing with a couple of societies, namely Viking and George & Dragon. This gave us access to play private golf clubs in the week when they had open days.

To say that we had the bug would be an understatement as we then decided that we would go on tour, starting with nowhere else but St Andrews, the home of golf. Our second trip was to Ireland and then Devon & Cornwall. On all of these trips we had a fantastic time on and off the course. Others then realised what a great time we were having and were interested in getting involved. This led to a chance meeting with some other golfers, mainly DeCosta Edwards, Frank Fevrier and Brian Douglas who we met one weekend in the car park at Harefield Place GC

At the time you needed at least 12 players to qualify as a society, so we formed the Afro Caribbean Golf Society (ACGS) which was later changed to the African Caribbean Golf Association (ACGA). The first ever event was due to be held at Stapleford Abbotts GC but was hastily reconvened at what is now Essendon GC due to heavy overnight rain.  Of the original 12 members, apart from myself there are only Del Manderson and Greg Worrell remaining who are still active in the Association. We sadly lost DeCosta Edwards, Daryl Oxley, Frank Fevrier and Tony Johnson over the previous years. These four played an integral part in making the ACGA as we know it what it is today. We have lost touch over the years of the remaining 3 members on the list namely Trevor James, Alexis Rennie and Hilary Aurelius who I have recently been told now lives in the north of England.

The ACGA has over the years played and continues to play some of the premier golf courses in the UK as well as regularly holding competitions in, The Caribbean, Spain, France, Florida and Turkey. On occasions we have also collaborated with other societies and participated in trips to China, Malaysia and Thailand. Our association have also sent a team of over 30 members to compete in the Sir Garry Sobers International Golf Festival held annually in Barbados.

The ACGA welcomes both male and female golfers of all ages and abilities. Our competitions are held on a monthly basis from April to October as well as an ACGA affiliated Winter Pairs competition organised by one of our long-standing members. Additionally there are regular trips, golf days and annual competitions against other societies to keep everyone's game sharp throughout the year.

The website is the communication portal which allows us to keep all our members and potential new members updated as to our activities throughout the season. Whether you are a member or visitor we hope you enjoy the information on this site and we hope to welcome you to one of our golf days in the near future.