Jiggers Dubai

UPDATE: Jiggers Dubai now has its own blog.  Please click here to visit the blog specifically for the Jiggers Dubai Golf Society.

UPDATE:  Jiggers Dubai is now on Facebook, with our own page.  Please click here and 'like' the group on Facebook so that you are updated with the goings on of Jiggers Dubai.

I am a member of the Jiggers Golf Society in Dubai.  Having played as a guest around eight times I was pleased to become a member from January 2011.  Jiggers is a group of 32 golfers, mostly South African, who get together once a month at a course somewhere in the UAE.  In addition, there is an annual away tour to a top golfing destination.  Countries visited in the past include Ireland, Thailand, Italy, South Africa and Spain.  The 2011 away tour was to Scotland, the home of golf.

Jiggers players aim to have a fun day out on the course once a month with a little healthy competition between ourselves to keep things interesting.  The round of golf is followed by lunch, the payment of fines for various infractions on the course (all in good fun), and the opportunity to catch up with mates who you may not have seen since the previous Jiggers game.  Membership is restricted to 32 players, i.e. 8 four-balls, making it easier to reserve tee times at the courses.

But what exactly is a jigger?  Quoting the Jiggers Dubai website, ‘The name Jiggers comes from the original hickory shafted wedge which was called a Jigger’.  There is even a pub in St Andrews called Jigger Inn.

History of Jiggers, as quoted from the Jiggers Dubai website - - -

Jiggers was established about 18 years ago (1988) in Durban, South Africa, by Mike Wolfe and Dave Ramsay as a small informal grouping of a few mates playing golf once a month.  The Society went dormant after a year and then was revived by Dave Ramsay and Rob Edgecombe in 1992.  Rob Edgecombe was the captain for 10 years before moving to Dubai.  Jiggers Durban is still successfully running with a membership of 40 members.

In November 2005 Jiggers Dubai was started by the founder members Rob Edgecombe, Ernest Hosking, Wayne French and Kevin Smyth who also formed the Committee for the first three years.  Rob Edgecombe was again the initial captain and he has been succeeded by Bill Collins who has taken over the captaincy in 2009.  Rob Edgecombe is now the Chairman.  UPDATE:  During the Jiggers year-end dinner in December 2011, Bill Collins stepped down as Jiggers Captain.  He was replaced by Ernest Hosking who will serve as Jiggers Captain for the next three years.  Rob Edgecombe remains the Chairman.

Final Thought - - - I look forward to remaining a Jiggers member while I live in Dubai.  With there being so many prestigious golf courses in the UAE, Jiggers allows us ‘happy hackers’ the opportunity to get out onto different courses that we may not otherwise have the opportunity to play.