Durham County Golf Union
County Seniors
Durham County Golf Union Seniors (DCGUS) aim is to provide competitive golf for men over the age of 55, who are members of Durham County Golf Union Seniors.
The seniors have a range of events each year. The 4-BBB handicap events are the Spring, Summer and Autumn meetings, and a Texas Scramble all hosted by different affiliated clubs, as well as the prestigious Geoff Dunn Trophy. All of these are played in a pairs stableford format.
The Seniors also have a Strokeplay championship — 36 holes over two days, with the best gross score holding the title for the year — and a Matchplay championship, with the top 16 gross scores qualifying for the matchplay knockout played over the season.
DCGUS also take part in the Northern Counties League against the five other northern golf counties, as well as an annual national strokeplay event.
County Seniors
County seniors competitions are listed alongside all other county events. You can view fixtures and enter on the Competitions page.
View Seniors Competitions
Stuart Brown
John Kennedy
John Kirkpatrick
County Seniors
2023
The Durham County Seniors team won the Northern Counties regional qualifying strokeplay competition at the Isle of Man for the first time in their history — beating all six Northern Counties and going forward to represent the region at Thorpeness Golf Club in the National Finals. They were narrowly beaten by a very small margin, but this started to get the County noticed.
2024
The County Seniors pulled off a remarkable double by following up the previous year's achievement, winning the Northern Counties qualifier again — this time at the City of Newcastle Golf Club — to once more represent the region, now at Torquay Golf Club. They got even closer, only losing with the last putt, on the last green, in the last match. An achievement made all the more remarkable given the weather!
2025
The Durham County Seniors have been threatening to win the Northern Counties League, in which the six northern counties play five matches against each other across a season. Durham have never won it, but last year came very close — a single putt being the difference between winning and losing.
County Seniors
Final standings for the 2026 season — congratulations to John Kirkpatrick, the 2026 Order of Merit Champion.
| Position | Points |
|---|---|
| 1 | 250 |
| 2 | 200 |
| 3 | 150 |
| 4 | 125 |
| 5 | 110 |
| 6 | 100 |
| 7 | 90 |
| 8 | 80 |
| 9 | 70 |
| 10 | 65 |
| 11 | 60 |
| 12 | 55 |
| 13 | 50 |
| 14 | 45 |
| 15 | 40 |
| 16 | 35 |
| 17 | 30 |
| 18 | 25 |
| 19 | 20 |
| 20 | 15 |
| Round / Position | Points |
|---|---|
| Winner (1st) | 250 |
| Runner-up (2nd) | 200 |
| Semi-final losers (3rd/4th) | 150 |
| Quarter-final losers (5th–8th) | 100 |
| Round 2 losers (9th–16th) | 50 |
Points awarded to the top 20 Durham-based players in 18 & 36 hole Club Scratch Opens.
| Position | Points |
|---|---|
| 1 | 150 |
| 2 | 125 |
| 3 | 100 |
| 4 | 90 |
| 5 | 80 |
| 6 | 75 |
| 7 | 70 |
| 8 | 65 |
| 9 | 60 |
| 10 | 55 |
| 11 | 50 |
| 12 | 45 |
| 13 | 40 |
| 14 | 35 |
| 15 | 30 |
| 16 | 25 |
| 17 | 20 |
| 18 | 15 |
| 19 | 10 |
| 20 | 5 |
The Durham County Seniors Scratch Order of Merit is open to all affiliated male members of the Durham County Seniors with their home club in the Durham Union. It consists of:
The leading player after the last qualifying event will win a prize voucher and hold the trophy until the following year.
Eligibility is open to all Durham home club members with a maximum Handicap Index of 5.4. Some events are open to players with higher handicaps — in those cases, those players are included in the OOM but only for the events they are accepted entry into.
Club scratch events are not run by the DCGU. Any queries on entries or results for those events should be directed to the clubs themselves, not the County Secretary.
County Seniors
The Association shall be called the “DURHAM COUNTY GOLF UNION SENIORS” changed from “DURHAM COUNTY GOLF VETERANS ASSOCIATION” in 2018.
Membership shall be open to any person over the age of 55 years, at the time of joining such person must be a playing member of a golf club affiliated to the Durham County Golf Union or be a member of a recognised Golf club in the former geographical area of County Durham and not be a member of any other County Seniors Association.
Membership qualification may be extended at the discretion of the Council to former members who move to a club outside of County Durham that is affiliated to another County Golf Union and such persons as the association, on the recommendation of an annual general meeting, may elect to be honorary members. To be eligible to play in the County Durham Golf Union Senior annual competitions or for the County Seniors team a player must have paid the non-refundable annual membership subscription to the County Durham Golf Union Seniors Section.
The Governing Body of the Association shall be styled “THE COUNCIL” and the entire management of the Association shall be vested in it. FOUR members of the Council shall form a quorum.
The Officers shall consist of a President, who shall be the ruling President of the Durham County Golf Union, a Chairman, a Secretary/Treasurer, a Captain, and four other members of the Council.
Ordinary meetings of the Council may be called by the Secretary, seven days notice shall be given to all members of the Council.
A meeting of the Association shall be held in the month of NOVEMBER in each year, at such place as may be decided by the Council. The secretary shall give twenty-one days notice of the meeting to each member of the Association. At each Annual General Meeting the following business shall be transacted in addition to any Extraordinary business of which notice shall be given.
Mens Spring Meeting
Mens Summer Meeting
Mens Autumn Meeting
Mens Fourth Meeting
4-Man Team Competition
Championship
Season-long
County Seniors
For enquiries about the Seniors section, please email Seniors@durhamcountygolfunion.co.uk.