Members of Lucifer Golfing Society at the Tollygunge Club greens on Wednesday. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Call it the appetiser before the black-tie dinner at the Savoy Hotel in London on July 12, or a putting prelude to the 18-hole stableford rounds at West Hill and Walton Heath golf clubs over the two days leading up to it.

Royal Calcutta Golf Club and Tollygunge Club played hosts to a special ensemble of golf goodwill ambassadors from the UK on Tuesday and Wednesday, members of the Lucifer Golfing Society, in town as ?an important link in the great chain of Empire, brotherhood and understanding?.

Formed in 1921, the society is ?primarily concerned with holding the annual golf meeting for friends from overseas and the dinner that follows at the Savoy?, according to Richard Blake, current captain of the society and a member of MCC at Lord?s.

Blake, leading a group of 11 ?Lucifers? on this tour of India and Sri Lanka, is ?overwhelmed? by the warmth of Calcutta.

?We have brought our golfing ethos and will take back with us an astounding friendship, which is really the cornerstone of the society?s philosophy,? the retired chartered accountant told Metro before teeing off at the Tolly on Wednesday.

The Commonwealth tournament, which teed off in 1928, takes place in England every July with participants from some 350 golf clubs around the Commonwealth. Lucifer trophies are awarded after the Savoy dinner to the winner and runners-up of the tournament and for the best scores at West Hill and Walton Heath.

Over the past 26 years, the Lucifers have carried out a number of tours to Commonwealth countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe, Bermuda, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and India, where the society has returned after 1982.

?These tours are aimed at encouraging Commonwealth golfers to visit the UK and meet similar golfing friends from around the world,? said Richard Lea, who at 72 is the oldest member of the squad. The retired army officer, a keen traveller, was in Calcutta last year on a reconnoitre to set up the visit.

The Lucifers are now 100-strong, with membership strictly by invitation. ?We hope to have some golfers from Calcutta at this edition of the Commonwealth meet,? said William Carr, whose family was ?responsible? for bringing Rupert Murdoch from Australia to England.

Carr, chairman of various publishing companies and a member of Lloyd?s, has been involved with the Lucifers since 1960 and came to Calcutta in 1972. ?As Englishmen, we have a special affinity for this city, the former capital of the British empire. It?s wonderful to be back and the welcome has been staggering,? he smiled.

K.B. Menon, chief executive and managing member, Tollygunge Club, felt it was a ?privilege to host the Lucifers? and hoped the excursion would foster ties.