All-Ireland Youths Championship Trophy in 2004 - from left are: Regina Kerr, Lady Captain,
Albert Lee,GUI President 2004, Rory McIlroy (Now a headlining professional golfer) and
Denis Gallagher, Club Captain 2004.
Albert Lee,GUI President 2004, Rory McIlroy (Now a headlining professional golfer) and
Denis Gallagher, Club Captain 2004.
In 1970 the landlord offered to sell land to the Club, either the existing nine hole course for £6,500 or sufficient land for an eighteen hole course for £13,000. An E.G.M. was held to discuss this offer at which a decision was made to purchase the nine hole course for £6,500 and to take an option for the other nine holes. However it seems that this purchase did not go ahead for in 1971 it was reported that Mr. Carson had sold all the land to Mr. Harry Jennings.
In 1970 also Mr. Frank O’Brien, Club President and former Captain and Trustee as well as former Delegate and Chairman of the Connaught Council of the G.U.I. died.
1972 saw the introduction of the Junior and Juvenile categories of membership which have proven immensely popular and beneficial to the Club in attracting young people to join the Club and take up the game.
In 1972 also Castlebar Golf Club won the Connaught Shield and also won the Connaught Pierce Purcell title.
In 1979 a fire destroyed the men’s locker room which was located in the old house.
The 1980’s got off to a flying start for Castlebar Golf Club: there were back to back County Cups in 1980 and 1981 and Stephen Munnelly won the Scratch Cup in 1980. The Club won the County Cup again in 1984.
The early years of the 1980’s were dominated by plans to expand and develop the course. Among the options explored to finance the development was the selling of sites along the main road. Planning Permission was sought but was not granted and the Club just sold one site – The Orchard.
Work was however on-going on the development of the course, culminating in 1985 with the Official Opening of the new eighteen hole course. The Official Opening was the centrepiece of the Club’s 75th Anniversary celebrations.
Once the new course was opened the Club turned its attention to the development of a new Clubhouse. Plans were submitted by an architect and construction on the new Clubhouse started in early 1990.
As it started so too the decade finished on a winning note! Castlebar won the Connaught Junior Inter-Club Match-play in 1988 and followed that up in 1989 by winning the Connaught section of the Pierce Purcell Shield.
For Castlebar Golf Club the 1990’s was an exceptionally busy decade, with major improvements and changes taking place. At the very start of the decade a new Clubhouse was built. This was opened in July 1990.
In 1991 Joe Langan set up the “Phembers” society for high handicappers in the Club. Michael McDermott was the first captain of this new society which today is known as the “Phyxers” and is going as strong as ever.
Associate Membership was abolished in 1991 with the result that ladies became full independent Members.
On the competitive front, 1993 saw the most successful year ever for Castlebar Golf Club in Inter-Club competitions. Under Club Captain, Jim Tiernan, Castlebar won a total of seven pennants, made up of one All-Ireland Pennant (Junior Foursomes) and six Connaught Pennants. Jim Tiernan is rightly very proud of this achievement, referring to it as “The Magnificent Seven”.
In 1994 Castlebar Golf Club finally purchased the remaining land being leased for the course. The Club and Mr. Harry Jennings reached an agreement and the deal was completed. After 84 years in existence Castlebar Golf Club finally owned all the land.
The end of the 1990’s saw the Club embark on its most ambitious project to date. Due to on-going issues with drainage and green problems it became necessary to undertake corrective measures. In 1998 the Captain, Jimmy Broderick and his Committee engaged the services of Peter McEvoy and Craig Cooke to carry out an assessment of the course and to submit recommendations for improvement works. This was the starting point for the development of the new layout complete with 18 new USGA specification greens and 18 new tees, work on which began in 1999.
The 1990’s for Ireland finished on a high note with the country enjoying a boom time and for Castlebar Golf Club the decade similarly finished on a high!
For Castlebar Golf Club the decade started off with the redevelopment of the course in full swing. Eighteen new tees and greens complete with an entirely new layout were being built. The newly developed course was officially opened in 2001.
In 2002 Castlebar Golf Club won the Kenny Cup and in 2003 won the Connaught Junior Foursomes. In 2007 and 2008 respectively the Connaught section of the Junior Cup and the Connaught section of the Pierce Purcell Shield were won.
The Winter League was started in 2003 and this has developed into a very popular league with over 200 golfers entering it each year.
Fund-raising became even more essential in the 2000’s. The 2004 Captain, Denis Gallagher, introduced the Club Lotto, which ran for just over two years and raised over €40,000!
2004 was a huge year for Castlebar Golf Club. The Club hosted the Youths All-Ireland Finals with the finest young golfers from all over Ireland playing and a certain Rory McIlroy winning the title!
Also in 2004 Jim McGovern became the third Castlebar member to be elected to the Connaught Council of the Golfing Union of Ireland and in 2007 Jim became the first Castlebar member to be appointed Honorary Secretary of the Connaught Council.The decade ended as it began with construction work on-going. This time the Clubhouse was being extended and renovated, a job overseen by Val Jennings and completed in early 2010, leaving Castlebar Golf Club with a very fine Clubhouse as well as a very fine course!
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