The Irish Golf Club Gazette: 12/01/14

12/01/2014

Golf Club Focus - Castlebar Golf Club

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.

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!

www.castlebargolfclub.ie

Golf Club Focus - Athlone

Club History

In 1892 the first Athlone golf course was laid out on the undulating terrain of the Batteries, a raised area west of the Shannon. It was the 'Athlone Garrison Golf Club' and during the early years it was mainly British army officers and R.I.C. personnel who were members of this nine hole course.

Soon, leading businessmen and professional people of the town began to take an interest in golf and in 1904 a new constitution was adopted and the club was renamed Athlone Golf Club. Those who played an important role in the development of the club at this time were P.V.C. Murtagh, J. Lyster, Dr. C. J. McCormack, J.J. Coen and P.B. Bingham.

Athlone Golf Club moved from the Batteries to Garnafailagh in 1920 because of the encroachment of urban development. The Batteries course however, left its mark on the history of Irish golf. Club member, John Dillon McCormack, won three Amateur Close Championships and represented Ireland twenty-four times. In 1924 he was selected on the Walker Cup team but could not play for personal reasons. It was almost eighty years later that a club member did play on the Walker Cup team, Colm Moriarty played at Ganton Golf Club in 2003.

Golf continued at Garnafailagh until 1938 when the move was made to Hodson Bay. This course was designed by Mr. J. McAllister and was officially opened on the 19th June of that year. The clubhouse, a pavilion style building, was situated beside the lake, close to the present sixteenth tee.

Down through the years a number of development programmes have been carried out. In 1972 the present clubhouse was opened, with Hawtree & Co., Course Architects, having advised on the new lay-out of the course to suit the location of the clubhouse.

On the advise of course architects, Mr. Eddie Hackett, improvements were made to the course in the eighties and in the early nineties the par 4 fifth hole and the par 3 sixth hole were both extended to par 5 holes.

In 2003 a three year course redevelopment programme commenced under Mr. Eddie Connaughton, Course Design Ltd. The work was carried out by S.O.L. Golf Construction Ltd. The redesign and construction of sand-based greens to USGA standards, the introduction of water features and the construction of the new par 3 sixth hole have further enhanced Athlone Golf Club, a club which has hosted many provincial and national championships, including the All-Ireland Cups and Shields Finals in 1998.

Also, in 2007, the All Ireland Mixed and All Ireland Ladies Championships were held in Athlone.

Club Honours

Barton Shield

All-Ireland - 1959

Connacht Winners - 1954, 56, 59, 65, 68, 73, 84, 86, 87, 88, 89, 94, 2004, 08

Senior Cup

Connacht Winners - 1954, 1956, 1968, 1979, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1986, 2003

Junior Cup

All-Ireland Finalists - 1900, 1983, 1988

Connacht Winners - 1900, 06, 59, 62, 69, 70, 76, 81, 83, 86, 86, 87, 88, 89, 95

Irish Mixed Fursomes

All-Ireland Winners - 1976

Connacht Winners - 1976, 1986, 2001

Pierce Purcell Shield

Connacht Winners - 1977

Connacht Shield Winners - 1955, 1976, 1980

Jack O'Sullivan Trophy Winners - 1994

Fred Daly Trophy

All-Ireland Finalists - 2004

Connacht Winners - 1994, 2004

Cecil Ewing Shield Winners - 1996, 2001, 2008

Jimmy Bruen Trophy

All-Ireland Finalists - 1997, 1999

Connacht Winners - 1995, 1997, 1999

Senior Inter Club Winners - 2009

www.athlonegolfclub.ie

Club History - Narin & Portnoo

Par 5. Men:480m; Ladies: 420m; GUI Index 4; ILGU Index 6

Narin & Portnoo golf club is the fourth golf course in this beautiful part of Southwest Donegal since 1899. The area has two towns, Ardara and Glenties which are about six miles apart. The twin villages of Narin and Portnoo lie six miles equidistant from both towns along the coast.

The noted golf course designer George L. Baillie, originally of Musselburgh, near Edinburgh had designed the nine-hole course at the Sandfields, twenty minutes walk from Ardara. Opened in 1899, its patrons stayed at the Nesbitt Arms Hotel in Ardara itself. Ardara Golf Club limped along until the time of the Great War when civil unrest in Ireland put paid to tourism and so-called ‘foreign’ sports for a time.

Castlegoland Golf Course was an 18-hole golf course laid out by Harry Hamill, the professional golfer at Royal Portrush and occupied much of the terrain of the current club. It opened for play around 1903 and its patrons stayed at the newly constructed Portnoo Hotel, situated about a mile away. The last mention of golf on this particular links comes from a tourist’s diary written in 1917 and the existence of the course was long forgotten by the locals when researching the history of the current club in 2003.

Both Ardara and Castlegoland were operated by hotels and the same applied to the third course, a little nine-hole effort about a mile from Ardara Golf Course. Its designer is unknown. Opened in the early 1900s, it came under the control of the old Dowros Bay Hotel and was sometimes called Loughside Golf Club. It too ceased to exist, possibly in the twenties. An unusual feature of this course was that one had to row across a lake from the hotel just to play it!

Opening Day, July 9, 1930

Narin and Portnoo Golf Club was founded in 1930 when some local men decided that the warren in Narin had the potential once again to be developed into a testing links. William O’Donnell, Canon Ernest Devlin, Rev. Boyce, William Hemmersbach and Francis J. McLoone were among those who foresaw the fillip to the tourist trade that a golf course would provide and they pooled their resources to rent the land from the five landlords concerned.

A number of rudimentary holes were already in existence and help was sought from Hughie McNeill, the professional in Portrush and Leo Wallace of Bundoran to bring those holes up to scratch.

On July 9, 1930 William O’Donnell launched a drive down the first and a golf club was born. A committee was formed in 1931 with Mr. O’Donnell the first captain and by the spring of 1932, nine holes had been laid out.

Jim McCole succeeded Patrick Boyle as greenkeeper in 1934 and would hold the post until 1977. Under his stewardship, Narin developed a reputation for fast links greens and the sight of Jim on his knees plucking rye grass was not an uncommon one.

The old wooden clubhouse, opened on August 25th, 1939 and replaced in 1967.

Throughout the thirties the membership grew and a decision was taken in April 1938 to build a clubhouse. Joseph Cunningham & Sons, Killybegs were awarded the contract and on August 25th, 1939 H.A. McDevitte T.D. officially opened the small, wooden pavilion. It would serve as the clubhouse until 1967.

John O’Donnell of Ardara and John Gillespie of Narin were the leading golfers in the first half century of the club’s existence, with the latter going round the nine holes in 33 shots on two occasions. Fairways were only cut once or twice a year, which made the course play longer than its actual length.

The war years were traumatic for the golf club due to transport difficulties and finances didn’t improve much afterwards. Attracting new members wasn’t proving easy and but for the fundraising efforts of the Portnoo Dramatic Club, the club may have folded in the mid-fifties. The thespians toured throughout the county in the late fifties and early sixties and later presented £600 to the committee. The corner had been turned.

Improvements were made to the nine-hole layout and in 1957 the current sixteenth hole replaced the sodden second on the initiative of Louis Walsh. A decision was taken in 1960 to rent more land from Barney McNelis and on June 24th, 1965 Donogh O’Malley, Irish Minister for Health opened the new eighteen hole course, laid out by the members themselves. A first-ever victory in the Inter Club League in 1967 under the captaincy of Patsy Sweeney showed that the club was moving in the right direction on the playing front, though future success proved elusive.

Membership improved sufficiently to justify the building of a bigger clubhouse and this was accomplished by Joe McMenamin & Sons, Stranorlar in 1968 with a grant of £6000 from Bord Fáilte easing the financial burden. A new car park followed in 1970, while new machinery made life a little easier for the greens staff.

The clubhouse from 1967 until 2008.

Donal McBride became Honorary Secretary in 1978 and he entered the club for the first time in the Pierce Purcell, Scratch Cup and Ulster Cup. Scratch golfer, Fr. Brendan McBride (now on the missions in California) represented Ulster that same year, a first for a Narin & Portnoo player.

A successful Pro-Am was launched in 1979 which heightened the club’s profile even further. The likes of Eamon Darcy, Christy O’Connor and David Feherty were big draws and the standard of golf reflected this, with Bobby Browne shooting a 63 in 1979 to set a new course record matched by amateur Enda McMenamin in 1990.

In 1985 a club team reached its first provincial final but lost narrowly to Mourne in the Ulster Cup Final, a competition for 10-handicappers or above. The O’Hagan sisters Niamh and Grainne went one better, winning the Irish Huzzar Vodka Foursomes that same year, while Wendy Patterson and Eileen McMullin achieved similar success in the Daily Mail Foursomes. A second Donegal League success followed in 1987 and the Minor League title was added to the trophy cabinet in 1992.

An extension to the clubhouse was added in 1990 and in 2001 the club purchased that part of the course owned by Mrs. Mary McNelis. This opened up the prospect of a re-construction of the by now dated course layout. Much thought went into the modification of the famous course in 2004 and it was deemed of the utmost importance that the classic character of the old layout should infuse the new. The jewels in the crown are the new pair of snaking par fives that will beguile the enthusiast on the homeward journey.

The course re-development designed by Eddie Connaughton increased the par to 73 and has resulted in the club being awarded a prestigious gold medal by Golf World magazine, the only new Irish club in 2007 to receive such an accolade. Thus it joins a select list of gold medal courses in the country and plans are afoot to improve the club still further. A further fillip came when the Fáilte Ireland Golf Guide was published in 2010 and Narin & Portnoo was included in Philip Reid’s top eight Irish courses, joining the likes of Royal Portrush and Ballybunion in his estimation. Visitors are growing in number, with the green fees very competitive for a club of its length and beauty.

The Pro-Am competition was revived in 2007 to glowing reviews from the professionals and is already a much anticipated fixture on the professional circuit. The club won its first Under-16 County Title in 2007 as a young crop of golfers suddenly burst onto the scene. The first club professional, Connor Mallon was appointed in early 2008 and an extensive refurbishment of the clubhouse was completed in June of that year.

The old girl has survived all the trials and tribulations which have seen the death of three local courses and the future looks rosy indeed!

Where are they Now - David Feherty

David Feherty

David Feherty was born in Bangor, Northern Ireland and spent most of his playing career in Europe, where he won five times and finished in the top ten of the European Tour's Order of Merit twice, coming tenth in 1989 and eighth in 1990.

He spent 1994 and 1995 playing mainly on the PGA Tour, and the best result on the tour was a second place finish at the 1994 New England Classic. His combined career prize money exceeded $3 million.

Feherty represented Ireland in international competition including captaining the victorious 1990 Alfred Dunhill Cup team. Feherty played for Europe on the 1991 Ryder Cup team.

In 1997, Feherty retired from both the European and PGA Tour and joined CBS Sports as an on-course reporter and golf analyst. Feherty is a contributor to Golf Magazine and has his own column in the back of the magazine called Sidespin. He has also published a number of books A Nasty Bit of Rough, Somewhere in Ireland a Village Is Missing an Idiot, An Idiot for All Seasons, and David Feherty's Totally Subjective History of the Ryder Cup.

Feherty lives with his wife, Anita and five children in Dallas, Texas.

He appears in advertisements for the Cobra golf company, showing off his trampolining and cheer leading skills in the advert.

In 2008, Feherty was hit by a truck, while cycling suffering three broken ribs, which punctured his lung and was hospitalised for a few days with a tube in his chest. He resumed his broadcast duties at the 2008 Masters.

Never far from controversy, two years ago Feherty was one of five writers to comment on George W. Bush's move to Dallas using the article to express his support of Bush and to speak on politics. At the time it caused CBS to distance themselves from Feherty's comments.

European Tour wins

1986 Italian Open

1986 Bell's Scottish Open

1989 BMW International Open

1991 Credit Lyonnais Cannes Open

1992 Iberia Madrid Open

Irish wins

1980 Irish National PGA Championship

1982 Irish National PGA Championship

Other wins

1984 ICL International (South Africa)

1988 South African PGA Championship

1992 Bell's Cup (South Africa)

Ryder Cup 1991

Record: 3 matches, 1.5 points

Alfred Dunhill Cup (representing Ireland): 1990 (winners)

Four Tours World Championship: 1990, 1991 (winners)

Fact File

Date of Birth : August 13th 1958

Birthplace: Bangor, Co. Down

Turned Professional: 1976

Original Club : Balmoral Golf Club

Club Profile - Clontarf

Clontarf Golf Club is the place to be these days, with a number of major developments both on the course and in the clubhouse at present underway, and which are all on target for completion by the end of next month.

There is also good news for potential new members of the club with the announcement that the entrance fee for full membership has been reduced substantially from €10,000 to €2,500 and from €5,000 to €1,000 for a five–day membership.

The Club is also very conscious of its youth policy, and this year decided to open membership to boys and girls aged 11/ 12, and is now in a position to offer membership to those aged between 13 and 15.

The Club is also well into its preparations to celebrate its Centenary in 2012, and among the many attractions being organised will be a Centenary Ball.

Speaking on the decision to reduce the entrance fee to the new rate, Eamonn O Dulainn, Chairman of the club’s Management Committee said: “We are very conscious of the difficult economic times at present, and the financial challenges facing every one of us, and happily because of the way we have managed ourselves in Clontarf Golf Club we are now in a position to provide the opportunity for more people to join our club”.

Meanwhile the Club’s new Pro-Shop, which is now sited close to the first tee was officially opened by the club President, Des Killen and provides club professional, Eamonn Brady with a top class facility which also includes an indoor teaching room.

The Pro-Shop will be fronted by a new pitching/ putting green and work is under way in preparing the area with a bent/fescue sod and will be completed in the coming months.

Among the many on-course improvements are new extended teeing areas at the 7th and 11th holes which will be ready for the competitive season.

A new greenkeeper’s compound is also under construction on the site of the old greenkeeper’s shed at the back of the 16th green which will be completed by early next month.

The Clubhouse is also undergoing major improvements with a new state-of-the-art locker room for men and ladies, new toilet and shower facilities, a completely refurbished lounge and new landscape windows providing a panoramic view of the course and in particular the 18th green.

The overall cost for the developments on the course and in clubhouse is €1.25 million which has been funded from the reserve built up over many years and so will not therefore necessitate at levies or extra costs for members.

www.clontarfgolfclub.ie

12/01/2014

Golf Club Focus - Castlebar Golf Club

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