The presentation of the Harbour Shield took place recently when Cobh Golf Club hosted a competition for the ten participating clubs. The final took place a few weeks previously and it was contested by Kinsale and Douglas who were both looking for their first title. After a closely fought final it was Douglas who won despite conceding home advantage to Kinsale. It was a long trip to the final for the young Douglas golfers. In the league section they came up against Kinsale, Cork, Blarney and East Cork, winning all of their matches. In the semi-final they beat Mahon to qualify for the final and a rematch against Kinsale.
The final was a real nail-biter with four of the six matches going all the way to the 18th hole. In the first foursomes match Douglas were two down with two to play, but there was a great comeback by the Hill brothers, Bryan and Mark. They fought Continue reading
After the official launch of the ladies club in Castlemartyr earlier this year, the five star resort has launched a very attractive membership offer for the year ahead. The normal membership fee has been slashed to just €599 as the new club makes a play to attract ladies to the club. Castlemartyrs’ PGA Professional Brady Sherwood has worked hard for the past two years to build and develop the ladies side of their membership packages. “There has always been a demand for a ladies club in Castlemartyr Golf Club.” Said Sherwood. “Due to our golf course originally being so busy with green fee players in the opening years, there was never really a clear focus on the ladies membership until now. This inland Links style golf course is easy to walk and not too long or over challenging. It’s also a resort style set up, so it’s always prepared and set up beautifully for enjoyable golf. The feedback we get from lady golfers is extremely positive and they love the fact being sand based you can twelve months of the year in great condition, the majority of the new lady members that have joined Castlemartyr for the simple fact of accessing the seven-day full membership 
Bandon native Brian O’Donovan shot an opening round of 69 to finish in the top 20 at the Clearwater Bay Open in Hong Kong. O’Donovan is competing in his first PGA Tour China event this season and is very well placed in the field of 120 golfers. He’s three shots off the lead on one under par. The Mission Hills senior instructor had two bogies and three birdies on the front nine and he followed that with nine pars on the way back.
Kinsale’s John Murphy had a pretty special bank holiday weekend, Murphy was in Portugal for the Darren Clarke Champions Weekend. As winner of the Munster Youths in August, Murphy was invited to take part in the event which was hosted by the Amendoeira Golf Resort in the Algarve. The 18 winners from the top youths, boys and girls competitions in 2016 invited for the three day trip. Rachel Thompson, Mairead Martin and Valerie Clancy also earned invitations after their performances this year. After a 4am start in Dublin airport on Friday morning, the golfers met Clarke on arrival at the golf club and played golf with the Ryder Cup Captain three times over the two days. Although vastly experienced at top level national and international boys golf, Murphy admitted that it was a pretty special experience. “We went over to the golf club and Darren introduced himself to us. It was kind of weird at the start, but I got used to it after a few hours” said Murphy who is now a student in Maynooth. “We played 18 holes with Darren playing with us and watching us, pointing 
The members of Fernhill Golf Club in Carrigaline received a shock last week when they were informed that the owners would not be renewing club memberships in January 2017. Having confirmed 2017 membership terms only a few weeks ago, the latest from the owners is that they can no longer fund the ongoing losses. It’s unclear if the course will close from January or if it will revert to a pay and play facility. In recent years the owners developed a covered driving range and short game area.
The closing date for nominations for the Provincial Council of the Munster Branch is Tuesday next 1st November. Nominations are currently open for the 17 provincial council positions, as well as the four officer posts. Chairman John Moloughney will be leaving the post as he goes on to take up the role of President Elect of the Golfing Union of Ireland.
David Ryan (Cahir Park) and David Foley (Dromoland Castle) came joint top in Dooks today in the first outing of the Munster PGA Winter Series. The two David’s were the only golfers to finish under par, shooting an impressive 70 in cool windy conditions. The pair had a four shot cushion over the field. Dooks was in great condition for the Ping sponsored event which attracted PGA professionals from all over the province. Third prize was shared between Limerick’s Tim Rice and Tralee’s John Sugrue after they both finished with a 74. Rice will miss the next outing as he’ll be in Tarragona, Spain hoping to earn a place at final qualifying for then European Tour. Rice qualified for the second qualifying stage last month, and will be hoping for another good performance there. Monkstown’s Cian McNamara and his amateur partner Alec O’Donnell took the pro-am prize.
The Munster PGA Winter Series gets underway this week with a visit for the first time to Dooks. The Glenbeigh course will hold the first event of the calendar on Monday next which is a pro-am. The event is sponsored by Ping and a large number of entrants is expected. Dooks’ resident professional Danny Sugrue will be hoping to take advantage of his extensive local knowledge, but Liam Higgins could also make that claim so it should be a very competitive event. It’s been a busy few weeks for the Munster PGA committee and Captain Stephen Hayes. They have been planning an extended series of eight events which will take place from October to March. As well as prizes form each competition, golfers will also be competing for the PGB Order of Merit.
Cork Golf News 