Golfers return to the fairways

Golfers returned to the fairways on Tuesday for the first time in five weeks, and for those hardy souls who put up with the cold and damp of winter it was a welcome return.  While many golfers put away the clubs, the hardy winter golfers will have been looking forward to the re-opening of courses.

There was widescale disappointment in late October as courses were closed as part of the level five measures.  Pleas that golf, as a naturally socially distanced sport could continue went unheard.  Although golf like some other sports was deemed low risk, it seemed that the ban on non-essential travel took priority.  Although disappointed, most golfers looked forward to a Continue reading

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Changes ahead in Cups and Shields

While many golfers will be focusing on a return to the fairways next week, others will already have an eye on 2021 and there are some major changes ahead.  The WHS handicapping system was launched in Ireland earlier this month and golfers will see some changes from when qualifying competitions return in the Spring.  In addition to the handicapping changes, there are also changes to the cups and shields competitions.  A new eight region system is set to replace the current provincial structure in mens golf, with each of the eight regional winners progressing to Continue reading

New Munster Regional Executive Elected

Jim Long who was elected Chairman of the Golf Ireland Munster Regional Executive

The evolving face of club golf in Ireland took another step forward last week with the completion of the Munster Regional Executive Committee elections.  Monkstown’s Jim Long is the inaugural Chairman of the provincial arm of Golf Ireland, the new single governing body for golf in Ireland.  The former Chairman of Munster Golf will lead a 16 strong committee of regional representatives after a three-stage election process that saw the first regional executive selected.

This marked the completion of another stage of the transition to Golf Ireland, ending the century long administration of the game by the Golfing Union of Ireland for men, and the Irish Ladies Golf Union for ladies.  Over the last three years, golf’s Continue reading