Davey Barry
Davey Barry was in the top ten at the 36 hole Waled City of Derry pro-am over the weekend. Davey shot a two under par 69 to finish on three under in a tie for 7th place.It’s Davey’s first top ten since May although the busy Douglas professional has been playing on a reduced schedule. Davey has been a busy man this year, he completed his PGA studies earlier this year and he’s been busy coaching and teaching in Douglas over the past three months. He’s made the cut in all 14 events that he has play in, and has earned prize money in nine events.
It has been a quiet year for Cork golfers, Michael Collins and Wayne O’Callaghan cut back their schedule in 2016 and this year both Cian McNamara and David Ryan have also reduced their number of events. Davey will be back in action next week in the St Margaret’s and then it’s on to Rosslare where he’ll defend the title he won last year. After that the PGA season will start to wind down, the last pro-ams on the schedule are Lutrellstown, Tulfarris and Galway Bay with the season closing with the €20,000 Connemara pro-am in late September.
Damien McGrane continues to lead the PGA Irish Region Order of Merit, the Wexford based professional has a sizeable lead over David Higgins and looks likely to win the Order of Merit at this stage. Simon Thornton is in third place and David Ryan is the best placed Cork golfer in 15th place.
There aren’t too many PGA Professionals that focus on a single area of golf, but while most specialise around teaching or playing or retailing, John Dooley has added another aspect. The Riverstown based pro has a busy teaching base in Drive Golf Performance but he also manages a bespoke golf tour business. After spending nearly a decade at Doonbeg, John saw a gap in the market. The experiences in Doonbeg led to John setting up Concierge Golf, a business which he describes as “combining coaching golf and managing golf tours into Ireland & Scotland.” The managing is the key part as John can help with everything from transport to dining. “Concierge Golf Ireland offers to manage golf holidays to Ireland & Scotland to golfers that would like more than just a booked golf tour” explained John. “To that point, we offer to book and manage tee times, various transporting types, standards of accommodation, where to go and what to do, along with any type of entertainment and setting up the dining experiences. There is a lot of time spent working on our customer’s golf tours, the workload per golf tour is quite significant mainly due to the details required by the customers. However, I really become energized for customers when they comment on how much they have enjoyed their Irish or 
Frankfield Golf Range continues to develop, and owners Coleman and Michael Ryan have succeeded in building a wonderful practice facility on the grounds where Mick Ryan Snr built a golf course over 30 years ago. A new short game area have been developed and now custom fitting has now arrived in Frankfield. The new fitting centre at the range provides golfers with hundreds of options when it comes to investing in new equipment. Working with McGuirks, Frankfield’s resident PGA Professionals Michael Ryan and David Whyte can match shafts with heads and grips to provide a truly customised solution for each golfer. Frankfield has teamed up with McGuirks to provide the new service. The retail chain has a shop just 800m from the range and now golfers can test the latest equipment options under the watchful eye of a PGA Professional. A full range of heads are 
David Whyte and Michael Ryan have announced dates for their summer golf camps taking place in July and August. The three day camps take place on the 24/25/26 July and again on 22/23/24 August The camps are open for boys and girls aged 7 – 13 and all levels will be catered for. The camps take place at the Golf Academy at Frankfield Golf Range and are run by experienced PGA Professionals. The golf academy has recently been upgraded and golfers will benefit from learning and practicing at the top qualify facility. Further details and bookings can be made by contacting David or Michael.
Golf fitness is a relatively new discipline and it’s interesting that the newly opened Cork Golf Centre has its very own onsite golf gym. The centre which was formerly a stand-alone driving range reopened in April with a refurbished range and teaching room, shop, treatment room and gym. Francis Courtney is behind the gym side of Cork Golf Centre, and the TPI qualified fitness coach is a keen golfer himself. He started playing golf at just 7 years old, thanks to his Dad who was a greenkeeper in Dunloe. He’s currently a category one golfer playing out of his native Killarney. He’s now working alongside PGA Professionals Stephen Hoey, Wayne O’Callaghan and Liam 
There was no joy today for the seniors who were playing in the Irish Seniors Open Championship in Co Tipperary, and Brian O’Donovan also failed to secure a full card in the PGA China final qualifying.
