Jim Long Pictured with outgoing Chairman John Moloughney
Jim Long from Monkstown is the new Chairman of Munster Golf following his election at the Munster Branch Annual Delegates Meeting on Tuesday night. The Hibernian Hotel in Mallow was again the venue and over 300 delegates from all 85 Munster golf clubs packed in for the meeting, where the key event was the election of a new Chairman. For the first time in over 20 years there was a three-way election with Muskerry’s Liam Harkin and Castleisland’s Michael Lawlor also on the ballot. Although both Long and Harkin were outgoing Officers of the branch, it was the Monkstown man who won. Jim Long was the Honorary Secretary of the Munster Branch and also held the position of Junior Convenor at national level. After his election Long was clearly delighted with the result: “I’d like to thank all the delegates and I’m delighted with the honour to have been elected Chairman. I hope to do my best to work for Munster club and to emulate the achievements of the previous Chairmen of the Branch.” Barry Lynch from Raffeen Creek was elected as Honorary Secretary of the Branch while Cork’s Dave Prendergast was elected as the Honorary Match & Handicapping Secretary. Macroom’s Jim Nolan was elected onto the seventeen-man provincial council, he joins Phil Cooney, John Carroll, Gordon Adair, Tom Donnelly, Jim Lyne and Sean O’Leary who were all re-elected. The meeting also Continue reading
Carrigaline based PGA Professional Wayne O’Callaghan has recently set up a new base in Raffeen Creek Golf Club. The popular instructor has moved from his previous base in Fernhill where he had worked for the past four years. Wayne qualified as a PGA Professional almost twenty years ago having served his apprenticeship under Bandon’s Paddy O’Boyle. From 1998 to 2012 he worked from the busy Carrigdhoun Golf Range and in 2012 he moved to Fernhill Golf Course. Over the past four years Wayne developed a very strong junior programme, which incorporated quite a bit of on-course work which complimented the range and putting green aspect of the programme. Although his time on the PGA Irish Region Tour has been limited due to his teaching commitments, Wayne did feature in the top ten a number of times this year. Having left Fernhill in October, Wayne wasted no time in setting up a new base. “I have now 
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.
For the first time in many years there will be a three way election for the post of Chairman of the Munster Branch. The Annual delegates meeting takes place later this month and the election will see two Munster Branch Officers and a former Officer contest the election. There is one nomination for each of the other Officer posts and there are 21 nominees for the 17 places on the Provincial Council.
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 
Cork Golf News 