Successful finish for Turner on Asian Tour

Niall Turner3Niall Turner completed his first year back on the Asian Tour with a top five finish at the season ending Phillipine Open.  After two years on the Asian Development Tour, Turner earned a full card by finishing third in the Order of Merit last year.  Turner had already secured a full tour card for next year, but he went on to card three rounds in the 60’s for a high placed finish in the rain shortened event.

The Ballincollig native was in seventh place going into the final round and opened brightly with a birdie on the Continue reading →

Rain Stops Play for Cork’s PGA Professionals

 

Golf_Munster PGA_David O'Sullivan_Nov 2015

Cobh’s Club Professional David O’Sullivan who is also the current Captain of the Munster PGA.

The rain caused the postponement of the Munster PGA pro-am in Castlemartyr and this was the second event in succession that fell to the weather.  The Munster PGA Captain is David O’Sullivan and although he is disappointed with the cancellation, he had little option but to put back the event.  “The weather went against us during December and even though we had great entries for our Killarney and Castlemartyr events we decided to restage these events in the New Year” said O’Sullivan who is the Club Professional in Cobh Golf Club.  He added:  “We started the series with a Professional plus one amateur invite.  This format was something we wanted to try and after early feedback it was a huge success with our opening event held at Fota Island Resort.”  The opening event in November was won by David Ryan with a very impressive 63 on Fota’s Deerpark course.  Ryan also won the pro-am where he partnered his Dad Ellis.  The Munster PGA winter series has Continue reading →

Maurice Moloney, a true friend to golf

Maurice Moloney_1The death occurred recently of Maurice Moloney, the well-known and much-loved proprietor of East Cork Golf Club. Maurice’s untimely passing after a short illness was a terrible shock to his family and the broader community of members in East Cork where he had many, many friends.  The homeliness of East Cork as a club radiated from Maurice’s personality. His infectious laughter was the soundtrack of the clubhouse. He looked for fun in everyone’s company and invariably found it. Golf in East Cork has always been a serious matter but not nearly as important as companionship and craic. In his everyday dealings with people Maurice Continue reading →

Stryker win Fota Island Inter-Company Challenge

 

Golf_Fota Island Inter Company Challenge_Stryker_Dec 2015Fota Island rounded off another busy golfing year recently when they hosted the final of the Inter-Company Challenge.  This is the second year that the novel event has been held and entries were up for the qualifying rounds.  The format was based on eight colleagues playing in a singles format with the top five scores counting towards the team total.  After a number of busy qualifying dates, Cork Airport PJ Hegarty, Stryker and Vistakon all made it to the series final.  Stryker came out on top of the four finalists with a grand total of 162 points, and they won a society outing in Fota Island including dinner for 20 Continue reading →

Coleman Golf’s Massive 50% Off Sale

Coleman Golf Winter Sale 2015Although he’s always a great man to do a deal, Paul Coleman has added fuel to the current retail price war by announcing a massive 50% off sale – starting on Thursday morning.  The popular retailer who is based in Lee Valley has been running his shop for over 7 years and has spent that time looking for innovative ways to drive customers to his shop and to give them the best possible deals.  From try before you buy, bespoke hampers, customised footwear, a custom fitting solution in association with Drive Golf Performance, Paul has pioneered several new ideas.  This year he added payment plans, a price match promise and custom filled Christmas hampers to that list.

And to top that he’s just announced a huge sale offer with 50% off everything.  This come on the back of a very competitive landscape in Cork.  In 2013 Halpenny Golf arrived in Cork to challenge the existing retailers and last month Dublin retailer McGuirks opened up their first Cork store.  Golf retailing is competitive;  McGuirks have plenty of opening offers, Halpenny are offering their “staff prices” promotion regularly and American Golf recently ran a successful 25% off offer at the end of November.  So after a few weeks of poor weather, Paul decided to put the pressure back on his larger competitors; “Business since November has been poor for a number of reasons, the weather has been a huge factor and everybody Continue reading →

Murphy wins Munster Junior Golfer Title

Munster Branch GUI ADM & Awards 24th November 2015Kinsale’s John Murphy won the Munster Junior Golfer of the Year award last week, rounding off 2015 for the talented 17 year old.  He follows in the footsteps of his friend and club mate Cathal Butler in becoming the second winner in a row from Kinsale Golf Club.  The club has been to the forefront of both individual and team junior golf over the past few years.  John had a very busy year, with the key highlights including a Munster final appearance in the Fred Daly Trophy Munster final, a win in the Kerry Boys, and a cap for Munster at the Boys Interprovincials.  John was travelling almost every week during the summer, competing in all four Provincial Boys championships as well as several of the Youth championships.  In the Boys events, he was runner-up in Ulster, 5th in Connacht and 7th in Leinster.  He also took 4th place in Irish Boys Championship.  He took on the unique challenge Continue reading →

Large Attendance at Munster Golf Delegates Meeting

Munster Branch GUI ADM & Awards 24th November 2015The Munster Branch held their Annual Delegates Meeting in Mallow on Tuesday evening and a very large crowd attended to reflect on a another positive year for golf in the province.  It was an occasion to celebrate the successes during the year which included national wins for Dooks, Ballybunion and Thurles.  The Branch reported a deficit of over Continue reading →

Muskerry Lead the Charge for New Members

Muskerry are one of the early birds looking at 2016, they have put in place a very attractive offer for new members under the age of 35.  Munster clubs have seen membership drop by over 20% in the past five years, that’s over 7,400 members between the 86 clubs.  Nationally the game has lost almost 50,000 members so many clubs are now looking at new ways to attract and retain members.  In addition to the membership loss, clubs are also having to manage an aging profile.  This has an impact on revenue and in many clubs, older members qualify for discounts or reduced membership fees.  At a recent EGM, Muskerry approved a new scheme that will see new members pay €520 in their first year of membership.  They then graduate to €700 in the second year and €900 in the third year.  After the third year Continue reading →