Pictures from Dungarvan:
While Fota Island can be regarded as Cork’s top championship golf location, not many people will know that the Fota was the site of the first record organised golf in Cork. Back in 1883, over 135 years ago the first course in Cork was laid out on the Smith Barry Estate. The course in Fota was the second recorded course in Ireland, and it lasted around 30 years until the game spread by way of the large increase in the number of courses and clubs. It’s not known where exactly on the island that the course was located but it’s unlikely that it was on the site of the current course. Owned by Lady Barrymore who lived in Fota House, the course was a short nine hole layout and was mainly used in the early days by the Officers of the British Army stationed in Cork. Although it boasts the earliest records of the sport in Cork, it seems that there was no golf in Fota until 1993 when a ne Continue reading
Pictures from the four matches starting on the front nine this morning: Continue reading
Castlemartyr is generally a busy golf course, but over the August weekend that goes to a new level as the club hosts their annual scratch cup weekend. It’s now a regular event on the Cork golfing calendar, having started seven years ago. This year was no different, well apart from setting a new record of 428 entrants over the three days. And while there can only be one winner of each of the three events, there were well over a dozen prize winners from the weekend. The generous prize fund exceeded €2,000. The three day event is a big undertaking for the club, and once again they came up trumps. “The weekend was a great success, we had a record number of entrants” said Donal Golden, Captain of Castlemartyr. “The weather was kind to us, with three days of ideal golfing conditions dry, warm and little or no wind. Typically the Sunday afternoon of Continue reading
Pictures from Castlemartyr: Continue reading
It takes a lot to get a club off the ground and when you’re looking at starting a junior golf section that can be even more daunting. Castlemartyr has changed quite a bit in the past three years, in addition to almost doubling the men’s membership numbers, the resort has also started a ladies club and a juvenile section. The junior section started three years ago when the very first junior golfers were family members of existing adult club members and grew from there. In 2016 the section was given some added firepower, when past captain John Paul Twomey took on the role of Juvenile Officer. Twomey had spent a few years on Committee and recognised the importance and the value of building a strong and active junior golf section. “In 2016 I took on the role as Juvenile Officer along with Club Vice President” explained Twomey. “From my time being Club Captain in 2014 I always had an aspiration in taking on the role and expanding the club and offer more to a juvenile club. We commenced by implementing & introducing a code of conduct and policy document safeguarding children in sport in accordance with the CGI guidelines. This was a major stepping stone to getting the juvenile club up and running. All club members involved with juveniles are also Garda vetted in accordance with the G.U.I.” Things have moved on from that first year, the club had around 10 junior members and played in the Fred Daly Trophy in 2014 for the first time. Now with Continue reading
Castlemartyr is a busy place right now and the August weekend will be one of the busiest with their annual scratch cup weekend. Starting on Friday 4th August, the event is set to attract well over 400 golfers over the three days and there’s a large prize fund in place. The event is again sponsored by McCarthy Insurance Group who have been on board for the past four years. The course is set to be in great condition for the showpiece event, the recent fine weather has allowed Trevor Norris and his team to speed up the course which is always a treat for handicap golfers. The three scratch cups (Junior, Intermediate and Minor) take place from Friday to Sunday and the timesheet is filling fast. Since the course opened it became an immediate favourite for both societies and casual golfers. The weekly open singles series are always popular and the membership has grown steadily over the past decade.
Now celebrating 10 years, the facilities in Castlemartyr are being upgraded with the addition of some new practice Continue reading
Looking back on the 18th fairway at Castlemartyr Links
Castlemartyr Golf club jump started the new year, by adding over 150 new members before 2017 started. The new members consist of both ladies, and gents and this puts the resort in a very strong position as the annual battle to attract and retain members heats up. The large intake of members in the mens club resulted from a members invite special offer and this was fully subscribed. Having gained their ILGU affiliation in 2016 the number of lady members has grown steadily over the past 12 months and already 25 ladies have signed up to the special 2017 offer that sees ladies join for a special introductory rate of €599 for their first year with no joining fee. While membership for the Men’s club is currently closed, the Ladies club is open for membership with the special introductory offer available until the end of this month. The innovative scheme where existing members could nominate new members was spear headed by Castlemartyr’s Head PGA Professional Brady Sherwood and the Continue reading
Castlemartyr Captain Michael Lee presents Greg Allen with a gift following the very successful members evening with Peter Alliss in December
Castlemartyr Captain Michael Lee and his committee should have a great but busy year ahead of them. With over 150 new members, Castlemartyr has now entered the major leagues in term of managing club competitions and inter-club events. “This is going to be a very busy year for myself as Captain and for my Committee” said Michael, “but I am looking forward to the challenge ahead this year, I have a good mix of experienced and new people on my committee and we are looking forward to helping all members of the club to enjoy a good golfing year ahead.”
With a new ILGU affiliated Ladies Club in addition to the new male members, Castlemartyr should find themselves competing at all levels of inter-club competitions. Castlemartyr reached the Munster finals of the AIG Senior Cup in 2014 so they will be hoping to match that achievement in one of the five GUI Cups and Shields competitions. “As Captain I am really looking forward to the teams events this year” said Michael, “for the first time in the clubs short history we will be putting in a mixed foursomes team for competition. With all the members we have now I expect a lot of competition for all the team events.”
And he also added his support for the investment in machinery that took place in 2015: “The owners have bought a lot of new machinery to keep the course going in the great condition it is in at the moment, and to hopefully have Continue reading
Pictures from the Taylormade sponsored event at Castlemartyr Links: Continue reading
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