Golf Ireland

Golf Ireland reports on a positive 2025

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Golf Ireland
Picture: Niall O’Shea

Golf Ireland celebrated another strong year when they provided a scorecard of their own performance for 2025.  It was a positive year on many fronts, from showpiece events, international success, and overall participation in the game.  Clubs around the county have been reporting another positive year for membership, and that was also the case nationally.

It has been another year of growth across all areas of membership.  By the end of October membership figures had reached 236,384.  Just five years ago the membership figure stood at 182,000 prior to a Covid related boost, and the 30% increase over the past five years represents a sustainable growth.  Women now account for Continue reading →

Sustainability to the fore for Golf

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While golf is often considered to be environmentally friendly, there is now a major drive to make the sport more sustainable.  Golf Ireland has positioned sustainability as one of its key programmes.  Drive the Green is the plan that was launched earlier this year and has the aim of advancing sustainability and climate action through the sport.

The view on Ireland’s golf courses can be mixed.  Some take the view that courses are already environmentally friendly with others countering that the active management of the course limits the ecological value of the land.  Ireland’s golf courses cover an estimated 20,000 hectares of land with over half of this estimated as “out of play” landscape available for nature.  Just 5% of golf course land is designated intensively maintained such Continue reading →

Nominations opn for Volunteer of the Year

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Pat O Keeffe Club Volunteer of the Year Award 2023
Picture: Golffile | Denis O’Flynn

The Golf Ireland Volunteer of the Year Awards will return this year for their third edition.  There is a new format this year, having listened to feedback,  the Golf Ireland Club Volunteer Award scheme will be extended from one award to five awards.  There will be three shortlisted candidates for each category who will be announced at their regional AGM.

The Golf Ireland Club Volunteer Awards recognises the invaluable work being done at grassroots level and honours individual or groups of club volunteers who freely give their time to make golf a progressive, inclusive, and accessible sport for all while promoting a volunteer ethos in clubs.

This scheme aims to recognise the amazing work of the thousands of volunteers who are responsible for outstanding work in their golf clubs all around the island of Ireland in 2024.  This year there will be five Continue reading →

Monkstown’s Pat O’Keeffe Honoured

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Pat O Keeffe Club Volunteer of the Year Award 2023
Picture: Golffile | Denis O’Flynn
All photo usage must carry mandatory copyright credit (© Golffile | Denis O’Flynn)

Monkstown’s Pat O’Keeffe was recently honoured by Golf Ireland, he won the Munster Club Volunteer of the Year Award.  The well-known personality has been a member in Monkstown for over 50 years and after being honoured by the club at the AGM, he won the provincial award a few weeks ago.

Interestingly Pat, who led the club to two Munster pennants in the past ten years was the first in his family to play golf.  He ended up in Monkstown by happenstance.  He had only hit a few balls in the Douglas driving range and after playing nine holes in Monkstown with a member for the first time, John O’Reilly spotted him and encouraged him to join.  O’Reilly, who would later become the GUI President, was the Junior Officer and signed up Pat for an annual sub of four pounds.  O’Keeffe describes that encounter in 1972 as incredibly lucky.

O’Keeffe took to the sport quickly, going from a starting handicap of 18 to 2 within 14 months.  “I played here in the 70’s, we had a brilliant team.  We won the Aer Lingus (u22’s) in ‘76 and ’78 and Continue reading →

Busy 2024 Ahead for Golfers

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Douglas will host the final stages of the AIG Senior Cup in June

It might be early January but many amateur golfers will be planning their calendars for the year ahead.  The Golf Ireland 2024 championship calendar kicks off inMarch but the first event to take place in Cork will be the Cork Women’s Scratch Cup on the 27th April. A week later the Munster Men’s Open takes place in Cork on its now traditional May bank holiday weekend date.  Later in May Kinsale will host the Munster Men’s Seniors.  Muskerry will host the Munster Boys and Munster Girls in early July with a close qualifier for boys taking place in the same venue a week earlier.

One the national calendar, the South of Ireland retains its place in calendar in late July and Lahinch will be looking forward to the Palmer Cup which it also hosts earlier in July.  The West of Ireland takes place in Sligo over Easter and six weeks later it will host the Flogas Irish Amateur Open.  The Women’s Irish Open takes place in Woodbrook in June.  Roscommon will host the Women’s and Girls Irish Close while the Men’s Irish Close takes place in Dun Laoghaire in mid August.

Changes to the structure of the inter-club competitions were announced in November and Golf Ireland recently revealed the dates and venues for the final stages of the national and new regional competitions.  Douglas and Kanturk will host the last 16 stages for the AIG Senior Cup, that takes place in late June.  Bandon and Youghal will host the Munster Boys inter-club qualifiers also in June while Cork will be a busy place a few weeks later.  They will host the later stage of the regional matches of the Senior Foursomes, Minor Foursomes, Jimmy Bruen and the Fred Perry Trophy.  The AIG Barton Shield finals will take place in Fota Island in late July.  Fota Island will also host the Munster Inter-Club Women’s trophy that weekend.

Monkstown hosted both regional and national events last year and this year they will host the Fred Daly and Continue reading →

2024 Inter-Club entries now open

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Monkstown Boys Foursomes team pictured with Pat O’Keeffe after winning Munster East title.
Picture: Niall O’Shea

Entries are now open for the 2024 Inter-Club competitions at All-Ireland and Regional level, after Golf Ireland unveiled the biggest set of changes following a three-year review of the programme.  The 2024 programme includes a number of competitions that will remain largely as they were, as well as new competitions that will take the place of others previously organised at All-Ireland level.  A new Mixed Four-Ball competition at All-Ireland level will be inaugurated, aimed at players currently not participating in the Irish Mixed Foursomes.

Since 2021, Golf Ireland has continued with all of the legacy competitions from the ILGU and GUI,  but they had committed to a review which has led to changes for 2024.  As a result of the review, there will be 12 All-Ireland inter-club competitions (five for men, five for women and two mixed), in addition to a Continue reading →

Walsh & Hegarty win Munster Womens Championhsips, No joy for Cork in Co Sligo

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Paula Walsh, Doneraile who won the Munster Women’s Senior Championship. Pic: Golffile, Golf Ireland

Doneraile’s Paula Walsh claimed her second Munster Women’s Senior Amateur Open Championship after a thrilling playoff win in Monkstown.  Walsh shot a 69 in the 18 hole event to hold off the challenge of Lisa Cullen, Aideen Walsh and Lauren Kelly who all finished just one stroke behind.

The Corkonian, who also won this title in 2017, was level par for her front nine and despite birding the 11th she dropped back to level again before the crucial birdie on the last.  This victory is also a huge early season boost for Walsh’s claims in the Bridgestone Order of Merit.  After securing the silverware in Monkstown, Walsh is excited about what lies ahead for the rest of 2023.  “I’m delighted to win. It’s a great win and my second time winning the Munster Championship,” said Walsh.  “It’s good to get off started in the

Continue reading →

Jim Long elected Golf Ireland President

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Jim Long pictured with Monkstown members after he was elected President of Golf Ireland

Monkstown’s Jim Long was last weekend appointed the new Golf Ireland President at the 2023 AGM.  Long has served in many different roles in golf’s administration, and his succession as President follows two decades of work at local and national level.  Jim served as Honorary Secretary for the Munster Branch until he moved to the position of Chairman in 2017 where he served for three years.  With the incorporation of Golf Ireland, Jim served as the Chairman of the Munster Regional Executive before being elected as Golf Ireland President Elect in 2022.

As well as his involvement as an Continue reading →

2022 Inter-Club Plans

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Inter-Club events are again set to be a key centre-point of the Golf Ireland calendar and a recently issued guidance document spells out some of the key features of the 2023 events.  One change in Munster will see the split of home and away matches be removed and instead one team will have the home advantage for all matches.  In 2020 a home and away arrangement was put in place, this was brought about due to the shortened season due to covid, and the need to move away from the traditional weekend events due to course availability.  This was continued last year with all matches including the area finals being split on a home and away basis.  Club surveys carried out last November saw almost two thirds of respondents in Munster favouring all matches being played at one venue.  Munster was the Continue reading →

Golf for Everyone, Golf Ireland’s new strategic plan

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Just a year after golf’s new governing body came into being, Golf Ireland this week launched an ambitious five-year plan to build on the success of the sport over the past two years.

Golf was one of a number of sports to see a big increase in participation during the pandemic.  Although courses were closed at three different stages through 2020 and 2021, the sport added over 20,000 registered players.  That increase reversed a decade of dropping numbers and there are over 200,000 Golf Ireland members with golf making as the fourth highest sport in terms of participation in Ireland.  Overall it’s thought that there are over 500,000 people who play golf once a year, and the governing body will be hoping Continue reading →