Cork Golf Club.
Picture: Niall O’Shea
Golf has been played in Cork for close to 140 years with Cork Golf Club being a central part of that for nearly as long. While not strictly part of the city, the club’s proximity to the city meant that it was always in easy reach of the growing population of the city and suburbs. Cork Golf Club can trace it’s foundation back to 1884 and it’s first location in Lotamore. That course in Glanmire lasted for around ten years and the club then moved to a new site closer to Carrigtwohill. Their time in Carrigtwohill was limited, and in 1899 the club made its third and final move to Little Island. The original four-hole layout was in and around the quarry and when David Brown, Cork’s first professional laid out a nine hole route, that layout lasted for nearly three decades. The 6th and 7th holes Continue reading
There was great excitement in Douglas on Monday as the final of the William Dwyer Inter-Society Trophy took place. Midleton CBS Past Pupils Union were aiming to win the trophy for a third year in a row, but in their way were seven other teams who all had eyes on the trophy. Douglas was in great condition for the annual event, two qualifying rounds took place in Mahon last month and the top eight qualifiers lined out for the final. The format is scotch foursomes with each team fielding four pairs. This was the 78th staging of the oldest inter-society event in the country. The winners on the day were Senior Circle, in a very close contest that went to the final card to determine the winner. Barry Ryan and Ray Duane were first out for Mahon’s Senior Circle and they came home with a respectable level par 72. Sean Hosford and Denis O’Sullivan were second out and they shot a very impressive 
Mahon and Bandon were the two big winners over the weekend as they came through the first serious weekend of cups and shields action. Monkstown and Blarney were the host venues for the AIG Jimmy Bruen Shield qualifiers, with fine weather and great conditions adding to the spectacle of matchplay golf. All Ireland winners Kinsale were not in the shake up this time, they lost out to Skibbereen in a first round match the previous weekend. Mahon had also come through a preliminary match the previous week, they had a comprehensive win over Mallow in the first round to set up a meeting with Douglas on Saturday morning. Similar to their previous form, Mahon had a good win over Douglas but they faced a stiff challenge again Cork in the third round and two matches would need additional holes for Mahon to advance. Tim O’Mahoney needed to chip out of the water on 18 in order for himself and Gavin Carroll to half the hole. They went on to win on the 
Blarney and Mahon hosted several first round matches on Sunday and the line up for Saturday morning’s eight matches is now complete. Lee Valley and Muskerry won in Blarney and the matches on Saturday morning are as follows: