County Galway’s Oughterard Golf Club grabbed the limelight last weekend when hosting the finals of the prestigious Flogas Irish Mixed Foursomes and Irish Fourball competitions. In celebration of the club’s 50th anniversary year, the All Ireland series, involving some 232 clubs and 140 teams representing the four provinces, concluded in Oughterard.
Golf Ireland’s communications and media manager, Daragh Small, says that while clubs like Sligo host the West of Ireland, this provided a great opportunity to bring a major Inter-Club event to the County Galway course. “It’s a fabulous course, with superb staff and great facilities, and all the feedback has been positive.” says Small, who hails from Annaghdown in County Galway.
It is one of numerous Galway clubs that have given the county a reputation for producing top-class golfers - none more so than Liam Nolan from Galway Golf Cub - while Oughterard’s Devin Morley continues to forge his professional career in Europe, Kate Dillon recently won the AIG Irish Girls’ Amateur Close Stroke Play Championship, and another talented Oughterard club youngster Catherine Harvey was runner-up in the Connacht U18 Girls Close in Ballinasloe.
In Oughterard it was Malahide Golf Club, having lost to Ballinasloe last year, who took the honours in the mixed foursomes, defeating Fermoy 3-1, while Woodstock beat Castlebar 3-1 in the mixed fourball to take the title which involved some 232 clubs. Small, a former sports journalist, says the West is a key ingredient in the development of Irish golfers. “Hugely important - all the great golfers are always wanting to win the West of Ireland tournament - Shane Lowry, Padraig Harrington, Rory McIlroy have all won it. And now Liam Nolan is coming up from Galway Golf Club, and he’s doing really well in the Q-School at the moment. Inter-club golf is like the GAA’s club championship - elite amateurs - but it’s an important stepping stone in their career.”
Small is revelling in his role, and enjoys witnessing the success of Irish golfers. “Golf is huge, one of the biggest sports at the moment and Irish golfers are now major superstars on world scale. And the golf courses are up there too, he says. We've the best links golf courses in the world. If you go to the States, they all want to come to play in Ireland, it's one of the best golfing destinations in the world. It’s also becoming so much more inclusive, and it's really going in the right direction. We're getting bigger uptake every year, and it's exciting times for golf in Ireland."
