On May 9, 1905, there was a meeting held in the Royal Hotel of golfers that had been banned from membership of the Gentian Hill club by the landlord there, Sebastian Nolan. They decided to form a new club under the presidency of the Hon Robert Dillon. It was reported that on that day a committee had accompanied Larkin, the Bray professional, over a promising new course on Mr Marcus Lynch’s property at Barna and were happy about the suitability of the ground for a nine-hole links.
Mrs Hoban who was the existing tenant on the land handed it over for the sum of £30 and the club leased it at the yearly grazing rent of £40 for 25 years. They were allowed to have the grazing of the land for sheep only. They invited two committee members, Mr TP Roche and Mr JT Tighe to design the layout of a new course at the Barna location. They built it in the shape of a horseshoe, encircling the attractive bungalow clubhouse which had a bar, restaurant and card rooms and was also designed by Mr Tighe. The quaint red-roofed building became a very pleasant social centre. The course was in a sheltered spot, was very well kept and ranked one of the best courses in Ireland – an Irish Professional Championship was once played here.
The founder members were mostly of the medical and other professions, with some businessmen and army and navy personnel.
The field of 30 acres on which the course was laid out sloped from the south side up to the north. It was diversified by two woods which formed hazards for several of the greens, and the prettiest hole (the fifth ) was carved through one of these woods and was played from a tee 10 feet higher than the green. Well done, the shot gives much satisfaction – missed, it means much tribulation. The course was on the short side, but had well designed characteristics which amply atoned for this deficiency. The lies were good, the greens capital and the problems numerous. The tees were a feature in themselves.
The sand and gravel used in the construction and development of the course was brought from Silver Strand. The workmen involved in the construction were paid half a crown a day and those with a horse and cart received an extra half crown. In 1912, the weekly wage bill for the two people working in the clubhouse was one pound. Later, there was a horse on the payroll and his owner was paid thirty five shillings a week for work done by the horse. This man caused great consternation once when, having received his holiday pay, he also demanded holiday pay for the horse … and he got it!
The course opened for play on January 1, 1906. The professionals were Dan Mahony, Michael Moran and Willie Moran. The club membership was growing. Prior to the First World War there were 90 men and 50 women and in 1917, they had about 300 members. There was no dismissive attitude to women playing, mixed foursomes were very popular and the ladies also participated in inter-club matches.
During the First World War, many members who were military personnel would never return from battle. Indeed, golfing was to become a shameful pastime for the duration of the war. During the War of Independence, the small number of military officers who did play golf were heavily escorted around the course, much to the annoyance of the locals. The clubhouse was attacked on a few occasions by republicans, shots were fired through the windows and the bar and the locker room were ransacked. The dismissal of two local men who worked on the course caused a lot of resentment.
Land agitation was at its height at the time. The tenants of the Lynch estate were having discussions with the committee at the time about the feasibility of extending their holdings, so it was, in all probability for these reasons coupled with the increase in their membership, that the committee came to a decision in April 1924 to purchase Colonel O’Hara’s estate at Blackrock, and so, Galway Golf Club was on the move once again.
Our first photograph shows the clubhouse surrounded by trees in 1907. Our second is of Dr WA Sandys who was the winner of The Galway Challenge Cup in 1909 and the third image is of Dan Mahony, the club professional taken in 1910.
Much of the above has been taken from Mícheál MacSweeney’s excellent book Galway Golf Club 1895 – 1995.
