18 Hole Parkland
Course Facts: Address
Carrowholly
Westport
Co. MayoSecretary/Manager: Sean Durkan Captain: Sean Walsh Lady Captain: Nuala Hopkins Telephone: 098-28262 President: Pat Bree Public No: 098-28262 Vice-Captain: Sean Fitzgerald & Mary McNicholas Fax: 098-27217 Hon. Secretary: Noel Connell & Mary Dolan E-mail: info@westportgolfclub.com Club Pro: Alex Melia & Aiden Moran 098-28262 Website: www.westportgolfclub.com Hon. Treasurer: Richard Gill & Geraldine Marry Founded: 1908 Designed by: Fred Hawtree Membership: 501 Course opening hours: Daylight hours Green Fees Midweek: €40/45 Clubhouse opening hours: 9.00am to 11.30pm Green Fees Weekends & B.H.: €50/60 Mobile phones: Not on course or in clubhouse Green Fees With a Member: €50% Dress Code: Neat casual, no denim Green Fees For Opens: €30 Catering: Full catering facilities Practice Area: Range Days to Avoid: Competition days Club Hire: Yes Green Fees and Societies Welcome: Other days Buggy Hire: Yes Pre-booking for open tournaments: 14 Days in advance Soft spikes: Yes
Course Description:
This premier 18-hole Championship Golf Course set in 260 acres of rolling parkland on the shores of Clew Bay, was designed by the renowned British firm of course architects Fred Hawtree and Sons. Measuring 7,072 yards par-73 with a standard scratch of 74 off the back tees. Its signature hole is the par-5 fifteenth, 580 yards index 9, where the tee shot is a long carry over Clew Bay. Westport Golf Club was awarded the Smurfit Irish Professional Championship in April 2002, won by Ryder Cup Hero Paul McGinley who set a new professional course record 65 in the 3rd round.
It has been the venue of the Irish Amateur Close Championship on three occasions in 1977 when it, was won by Mark Gannon (Co. Louth) in 1985 when it was won by Denis O’Sullivan (Cork) and again in 1997 when Ken Kearney (now playing out of Roscommon). In 1989 Mary McKenna lifted her 8th Irish Women’s title at this venue. Westport can be a very demanding course in wet weather, demanding long irons and fairway woods on most holes. Regardless of the weather, a crisp Atlantic breeze is always present.Situated at the mouth of island-studded Clew Bay, where it is said there is an island for every day in the year, Westport is the most popular holiday resort in the West of Ireland and coupled with this Championship Course, in the shadow of Croagh Patrick, it make an ideal base to play the many other fine courses within easy reach.
Opened in 1973, the maturity of the course and the continuing upgrading of the course and facilities makes Westport among the best that Ireland has to offer. It has a fine clubhouse and the visitor is assured of a warm West of Ireland welcome and a memorable game of golf. In the clubhouse there is a magnificent oil painting by Irelands best golf course artist John McNulty and you can purchase a signed limited edition in the Pro Shop. Voted the No. 48-ranked golf course in Ireland, by “Golf Digest Ireland” in 2008. Westport was voted No. 26 Links/Shoreline Course in Ireland by "Backspin" Irelands leading Golf magazine in 2008, the panel comprised of a selection of 52 Professional and amateur golfers throughout Ireland.
Open & Major fixtures 2008: Event
Start
Finish
Type
Duration
No fixtures until 2009.
Club History
Instituted 1908, affiliated 1927. The "Irish Golfers Guide" 1910 gives an instituted date of 1908 for Westport and reports "The course was nine-holes, two and a half miles from Westport Station. The Captain is given as W. H. Darley-Livingston, and the Hon. Secretary is A. G. Simpson, of the Bank of Ireland".
It would appear the club had some difficulties during the war years. In 1926, the club was restarted when a nine-hole course was opened at Carraholly, three and a half miles north of Westport: sometime between 1926 and 1939 the club extended to eighteen-holes. In 1973, the club relocated in its present home where eighteen of the finest links holes are to be found. The Irish Close Championship was played here in 1997, 1985 and 1977.
Location
2.5K from Westport Town Centre, take the Newport road and then a left where you see the sign the golf club is about half a mile up on your left.
Members Achievements
Westport Golf Club won the Connaught Final of the Irish Junior Cup when they beat Ballinasloe Golf Club by 3 and halve matches to 1 and halve matches at Enniscrone Golf Club on the 12th August 2006.It was back to Enniscrone Golf Club for the National Finals, where they where drawn against Leinster Champions Castle Golf Club in the All-Ireland Semi-Final on Wednesday 13th September.
First on the tee was Colm Walsh drawn against Castle’s Simon Lynch with Castle recording a 5 and 4 win. Anto Browne was next up against Ronan Burke, again the match went against Westport by 2 and 1. He was followed by Michael McGreal who lost out to Omer Bhamjee by 3 and 2. Ronan Mahon and Tony Bree both halved their matches with Ross Kinsella and Marc Dillon. So it was not to be for the men from the west who won the All-Ireland at Lahinch in 1980.
N. Kavanagh and C. O'Malley were selected on the Connacht team for the Interprovincial Matches played at Portmarnock Golf Club from 11th to 13th August 2004.
The Boys' of Westport Golf Club won the won the Connaught Schools Golf Championship when playing for Rice College, the team was Shane Collins, Michael McGreal, Cormac O’Halloran, Cathal O’Malley, Anthony Browne and Thomas McLoughlin they were coached by Joe Cuddy.
Westport Golf Club were Runners-Up to Portumna in the Connaught Final of the Irish Junior Cup at Galway Golf Club in 2002. The team was Dave O'Regan, Michael McGreal, Gar Golden, Tony Bree, Tom McLoughlin, Liam Gibbons, Niall Halpin, Liam Halpin and Padraic Higgins. They were captained by Pat Kearns.
Lady Captain Marion Duffy, Captain Haulie Hoban and J. Collins, qualified for the National Finals of the Mercedes-Benz Irish Independent Executive Golf Classic at The K Club on August 12th 2002.
Westport trio, Lady Captain Ann Duffy, Captain Pat Kearns and President Noel Carroll, got through the regional qualifiers of the Mercedes Benz-Irish Independent Executive Golf Tournament at Galway Bay Golf & Country Club in May 2001. Ann playing off 34, Pat off 14 and Noel off 14 returned a score of 77 points. They went on to compete in the National Finals at the K Club on 13th of August.
Westport won the All-Ireland Irish Junior Cup at Lahinch G. C. in 1980. The team was L. Gibbons, G. McAleer, T. Joyce, M. Henehan, D. Joyce, P. O'Reilly G. Golden and they were Captained by F. Hope.
They won the Connaught Shield in 2000.
Westport won the County Cup in 1988 the team was G. Hughes, P. O'Reilly, P. Kennedy, C. O'Malley, J. Foley, J. Kelly, the late M. Cavaunagh, P. Hopkins, D. Kendrick and M. Kearns.
Ger Golden was President of the GUI in 1990.
The Ladies of Westport won the Linda Black Trophy in 1985, the team was Kay O’Brien, Maureen Flynn, Sheelagh Ryan, Bridie Hughes and Loretto O'Malley.
The boys' of Westport won the Connaught Section of the Irish Junior Foursomes, sponsored by Jefferson Smurfit plc. They were beaten by one hole in the final by Castletroy, in the National Final at Strandhill, on 21st August 2000.
Westport were beaten in the Fred Daly at Strandhill on 22nd August, 2000. They went down 3-2 to Banbridge. The team was Noel Kavanagh, Tony Bree, Michael Kearns, Neil McNulty and Cathal O'Malley. They won the Connaught Junior Inter Club the same year and in1999.
They won the Connaught Junior Foursomes in 1999.
Noel Kavanagh won the Connaught Boy's Championship in 2000.
Tony Bree won the Mayo Under-18 Championship in 2000.
Tom McLoughlin won the Mayo Under-16 Championship in 2000.
S. Underwood represented Connaught in 1988, and played Connaught Youths', in 1988.
On the 29th June 1997, in the "Golfer of the Year" Competition, Tommy Reilly (13) & Albert Gallagher (15) had holes-in-one on the 12th, followed by Jim Lyons (19) on the 14th.
Card of the Course (yards)
Name Hole No Blue White Green Par Index Red Par Index Ballyknock 1 348 335 324 4 14 315 4 12 Bridgers Stable 2 342 330 317 4 10 310 4 6 Judges Tower 3 164 152 145 3 16 137 3 14 Road Hole 4 496 488 467 5 18 420 5 16 Clare Island 5 356 343 330 4 12 328 4 4 Wheatpark 6 455 445 412 4 4 275 5 18 Old Canal 7 520 511 490 5 8 411 5 8 Saleen 8 472 436 392 4 2 428 4 2 The Churns 9 204 196 170 3 6 133 3 10 Out 3,357 3,236 3,047 36 2,757 37 Leenarevagh 10 500 498 480 5 13 442 5 11 Barrets Hill 11 434 420 380 4 3 337 4 1 Roman Island 12 231 220 184 3 5 199 3 9 Cleavelagh 13 449 439 412 4 1 330 4 3 Green Island 14 191 180 140 3 11 135 3 15 The Reek 15 560 494 494 5 9 411 5 13 Winters Hill 16 363 350 334 4 17 305 4 7 Old Carrowholly 17 355 333 310 4 15 292 4 17 Gibleen 18 560 550 508 5 7 420 5 5 In 3,643 3,488 3,280 37 2,868 37 Total 7,000 6,724 6,327 73 5,625 74 SSS 74 72 70 75
Men's Course Record: Am: 61 Sean McTernan Co. Sligo Golf Club; Pro: 65 Paul McGinley 27/04/2002
Ladies Course Record: 73 Lillian O’Brien (4) 18/08/1996
Roll of Honour Maureen Walsh 1989 Ladies Captain P. A. Redmond 1989 Men's Captain M. Cavanaugh 1989 President J. McAleer 1990 Ladies Captain Colam O'Neill 1990 Men's Captain Ger Golden 1990 President Kay O'Brien 1991 Ladies Captain Jack Bredin 1991 Men's Captain Ger Golden 1991 President Maureen Flynn 1992 Ladies Captain Vincent Farrell 1992 Men's Captain S. Walsh 1992 President Brenda Gibson 1993 Ladies Captain Terry Sheridan 1993 Men's Captain S. Walsh 1993 President Tina Whyte 1994 Ladies Captain Michael J. McDonnell 1994 Men's Captain P. A. Hopkins 1994 President Gretta Murphy 1995 Ladies Captain Val Murray 1995 Men's Captain P. A. Hopkins 1995 President Brid Ruddy 1996 Ladies Captain Padraig Duffy 1996 Men's Captain D. Blythe 1996 President Marie Grimes 1997 Ladies Captain Liam Friel 1997 Men's Captain D. Blythe 1997 President Karen Cox 1998 Ladies Captain Dave McDermott 1998 Men's Captain Liam Walsh 1998 President Mary Dolan 1999 Ladies Captain Brendan Burns 1999 Men's Captain Liam Walsh 1999 President Sal O'Connor 2000 Ladies Captain Niall Halpin 2000 Men's Captain Cathal Hughes 2000 President Anne Duffy 2001 Ladies Captain Pat Kearns 2001 Men's Captain Cathal Hughes 2001 President Marion Duffy 2002 Ladies Captain Haulie Hoban 2002 Men's Captain Coleman O'Neill 2002 President Mary Barry 2003 Ladies Captain John Gibbons 2003 Men's Captain Colam O'Neill 2003 President Mary Rowe 2004 Ladies Captain Liam Walsh 2004 Men's Captain Pat Murphy 2004 President Clair McMyler 2005 Ladies Captain Christy O'Malley 2005 Men's Captain Pat Murphy 2005 President Bridie Moran 2006 Ladies Captain Willie Elliot 2006 Men's Captain Padraic Duffy 2006 President Kay Browne 2007 Ladies Captain Tony McCabe 2007 Men's Captain Padraig Duffy 2007 President Mary McDermott (9) 2008 Lowest Ladies H'cap Noel Kavanagh Jnr. (1) 2008 Lowest Men's H'cap
Holes-in-One Person Date Hole No. Club Used Distance Chris O'Malley 07 August 1982 12th 208 yd's Padraig Walsh 25 June 1990 17th 333 yd's Haulie Hoban 9 June 1996 3rd 142 yd's Albert Gallagher 29 June 1997 12th 208 yd's Tommy Reilly 29 June 1997 12th 208 yd's Jim Lyons 29 June 1997 14th 180 yd's Liam Gibbons 15 May 1999 Fred Molloy 19 September 1999 3rd 142 yd's Gerry Walsh 20 October 1999 9th 196 yd's Niall Halpin 17 June 2001 14th 180 yd's