18 Hole Parkland
Course Facts: Address
Blainroe
Co. WicklowSecretary/Manager: Patrick Bradshaw Captain: John Woodroofe Lady Captain: Georgina O'Brien Telephone: 0404-68168 President: Eugene Greene & Yvonne Redmond Public No: 0404-68237 Vice-Captain: Colin Nagle & Rita Deignan Fax: 0404-69369 Hon. Secretary: John Mulqueen & Evelyn Kelly E-mail: info@blainroe.com Club Pro: John McDonald 0404-66470 Website: www.blainroe.com Hon. Treasurer: Bryan Kilty & Fina Dooly Founded: 1978 Designed by: Fred Hawtree Membership: 718 Course opening hours: Daylight hours Green Fees Midweek: €55 Clubhouse opening hours: 8.00am to 11.30pm Green Fees Weekends & B.H.: €75 Mobile phones: Not on course or in clubhouse Green Fees With a Member: €25/35 Dress Code: Neat casual, no denim Green Fees For Opens: €20 Catering: Full catering facilities Practice Area: Yes Days to Avoid: Sundays & Mondays Club Hire: Yes Green Fees and Societies Welcome: Other days Buggy Hire: Yes Pre-booking for open tournaments: 14 Days in advance Soft spikes: No
Course Description:
With sea views from all 18 holes, this enjoyable and challenging parkland course carries the prestigious Hawtree & Son design signature and is recognised as one of the finest courses on the East Coast since it’s inception in 1978.With a Par 72 length of 6175 meters (6800 yards) the course is always well maintained and offers an interesting variety of holes with the 14th played over the sea from a cliff promontory, probably being the feature followed by a testing par 3, the 15th which was part of a re-design of all greens and tees to USGA championship standard re-opening in 2005.
The modern Clubhouse, overlooking a private beach, assures visitors a warm welcome and has full bar and catering facilities. A fully stocked Professional shop run by PGA pro John McDonald also offers club, trolley and motorised buggy hire.
Attractive Wicklow Town with its harbour, pubs and restaurants, hotels and guesthouses, is just 3.5km along the coast, and is the ideal base from which to play Blainroe and other nearby courses.
Voted the No. 96-ranked golf course in Ireland, by “Golf Digest Ireland” in 2008.
Open & Major fixtures 2008: Event
Start
Finish
Type
Duration
November Ladies Seniors Friday 14 November Open 1 Seniors Tuesday 18 November Open 1
Club History
Blainroe Golf Club was the brain child of Christy Cooney, a Dublin builder who dreamt of building a small village resort type complex consisting of a group of houses, golf course, shops , tennis courts etc., his vision and ideas were way ahead of his time as Blainroe was one of the first of its kind in Ireland.The golf course was designed by the internationally known Surrey golf course architect, Fred Hawtree. Construction commenced in 1974 and the course was opened officially on the 21st July 1978. The first competition was played there by thirty founder members. They played for a large copper plate and the signatures of all the players was inscribed on the trophy. The winner was our second President, Tom Nagle.
The Cooney family owned the golf club in the early days, but in 1984/85 they offered to sell the club to the members and although the purchase price was attractive there were a number of clauses included in the deal which made it unacceptable to the members. In 1986 the Cooney family sold the golf course and club house to the consortium of Swissair and International Golfing Residence. The members of Blainroe golf club immediately opened discussions with the new owners, and by February 1987 they appeared to have reached agreement. A seven year lease was agreed upon at the meeting but never materialised.
The club continued to pay an annual lease until the end of 1988, when they were informed that 91% of the course and clubhouse had been sold by the consortium to Euroactividade — The Lichtenstein Registered Timeshare Company. In April 1989 Euroactividade sought to disband the club and offered £400.000 as a goodwill gesture, to enable the club to buy and develop a course of its own. The club refused the offer and threatened to take the matter to the High Court. Euroactividade eventually accepted that the club had three years of a four year lease still to run and they handed over the £400.000 contribution, to be put towards the acquisition of a new course and clubhouse. The members, however, were still anxious to maintain their standing and wished to be allowed continue playing on the Blainroe course. Eventually on the 15th March 1991 under the Captaincy of John Quirke, and after many months of difficult negotiations, Blainroe members finally bought the Course and clubhouse for £1.5 Million plus £100.000 for the additional forty two acres which now serves as a practice area.
Owning the club created its own momentum and over the following years the members rallied round and completely renovated the Clubhouse. The course was re-designed by Martin Hawtree, son of the original architect and fully opened to play in 2005. The greens are now sand-based, more bunkers have been introduced and the golf course is very challenging. It is now recognised as one of the finest golf courses in the south-east of Ireland and in 2007 was rated in the top 100 courses in the country.
Location
Blainroe is located four kilometres south of Wicklow town, on the coast road to Brittas Bay.
Members Achievements
Blainroe Golf Club won the Leinster Final of the Jimmy Bruen Shield in 1985, when the team was Paul Deane, Robert MacCarthy, John Hopkins, Sean Casey, Tom Sheridan, Paddy Kavanagh, Myles Wilson, Tom Pitt, John Monahan, Oliver Stauton, Vincent Butler, Stan Mathews, Arthur Daines, they were captained by Peter Moloney.They were Leinster Runners-up in the Irish Senior Cup in 1999.
Blainroe won the Cullen Cup in 2002, when the team was E. Connolly, G. Geraghty, L. Hynes, B. Redmond, M. Redmond, M. Pippet, C. Pippet, L. Murphy-O'Connor, M. Hutch, J. Bonus, they were managed by D. Feeley and S. Whittaker.
Blainroe won the Seiko Mixed Foursomes in 1989, when the team was D. Fenton, D. McKenna, J. Sinnott, R. McCarthy, L. McKenna and M. Sinnott.
The Ladies of Blainroe Golf Club won the Finn Trophy in 1994, when the team was Rita Deignan, Joan Kinsella, Mary Quirke, Sheila Whittaker, Ann Hannigan, Sheila Condell, Ann Monaghan, Mary Gavin, Grace Delahunt, Carol McKeown, Nora Richards, Linda Cole-McKenna, Lee Murphy-O'Connor, Hilary Kirk, Pauleen Hudson, Susan Cunningham, Rosin McCarthy, they were managed by Cathering King.
They won it the following two years when the team was, G. O'Connor, S. Cunningham, A. Monaghan, R. Deignan, S. Condell, J. Kinsella, S. Whittaker, P. Hudson, B. Daly, A. Hannigan, M. Pippet, R. MacCarthy, L. Cole-McKenna, D. Curley, they were managed by C. King.
Card of the Course (yards)
Hole No Blue White Green Par Index Red Par Index 1 327 324 318 4 12 312 4 5 2 392 388 381 4 2 293 4 11 3 382 378 343 4 4 323 4 9 4 483 476 472 5 18 455 5 7 5 443 440 435 5 14 380 5 1 6 322 317 313 4 6 304 4 3 7 334 330 324 4 10 318 4 13 8 194 191 184 3 8 180 3 17 9 340 332 322 4 16 273 4 15 Out 3,217 3,176 3,092 37 2,838 37 10 342 329 324 4 7 258 4 8 11 353 349 341 4 11 331 4 2 12 389 386 370 4 3 359 5 18 13 361 350 337 4 9 318 4 6 14 299 296 292 4 13 252 4 16 15 194 180 164 3 5 147 3 10 16 414 410 402 4 1 384 5 12 17 113 111 104 3 17 94 3 14 18 458 455 444 5 15 438 5 4 In 2,923 2,866 2,778 35 2,581 37 Total 6,140 6,042 5,870 72 5,419 74 SSS 73 73 71 76
Men's Course Record: Am. 70 Paul Dean (1) 04/11/2007
Ladies Course Record: 73 Kaye Doyle (8) 22/061992
Roll of Honour M. Hughes 1989 Ladies Captain Mrs. C. G. Cooney 1989 Ladies President D. Patton 1989 Men's Captain Dr. B. Digby 1989 President D. Curley 1990 Ladies Captain Mrs. C. G. Cooney 1990 Ladies President V. Delahunt 1990 Men's Captain A. W. Smith 1990 President A. Heffernan 1991 Ladies Captain Mrs. C. G. Cooney 1991 Ladies President J. Quirke 1991 Men's Captain A. W. Smith 1991 President A. McNamara 1992 Ladies Captain Mrs. C. G. Cooney 1992 Ladies President P. Dean 1992 Men's Captain Peter Moloney 1992 President A. Goodbody 1993 Ladies Captain Mrs. C. G. Cooney 1993 Ladies President D. O'Sullivan 1993 Men's Captain Peter Moloney 1993 President B. Connolly 1994 Ladies Captain Mrs. T. J. Nagle 1994 Ladies President J. Rochford 1994 Men's Captain P. Moloney 1994 President R. O'Sullivan 1995 Ladies Captain Mrs T. J. Nagle 1995 Ladies President D. Lynch 1995 Men's Captain P. Moloney 1995 President M. Quirke 1996 Ladies Captain Mrs. A. T. Fitzpatrick 1996 Ladies President M. Hickey 1996 Men's Captain D. O'Sullivan 1996 President M. Delahunt 1997 Ladies Captain Mrs. A. T. Fitzpatrick 1997 Ladies President P. Deignan 1997 Men's Captain D. O'Sullivan 1997 President D. Keegan 1998 Ladies Captain Mrs. A. T. Fitzpatrick 1998 Ladies President Pat Heffernan 1998 Men's Captain J. Rochford 1998 President Mrs. A. Coady 1999 Ladies Captain Mrs. L Walsh 1999 Ladies President Mr. D. Feeley 1999 Men's Captain Mr. J. Rochford 1999 President Noeleen Meehan 2000 Ladies Captain Mrs. Eileen Browne 2000 Ladies President Mr J. King 2000 Men's Captain John Quirke 2000 President Ann Sheehy 2001 Ladies Captain Eileen Browne 2001 Ladies President Shaun Cunningham 2001 Men's Captain P. Quirke 2001 President Virginia Rochford 2002 Ladies Captain J. Molloy 2002 Ladies President Alan Hannigan 2002 Men's Captain J. M. T. Quirke 2002 President Leonora Walsh 2003 Ladies Captain Joan Molloy 2003 Ladies President Harry Whittaker 2003 Men's Captain J. M. T. Quirke 2003 President Maria O'Connell 2004 Ladies Captain Eithne Smith 2004 Ladies President Sean Casey 2004 Men's Captain Dr. Vincent J. Delahunt 2004 President Brenda Gardiner 2005 Ladies Captain Ethna Smith 2005 Ladies President Michael Geraghty 2005 Men's Captain Dr. Vincent J. Delahunt 2005 President Anne Monaghan 2006 Ladies Captain Catherine King 2006 Ladies President Terence Ryan 2006 Men's Captain Dr. Vincent J. Delahunt 2006 President Eleanor Kearns 2007 Ladies Captain Catherine King 2007 Ladies President Enda Luddy 2007 Men's Captain Eugene Greene 2007 President Linda Cole-McKenna (7) 2008 Lowest Ladies H'cap Paul Dean (1) 2008 Lowest Men's H'cap
Major Prize Winners Name Year Prize Won H. McDonnell 2000 Captain's Prize J. Woodrofe 2000 Lady Captain's Prize M. Redmond 2000 Club Champion P. Burke 2000 Collinr's Cup P. Baker 2000 Golfer of the Year Clare Pippet 2000 Ladies Golfer of the Year B. Hudson 2001 Captain's Prize C. O'Sullivan 2001 Lady Captain's Prize B. Bedmond 2001 Club Champion C. Nagle 2001 Collinr's Cup D. Roche 2001 Golfer of the Year Roisin MacCarthy 2001 Ladies Golfer of the Year K. Coghlan 2002 Captain's Prize P. Burke 2002 Lady Captain's Prize D. Roche 2002 Club Champion B. Nelson 2002 Collinr's Cup N. J. Connolly 2002 Golfer of the Year Bea Bonus 2002 Ladies Golfer of the Year T. Ryan 2003 Captain's Prize R. MacCarthy 2003 Lady Captain's Prize L. Hynes 2003 Club Champion D. Feeley 2003 Collinr's Cup P. Dean 2003 Golfer of the Year Brenda Gardiner 2003 Ladies Golfer of the Year P. Doyle 2004 Captain's Prize M. Soden 2004 Lady Captain's Prize P. Deane 2004 Club Champion J. Waters 2004 Collinr's Cup M. Geraghty Jnr. 2004 Golfer of the Year Jacqueline Hickey 2004 Ladies Golfer of the Year Derek Maguire 2005 Captain's Prize Clare Pippet 2005 Lady Captain's Prize D. B. McKenna 2005 Club Champion Declan Ronayne 2005 Collinr's Cup Sean Haughton 2005 Golfer of the Year Dee Redahan 2005 Ladies Golfer of the Year M. Hutch 2006 Captain's Prize B. Bonus 2006 Lady Captain's Prize Paul Dean 2006 Club Champion S. Middleton 2006 Collinr's Cup I. Brown 2006 Golfer of the Year Mary Hutch 2006 Ladies Golfer of the Year C. Hodder 2007 Captain's Prize J. Kinsella 2007 Lady Captain's Prize P. Cullinan 2007 Club Champion A. Hannigan 2007 Collinr's Cup T. Ryan 2007 Golfer of the Year Mairin Feeley 2007 Ladies Golfer of the Year
Holes-in-One Person Date Hole No. Club Used Distance M. Forrester 15 September 2002 17th 92 m D. Roche 16 June 2002 17th 108 m Ms. B. Gardiner 16 November 1998 15th 147 m Mr. B. Hoffman 13 April 1998 8th 181 m