Letterkenny Golf Notes
Wednesday was a golfing day of two “halves” as far as the weather was concerned-dry, fresh and with spells of sunshine in the morning turning to cold, chilly rain in the afternoon. ![GOLF LOGO]()
Of the die-hard regulars that cannot wait for the season proper to begin, it was one of the 2014 Golfer of the Year Cat.1 favourites that stood proud on the rostrum to collect first prize.
Gerard Duffy [5] began with uncharacteristic bogeys at the first two holes and had to wait until the par five 11th before recording his first birdie of the day, followed by birdies at 15th and 18th, but slipping up in between with a double bogey at 17th to finish with a two over gross 74 and a stableford 39pts.
Reading of the card shows an impressive level par score from 3rd hole.
Leading the way for the cat. 4 brigade was that category’s coordinator himself Gerry O’ Sullivan [17] who, with the help of a birdie at par three 16th, recorded 21pts on inward nine for a closely run second place finish of 38pts.
Captains’ Drive-In:
The long awaited Captains’ Drive-In, regarded by all members as a “fun day out”, was indeed enjoyed by all of the ninety-eight players who took part, and also by the twenty odd members and visitors who turned out to wish our captain’s every success during their term of office.
Before driving the club into year 2014, club Captain Tom Mc Donagh and Lady Captain Catherine Cooke-Harkin greeted all members and visitors alike with a warm and hearty welcome, suggested that they enjoy the day for what it was and wished all players every success in their competitive endeavours throughout the forthcoming season.
Having partaken of the beverages, scones, cakes and finger food provided by the gracious lady members, everyone descended onto the first tee to cheer the Captains’ and President, Mr Barry Ramsay, into performing their first official duty of 2014.
The competition was played in a three ball scramble format and taking the first “official” prizes of the calendar year were Joe Brown, Conor Friel and, captained by the inimitable Karen Mc Glinchey, returned a winning score of 61.7 nett.
In runner-up spot were Padraig Munnelly, James A. Mc Daid and Conor Malone, whilst a close third were Joe Diver, Graham Donaghy and Vera Kearney.
Although every team would have their tales of woe, the three ball of Marie Keating would have been most disappointed.
While Marie herself scored a magnificent eagle at the par 5 second hole and , having returned a possible winning number, they were unfortunately disqualified for having a wrong handicap on the card!
A lesson for all of us for the new season.
All entrants are advised that the on-line booking is now open for the St. Patrick’s Day Cup to be played on Monday next, 17th March. NB: The mats will NOT be in play. Book early.
Members and visitors are reminded that there will be a 4 person CLUB CLASSIC for both men and ladies on Good Friday, 18th April. Get your team ready now!
Congratulation to Finnian O’ Doherty who finished a very creditable 3rd place in the Golfer of the Year Gross section in the North West Golfing Alliance and to Letterkenny club members Jamie Foley, Kieran Ryan and Eamonn O’ Carroll who were prizewinners in the final outing of the season played on the Sandy Hills course, Rosapenna, on Saturday last.
The juvenile coordinators, Gerard Duffy and Catherine Cooke-Harkin have advised that they will be holding an information evening on junior/juvenile golf in the clubhouse on Sunday next, 23rd March at 7pm.
All juniors,parents and guardians are asked to attend.
There will be a talk on where the club is taking junior golf and, for the first time in the club’s history, we will have two junior captains this year, boys and girls.
They will be introduced on the night as will both junior convenors.
There will also be a power point display organized by our clubs’ child officer Eileen Williamson who has put in a tremendous amount of work for junior golf in the past few years. Many thanks Eileen.
There will be information on everything to do with fixtures and child safety.
We will also have Seamus Clinton, the club’s PGA professional, available on the night and Seamus has agreed a very good discounted rate for juniors who want to learn the game.
Team Quiz Final:
On Friday night last it was standing room only when Hugh McClafferty ,quiz master extraordinaire, with scorekeeper Niall O’Donnell at his side, called for order to start the final night of the 2014 Team Quiz. Sixteen teams had taken part, playing three matches in four groups, to find the finalists [and eventual winners] of “The Brains of Barnhill”
There was one outstanding quarter final game to be decided, and it was Brian O’Reilly’s team who beat Anthony Delap’s to join the other three teams in the semi-final.
In the first semi-final, Ivan Fuery’s team were defeated in a very tense match by Michael O’Maille’s.
In the second semi-final encounter, Brian o’Reilly’s team gained revenge for an earlier defeat by Barry Ramsay‘s four.
In each case it was a single question that decided matters.
So, as the tension grew, the crowd grew quieter for the final between Michael and Brian’s teams, facing each other for the title of “Quiz team of the Year”.
The match was very close throughout and the lead changed hands a number of times before Brian’s team of Ann Condon, Ronnatt O’Reilly and Rory O’Carroll proved to be the superior and gained bragging rights [for the summer at least).
In most matches this year, it has been the “putting” that was decisive, but this was not the case on the final night where it really was down to exceptional, positive answering.
Of course, there were also moments of merriment to break the tension. Will Anthony ever live down his incorrect reflex answer as to “who invented the steam engine?”
And what about that tense moment in the final when Michael answered a question correctly only to realize that it was the turn of Brian’s team to do so!!!!.
In fairness, they had indicated they knew the answer themselves-mar yea!!!!!!!
So what makes up a successful, winning team? That they have to be able to pool their knowledge, the winners showing it was having a knowledge of cannon law.
Take another bow Ann, medical knowledge that was Rory and Ronnatt plus knowing the geography of South America.
The final ingredient was a team captain who was able to keep his team focused and disciplined as well as taking on the putting role and thus sparing the rest of the team this onerous task.
Club Captain, Tom McDonagh in presenting the winners and runners with their prizes was lavish in his praise of Hugh McClafferty for his unstinting efforts to research all the questions and answers, a mammoth task involving hundreds of questions.He also thanked all who had taken part and the crowd who turned up each night.
Browns on the Green, the club’s bar and restaurant franchisee, have fulfilled their promise of maintaining the social ambiance of the club by welcoming back the successful Donal Casey & Friends for St. Patrick’s Week-end Celebrations on Sunday 16th March, commencing at 9pm. Everyone, members and non-members, are very welcome.
BY TIM HEDGLEY: IRISH FERRIES ANNOUNCES KIDS GO FREE EASTER OFFER
