Golf Society

It seems strange that as I write these notes all the news reports are of heavy rain and flooding when that was also how our season began. The devastation caused by the rain of the past weeks brings the minor upset of the cancellation of a golf outing into perspective.

The cancellation of Water Rock meant the we would not begin our season until May when we travelled to Castlemartyr. This was the societies first time to play the course. It was in great condition and was a popular venue with all those who played there. With the good weather high scoring was the order of the day. The winning score of 40pts by Ivan Leopold was the first total greater than the thirties in the society for some time.

June saw us visit Kerry. As usual many of us ventured down on the Friday for a 4.00pm tee off in the beautiful Beaufort. Following this we enjoyed some food and a few beverages before getting a good night’s sleep in preparation for the tougher task of Dooks the following day. As usual the wind was a factor around the famous links course. Rory O’Neill emerged victorious to place his name on the Gardener Cup.

We had 24 players at three of our events this season so the turn out at Dundrum of only 14 was a bit disappointing. Dundrum is a fine woodland course which finds favour with all those who play there so the small turn out probably has more to do with people being away on summer holidays than anything else. This competition was won in fine style by Mary Jermyn with a score of 38 points.

Another new course to the society was Cobh. We played there in September. Everyone was impressed with how creative the designers had been with the sloping location. The feature island hole was spoken about by many. Unfortunately the rough was also the topic of conversation. The common opinion was that it was too easy to find and too difficult to extricate oneself from. The blustery conditions did not hamper the scoring too much with Chris Jermyn winning on a score of 32 points.

The final outing of the year was Bantry Bay as has become the tradition. Never before has there been so many players in contention for the Player Of The Year. The permutations were many. This probably had a lot to do with there being only five events this season. In the end Roger Hume won on a score of 32 points. The player of the year competition required more maths to figure out but there was no doubt who was the best golfer of the year. Rory O’Neill has won this before but this season ranks with his best. There is very little wriggle room on a handicap of 5 which make his win all the more impressive. A mention must also go to Mary Jermyn. She is by far and away the most improved player in the society. She began the season with a handicap of 32 and finished it on 25. An impressive achievement. Similar success next year maybe? Who knows.

Results for the 2009 season are.

Venue 1st 2nd 3rd
Castlemartyr Ivan Leopold   Mary Jermyn       Colin Jermyn
Dooks         Rory O’Neill      Ray Power           Leslie Deane
Dundrum     Mary Jermyn    Mick Bradfield      Ivan Beamish
Cobh           Chris Jermyn   Ivan Beamish       Mary Power
Bantry Bay    Roger Hume    Colin Jermyn       Mark Daunt

Player Of The Year Rory O’Neill
Junior Category Player Of The Year Henk Van der Puil

We are currently planning the fixture list for the coming season. We will contact all of the regular participants with the list of fixtures once they are available.
As always for those who are interested in participating in any of the outings please contact Ray Power at Midleton College at ray@midletoncollege.ie or 021 4631146.
R.St.J.P