Newcastle West Golf Club to launch 75th anniversary book

A COMMEMORATIVE magazine looking back on 75 years of Newcastle West Golf Club will be officially launched by Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan this weekend.

2013 marks 75 years since a small group of men met at the old Central Hotel on Bridge Street in Newcastle West and voted to create a local golf club.

Over the past 12 months, past and present members have been contributing snippets of information for a anniversary special anthology, which will reflect on the people and places that have become synonymous with the club to date.

The fruit of their labours is a fantastic historical book full of stories, first-hand accounts, memories, long-lost photographs and other pieces of information.

The book will be launched this Sunday, July 7 at the golf club in Rathgonan, Ardagh by Minister Deenihan. The minister will also officially open the club’s new McEnery restaurant, which has been named after Barry McEnery, one of the original founding members in April 1938.

Among the litany of historical landmarks that will be featured in the magazine include the official opening of its clubhouse at Rathgonan House, Ardagh by then-Tanaiste Dick Spring in August 1994.

On the day, hundreds of locals watched a special exhibition by another guest of honour, Christy O’Connor Snr. Pictures from the event were captured by the Limerick Leader and will be included in the magazine.

Newcastle West Golf Club traces its roots back to April 14, 1938, when eight men decided to set up a local club for a sport which had been played in the Castle Demesne informally since 1920.

The club’s ancestral home was a 40-acre plot at Killeline, on the Dromcollogher road, which was originally leased for £77 a year.

The first shot was hit on the old nine-hole course by the parish priest, Canon Hannan, on September 14 1938. The club purchased the property outright for £1,100 in 1943.

By the time of its golden jubilee in 1988, the club had outgrown its roots at Killeline and a new home was sought.

The following year Rathgonan House and its surrounding lands, which had once formed part of the 2,775 acre Cahermoyle estate owned by the family of patriot William Smith O’Brien, came back on the market. The estate was bought by the club and Rathgonan House was re-developed as a clubhouse.

Since then it has benefited from €1.2 million in investment.