Many hands make light work as Laois golf clubhouse undergoes major revamp

Abbeyleix Golf Club, one of the first 60 clubs founded in Ireland, is undergoing a significant refurbishment, with members and volunteers coming together to modernise the clubhouse while preserving its long-standing history. Outgoing captain Matt Thornton detailed the effort behind the renovations, highlighting the commitment of both members and the wider community.

"The club was founded 130 years ago and a clubhouse was built in the 1930s. It was a shed with corrugated sheeting and it had a bar in it and a couple of things. In the late seventies, they built the clubhouse as it is now. They never put in a foundation floor, or a sub-floor. We're struggling for money every year like most golf clubs and they could only build what they could. We’ve been talking about it for the last four or five years to start doing something."

The project has been a long time in the making, but this year, with a combination of fundraising, sponsorship, and volunteer work, the club was able to begin the long-awaited renovations.

"We did the men's bathrooms there before Christmas. We spent €1500 on materials and I did the labour and a couple of other people helped out by painting and stuff like that so we got that done real cheap. The red carpet in the main bar and restaurant has been down for over 30 years and it stood the test of time to be fair. They painted it different colours over the years and added many historical pictures to all the walls. We have new franchisees in there, Sunny and Santa, they're running the bar and the restaurant. Their food is amazing but the people that are coming to the restaurant are saying that the food is gorgeous but the place is just so kind of old and dated."

Thornton explained how the club has managed to gather resources to carry out the improvements, relying heavily on community support.

"Over the last 4 years, we've been talking and every year, we've never had the money. We scraped together a few pound this year for materials but we've had to go and find sponsors to pay for specialist painters to come in and do the bar but the guts of it is voluntary work. I’m looking after the job managing it and we have an army of volunteers coming up there every day doing a bit of painting and doing timber floor so it's going well. We'll have it completed by Friday."

Lisdowney native Thornton also shared his personal history with Abbeyleix Golf Club.

"I’m relatively new in the club. I’ve been going to the club since my teens going to parties and back in the day, it was the place to be. I'm from Lisdowney, which is over the border but all my mates are in Abbeyleix and I used to go there for New Year's Eve parties and birthdays. It used to be hopping. We've long-standing members in the club for 50, 60 years and they have seen it being built. They put the old carpet in and it’s a mixture of old and young in trying to refurb or bring it into the 21st century."

The project has drawn support from all corners of the community, with members and non-members alike chipping in to help.

"Any day if someone pops in, they’ll ask for something to do. Everyone wants to do their bit to try and help out. We got in a local builder Pat Kirk, and he has a labourer with him, Liam Óg. We paid him to come in and I helped him as well doing the initial floor. Our floor used to be like a trampoline so we ripped it all out and put in a bit of concrete. We put the joists back in and sturdied it all up. We got 4 specialist painters in to do the timberwork on the bar. There was 5 days of work for 4 guys."

The sense of camaraderie has extended beyond the club, with locals and businesses offering their help.

"The volunteers coming in are members but we've also had non-volunteers that have come up. A friend of mine came up and routed the edge of the old timber bar and he's coming up to do the skirting boards. We have sisters and brothers of members coming up. Morrissey’s Pub in Abbeyleix, the local pub, sent up their staff to help with the furniture and paint the skirting boards. They wanted to come up and help out the community and try and get involved to help another business in the community."

Abbeyleix Golf Club has a long history of hosting events, and Thornton hopes the refurbishment will breathe new life into the venue.

"We’ve always hosted events down through the years from celebrity classics where Brian Ormond and Pippa O’Connor attended and we even had Joe Dolan down at one stage. We've always had something like that. Hopefully now with the new refurb, we'll be able to host more stuff like that. Sonny and Santa from Roots Bar & Restaurant have carvery on Sunday and their food is just unbelievable. This new upgrade is gonna complement their food, we hope anyway."

As the finishing touches are put in place, the club looks forward to welcoming members and visitors into a refreshed and modern space that reflects both its history and its future.