Golf is one of Ireland’s most popular sports. When Ulster was planned in 1606, a certain Viscount Montgomery, with ancestral home in Ayrshire, Scotland, acquired a large portion of the Ards Peninsula in County Down. He built a school at Newtown where the scholars had “a green for recreation at golf, football and archery.” This is the first mention of golf in Ireland.
It was almost three centuries later, however, before the game gained a firm foothold. In 1882, Royal Belfast, founded by Thomas Sinclair, became Ireland’s first, formally constituted club. Scottish regiments of the British army played a major role in the development of golf in Ireland, establishing the Curragh Golf Club in 1883, Royal Dublin in 1885, and Lahinch in 1892.
From these modest beginnings, the island of Ireland now boasts 405 golf clubs. Though something of a latecomer to the game, by comparison with its Scottish and English neighbours, Ireland claimed a major, pioneering role in golf administration. The Golfing Union of Ireland (GUI), was launched in 1891 as the world’s first national union, and the Irish Ladies Golf Union (ILGU), which was instituted in 1893, claimed the same distinction for the women’s game.
It is estimated that the world contains only 150 pure links courses – golf courses located on dune land linking arable land with the seashore. Ireland can boast forty of them, including such celebrated stretches as Ballybunion and Waterville in County Dublin; Royal Portrush in County Antrim; Rosses Point in County Sligo; Lahinch and the latest arrival, Doonbeg, in County Clare. Among the major international events that the country played host to were the 1951 British Open (Royal Portrush), the only time the British Open was played in Ireland; the 1960 Canada Cup and 1991 Walker Cup (both at Portmarnock); and the 1996 Curtis Cup (at Killarney). The 2006 Ryder Cup at the Kildare Club, twenty miles west of Dublin.
Among Ireland’s leading professionals, Fred Daly won the 1947 British Open while Christy O’Connor Senior has over thirty international victories, including the World Seniors of 1977. Rising stars include Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke and of course congratulations must go to our most recent champion Graham McDowell.
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