On MARCH 3, 1971, fifty-two people met at Park House to discuss the POSSIBILITY of providing a golf course for Kanturk. Derry Fitzpatrick took the chair and indicated to the meeting that he and Andy Keating had taken an option to buy 52 acres of land at Fairy Hill.
Among those present were Sean P Keating (former director of the US Post Office Department in New York and uncle of Andy) and Mildred O’Doherty, sister-in-law of Sean. Having returned from America and happily settled in Kanturk, she agreed to act as secretary to the meeting.
Others in attendance included Dan Moynihan, Denis O’Riordan, Ted Pigott, Michael Kelly, Don Fitzgerald, Eugene Daly, Michael Walsh, Dan Mehigan, and Jimmy O’ Leary.
The first task was to decide on which of the two local banks to work with and who might represent the legal interests of the group. It was agreed that names would be pulled out of a hat. Present were solicitors James Lucey and Gerard O Keeffe. Representing the banks were Sean O’Callaghan, Provincial Bank (presently AIB) and Sean O’Connor manager of the National Bank (presently Bank of Ireland).
Out of the hat came the names of O’Keeffe and O’Connor.
The meeting now moved to set up an ASSOCIATION whereby interested persons might wish to invest money in this new venture. Apparently, there were working examples in the North of Ireland of a relationship between a golf association and a golf club. Gerard O’Keeffe, who had done some research on this matter, informed those present that this approach was a viable option. It was agreed therefore to form a grouping to be named KANTURK GOLF ASSOCIATION which would “keep the place in perpetuity and protect the golf course for the area and for shareholders who would never benefit financially from the venture.”
The final business of the March meeting focussed on a Share Issue to be established by the Golf Association with shares fixed at a selling price of £25. One of the key rules was that while shares were sold at £25 each, if one wished to cash them in, they had to be offered back to the Association at the original purchase price. No millionaires here!
The summer of 1971 was a busy one for the Association and its members. Much of their time was spent tramping the environs of Kanturk and the wider Duhallow region, speaking to shopkeepers, businessmen and farmers living along narrow by-roads, up long passages and in busy farmyards.
The hope was that these people would purchase a share in the newly formed body which would build a golf club for the region. One man who remembers those days well is now retired Percival St. shopkeeper and that most amenable and friendly of people, Patsy Flavin:
“Buying a share in the Association! I remember the occasion well. My father and I were in the shop – I was serving my time. In came Mickey Kelly and three or four other men.
What are ye collecting for lads’ says Patsy’s father. ‘Paddy, we’re selling shares in a golf course. Thinking it might be about a fiver, Flavin senior was taken aback on hearing the asking price. ‘Oh, Jasus lads, twenty-five pounds? I’d know more about a sleán than I would about golf.
Despite this Patrick Flavin senior paid the twenty-five pounds and for young Patsy it meant, as he said,
“I was a happy man, I could now start playing golf””
While many of the shareholders were farmers with little interest in golf, others were keen to become involved. They were promised that they or members of their families could become members of Kanturk Golf Club at any time. Another who saw this investment as a way into golf was Donie Kiely:
“I was after getting good money for the sale of a dog when Mickey Kelly and Ted Pigott called at the house. I said to myself, sure I’ll take four (shares) off them – t’was a lot of money at that time.” However, it was money well-spent as a few short years later (1979) Donie went on – appropriately enough- to win Ted Pigot’s captain’s prize! Of those canvassed for financial support for this golfing venture, only two refused
Money from the sale of shares was now available, but it was felt that additional funds were needed.
An application was made to the National Bank for a loan of £10k. The bank refused. Contact was immediately made with The Provincial Bank, and it came up with the money, which resulted in the Association’s account being transferred from The National to The Provincial Bank.
A meeting on 23 SEPTEMBER 1971 of the SUBSCRIBERS (i.e. those who had invested in the Kanturk Golf Project) was informed that £6000 had been collected towards the purchase price of Finn’s Farm. Chairman Fitzpatrick let it be known to members that ongoing payments of £2500 would have to be made while exhorting those present to assist in the raising of funds.
[…the following March…] a meeting injected a measure of reality into the budding life of the ‘young’ golf club.
Gerard O’Keeffe explained that “the members of KANTURK GOLF CLUB, as distinct from KANTURK GOLF ASSOCIATION, would be responsible for the day-to-day operation of CLUB ACTIVITIES, including fund raising, advertising, etc.
Paddy O’Callaghan, at this time acting as golf club secretary, was tasked with organising a raffle to raise funds for the GOLF CLUB. Also planned was a Dress Dance to take place in October.
At the Association’s next meeting in April, held in darkness due to an ESB strike, a decision was taken that work should begin on converting Finn’s Farm into a golf course:
“Chairman Derry Fitzpatrick announced to the meeting that all members of the Association should band together for stone-picking on the course every Tuesday and Thursday evening from 7 to 9 pm.
Members should bring rakes, picks and shovels.”
This same meeting also noted that the bank manager, Mr Molloy, had informed the Association that it had an overdraft of £2400. Financial issues continued to find themselves on every agenda of almost every Golf Association/Golf club meeting, then and in the years thereafter.
It was now the summer of 1972, and with income available from the sale of the shares and funding from the bank, work had already commenced on developing Finn’s Farm into a golf course. The firm of Jeremiah Fitzpatrick, for a fee of £4.5k, undertook the job of clearing, digging, and draining an area which was nothing more than open fields, ditches, trees, and scrub land.
Denis O’Riordan, who has given a lifetime of service to Kanturk Golf Club, remembers his first ‘Visit’ to the course very well:
“We came in a gap leading to four fields. We had borrowed a tractor, but not realising there was a water hole, we drove the tractor straight into it. We had to get Fitzpatrick’s digger to get it out… not a great start”.
Noreen Kelleher, Kelleher’s Electrical, O’Brien St. recalls vividly her time on the golf course engaging in that most backbreaking of jobs, viz., ‘picking stones. The work centred mainly along a stretch of ground between the present 11th and 15th holes. Noreen spoke about “Millies Green” which was in the exact spot where the newly constructed 17th green exists. It was proposed at the time that there would be a green there, and seemingly in recognition of the work of Millie O’Doherty, then Secretary of the Golf Club Association. From the time of her return from the USA, Millie was an active member of Kanturk ICA and encouraged local women to become involved in the development of the course.
Interestingly, that same 17h green was in the news twenty or so years later. It was reconstructed for play during Bill O’Brien’s captaincy year.
Speaking recently to Stella Flavin (Lady Captain, 1995), she also recalled days spent working on that part of the course and stone-picking in the company of Joe Howard, his wife Claire and Lilah Fitzpatrick. It was very much a community project, as Noreen Kelleher observed, “sure it was something for Kanturk, so we said we’d all help out.” Despite this, however, the comment was made that while this work was ongoing, there were fellows going out to play golf. [..!!! ]
Contact was made with Dick Barry, Honorary Secretary of the Munster Branch of the GUI, who agreed to design the layout of the course. The comment was well made that nobody but Barry could have fitted in nine holes in the area that he had to work with. Incidentally it should be noted that Dick Barry never got a penny for his work on the Kanturk golf project.
The material used in the building of the course – earth and sand – was supplied by Noel C Duggan from Guiney’s pit. Dan Mehigan (Agricultural Instructor), was involved in overseeing the work on the building of fairways and greens. Sadly, Dan’s death the following year was a big loss to the club.
The greens were developed in a bowl-shaped/upside-down saucer fashion to help make them more challenging! Well, that certainly succeeded! In Kevin Markham’s book ‘Hooked’ on the story of Irish Golf courses, he described Kanturk’s greens as ‘GREENS OF TERROR.’
One of the first appointments was Tommy Cross as greenkeeper, and he was paid for his work. It was said of him that he would be working on the greens, down on hands and knees with a household fork!
He had the use of a tractor and pulling gang mowers while work on the greens was done by hand.
But the major change to the course was about to happen. Enter PJ Hayes, Skibereen native, forester, Duhallow-based, and thanks to his expertise and hard work, he was able to source trees that he had been culling and, with the aid of Fitzpatrick’s Lorries, had them moved onto the golf club site. Now ready to be planted, PJ ensured that they would be located in a manner which would ensure that the different holes would be clearly defined. And, dear reader, the next time you find your golf ball nestling beside a tree, spare a thought for Mr. PJ Hayes!
Later, fellow forester Brendan Riney and others, such as Donie Kiely, came on board and engaged in the hard work of the actual planting of the trees. In the early years and for a few decades onwards, relief was available on any part of the course if one’s ball was in the trees.
Shortly after the tree-planting came the construction of a water sprinkler system, with all the work done on a voluntary basis. Volunteerism, which is one of the hallmarks of Kanturk Golf Club down to the present day, was never more clearly in evidence than in this gathering of workers, both young and not so young, who gave of their time so generously in the task of building a resource which continues to thrive fifty years on.
“Don’t forget your shovel if you want to go to work” was certainly the watchword for this group of volunteers who presented themselves for work on the golf course.
Extract from “Kanturk Golf Club 1973-2023” by Tony Walshe (with the kind permission of author). Copies of the book are available from the office.
