Golfing centenary

Centenary marked in style at Westport Golf Club

The launch of a wonderful book marked 100 years of Westport golf

Austin Garvin

THURSDAY night last proved to be a glittering occasion as ‘Westport –100 years of golf, 1908 –2008’ was launched in Hotel Westport by Mr Tommie Basquille, President of the GUI. A fine crowd attended the launch of a magnificent 240-page publication that traced the evolution of golf from Trafalgar Park, Horkan’s Hill, Deerpark, The Paddock and Fr Angelus Park to its current beautiful location at Carrowholly.
Judged by any standards the publication is something to savour; obviously endless hours of painstaking research has gone into the production of the book. It’s also beautifully scripted by the author Padraig McLoughlin who is a noted English teacher and former Junior Convenor at Westport Golf Club.
A hard-working centenary committee comprising of Cathal Hughes (Chairperson), Sal O’Connor, Ann Duffy, Pat Murphy, Padraig McLoughlin, Liam Gibbons, Paddy Hopkins, Liam Friel and Gar Golden gave endless hours of their valuable time in researching the history of the club.
In fact, well over four years of hard work went into the publication and no stone has been left unturned in an effort to trace and capture the many people that have contributed to golf in Westport throughout the years.
The publication manages to get the balance right between words and pictures, and makes for compulsive, interesting and informative reading.
Together with the domestic events and happenings within the club, the hosting of such notable events as the Ladies Home Internationals in 1989, the Irish Close Championship on four occasions (the latest in 2005 when Rory McIlroy won), and the Smurfit PGA Championship in 2002 (which Paul McGinley won) all receive honourable mention.
During 2008 Westport will host the Irish Ladies Amateur Championship, the Irish Amateur Championship and the provincial finals of the Bulmers Cups and Shields, as well as many special events to celebrate the Centenary.
Mr Sean Staunton was an excellent Master of Ceremonies for the evening, and together with introducing the various speakers he delivered a fine insight into the game of golf in Westport.
He was fulsome in his praise of the book, the committee on their professionalism, the author and everyone associated with it saying, “This book isn’t just the story of golf in Westport. It is an important document of social history and compulsive reading for all golf enthusiasts, for students of local history with an interest in Westport town and its environs.”
Speaking of the impact the Golf Club has on tourism he said: “In places like Killarney tourism has a tradition dating back more than 200 years. Such a tradition doesn’t quite exist in Westport and up to the 1940s and 1950s Westport was a place you passed through en route to Achill or, to a lesser extent, North Connemara.
“All that has changed over the years and it is no exaggeration to say that Westport and the Clew Bay region are now among Ireland’s top tourism destinations. During that time a key component of the Westport tourism product has been golf, recognised as such by Bord Fáilte, now Fáilte Ireland, and local tourism development agencies like Destination Westport and Westport Tourism Organisation,”
The Captain of Westport, Mr Sean Walsh, who is the third member of his family to hold the coveted office welcomed everyone in attendance. His first duty of the evening was to make a presentation to some of the Club’s oldest ladies and men’s captain’s. Mr Liam Golden who was Captain in 1948 and Mr John Kelly who held the office in 1958 were the recipients of presentations from Mr Walsh.
Mrs Nuala Hopkins (the current Lady Captain) made the presentations to Mrs Moya Gill who was Captain in 1943 and to Ms Mary Nestor Captain in 1955.    
Mr Walsh emphasised the importance of golf in forging life long friendships saying, “Golf is a game where life-long friendships are forged and links formed which will never be broken. A game of golf is now arguably the preferred method of conducting business and I think more business deals are now transacted on the Golf Course on a Friday afternoon than the office. It is a game we all love and hopefully will continue to play for the rest of our lives.”
He too emphasised the importance of Westport Golf Club in attracting tourism to the town saying: “Westport Golf Club is arguably Westport town’s greatest tourism asset and last year over 12,000 people came to Westport to play a game of golf and even if half of them stayed the night in a hotel or had a meal in a local restaurant or visited Westport’s renowned pubs they would have left well over a million euro behind them.”
Mr Walsh complimented the hard working committee, their Chairman Mr Cathal Hughes, and the author Padraig McLoughlin for their input into the fine publication.
He referred to his late father saying: “Liam was a remarkable man always looking to the future, this is the sort of night he would have thrived on. It is little more than a coincidence that I stand before you as Captain for the Centenary year, but knowing my late dad he probably has something to do with it. I am sure Liam and all the other deceased members of Westport Golf Club will raise their glasses to us tonight.”
Finally, Mr Walsh thanked Mr Alex Melia, the resident Professional at Westport for helping him organise the night and Mr Tommie Basquille, President of the GUI for honouring the club with his presence.
Mr Cathal Hughes, the Chairman of the organising committee, outlined the background to the History of the club. He spoke of promising the late Liam Walsh that the history would be written. He spoke of his meeting with the author, Padraig McLoughlin, discussing the project, and of finally convincing him to write it.
He also complimented the committee on the hard work involved in collating the information that culminated in producing the finished product.
He finished with a quotation from Aristotle: “When men are friends, there is no need for justice, but when men are just, they still need friendship”.
Mr Padraig McLoughlin also delivered a protracted and enjoyable address full of wry wit and good humour. He went through the various chapters in the book, explaining each in minute detail.
‑Mr McLoughlin went on to describe the enjoyment he gets every time he walks the fairways, of seeing the effect that light has on the course. He concluded by saying “What a legacy of seeing 100 years of golf in Westport”.
Mr Tommie Basquille congratulated Westport on the book. He tracked the contribution Westport had made to golf in hosting the various major competitions and to the role Westport members had in fostering and furthering the game.
He complimented Westport member, Cathal O’Malley, who has recently been added to the Irish senior panel. Finally, he wished the club well on their Centenary even if no one in attendance would be around for the next one.
The enjoyable evening concluded with a Fashion Show hosted by Dermot Langan in which local models showed off golf clothes from Alex Mealia’s Golf Shop at Westport Golf Club.