Captains' Drive-In attracts large crowd for season-opener

Mullingar Golf Club Notes

Gents Branch

On Saturday March 15, the Captains’ Drive-In saw our avid golfers descend upon the first tee to witness the grand opening day of the 2025 golf season. Many thanks are due to all the members for making sure to put out the Child of Prague, as the recent beautiful weather continued into St. Patrick’s weekend with clear blue skies and lots of warm sunshine the order of the day.

What a wonderful day it turned into for Captain Frank Cotter, Lady Captain Aideen Kelleghan and Junior Captains Eve Hickey and Oisín Scally. You are heroes in our eyes and we wish you the very best of good fortune throughout your captaincy for the coming year.

Clubhouse

A truly memorable St Patrick’s weekend was enjoyed by all our golfers. As noted above, we had a great turn-out on Saturday for the Captains’ Drive-In. Club Pro, Corey Doherty, was on hand as trigger man for the shotgun start of two 9-hole competitions, consisting of teams of 4. This was followed by a delicious meal and prize-giving in the Clubhouse.

The members were treated to informative and entertaining speeches from all four Captains. Suffice to say that the future continued development of Mullingar Golf Club is in safe hands and looks very promising indeed.

Sponsors came in for special mention, for without them the successful running of the Club would prove to be an impossible task. A big thank you also to Mick McCarthy of Fair Green TV for the many TV screens erected around the Clubhouse.

Much gratitude was expressed for all the hard work that is regularly and consistently undertaken behind the scenes. The smooth operation and running of a golf club such as Mullingar, with its many competitions and activities, is a serious undertaking. The voluntary efforts of everyone on the Management, Gents and Ladies Committees were also acknowledged and applauded.

A huge thank you was expressed to Gerry and his team, in both the bar and kitchen, for giving us such a great day. Excellent service is also provided in the day-to-day administration of the Club thanks to Serena and Mila. The work that is put in by David Perdisatt and his team, to present the golf course in such pristine condition, despite the tree damage caused by Storm Éowyn, came in for special mention. And last but not least, the support throughout the year of one’s family and loved ones cannot be underestimated and is greatly appreciated by the relevant officers.

Everyone agreed that the day was a great success and bodes well for what will no doubt be a great golfing year ahead.

Captains Drive-In Results

Front 9 - 1st: B McCarrick (6), G Egan (9), B O’Carroll (6), B O’Carroll (7) – 39 pts.

2nd: S O’Donnell Murphy (6), N Murphy (9), S Murphy (10), A-M Fagan (6) – 38 pts.

Back 9 - 1st: P Hand (4), M McCarthy (6), J Baker (8), M Donnellan (6) – 43 pts. C/B

2nd: S O’Hara, A Maslin, J Maslin, M Smith – 43 pts.; from:

(3rd: S Lyons, A O’Rourke, B Shaw, A Hannon – 43 pts.).

Funds raised were donated to the Irish Cancer Society and LARCC.

Senior Men’s Competition

Tues 11th March saw an impressive 90 senior members compete over 9 holes. Once again, the course was presented by David Perdisatt and his team in fine condition despite no growth yet, and with the arrival of sunny weather for a change, some great golf was played as reflected in the following results:

The winner was Pat Layde (16) with 18 stableford points + 27 bonus points for a great score of 45. Runner-up was Tommie Kelly (05) with 18 points + 27 bonus also for a total of 45. In third place was Marius Gavin (09) with 18 points + 25 bonus for a total of 43. The Super Senior winner was Eamon Shaw (06) also with 20 points + 24 bonus for a total of 44. The Super Super Senior winner was Aidan McManus (14) with 14 points + 24 bonus points for a score of 38. Best score of the day was Dermot McEvoy (06) with 21 points.

Congratulations and well played to all the winners. (Vouchers posted in the usual manner.)

Golfer Of The Year top 10 currently are as follows:

Tom Mulvee 99 points

Tim Ferguson 90 pts

Eamon Shaw 86 pts

Dermot McEvoy 80 pts

Joe Martin 74 pts

Seamus Casey 73 pts

Vincent Corroon 72 pts

Ravikumar Kesavan 67 pts

Eugene Dunne 64 pts

Paul Devaney 64 pts.

Fair Green TV Winter League

Congratulations to the all-Ireland winning Kerry team with 85 pts, consisting of R Burke, M McCarthy, M Gavin, P Gavin and M Gunning.

Runners-up were Louth on 83 pts, consisting of J Thornton, S O’Brien, J Plunkett, D Plunkett and B Watters. Third: Antrim on 82 pts, consisting of B Ganly, V Dolan, J Dolan, C Garry, J Shaw.

Fourth: Roscommon on 75 pts, consisting of J Curran, W Geraghty, M Little, D Larkin, J Quinlan.

Many thanks to Mick McCarthy of Fair Green TV for generously sponsoring this competition.

ACS Drives Sunday Competition

Congratulations to James Robinson, and to all the winners of last Sunday’s competition. The winners’ enclosure reads as follows:

Winner: James Robinson (17) 42 points

Gross: David Tynan (01) 37 pts

Cat 1 (0-9): Paddy Dunne (05) 38 pts

Cat 2 (10-18): Jim Thornton (16) 40 pts

Cat 3 (19-28): John Tweddle (20) 38 pts

Senior: Eamon Shaw (13) 40 pts

Junior: Kylan Heffernan (04) 38 pts.

This 18 hole singles stableford competition was generously sponsored by ACS Drives and Control Systems Ltd, and it attracted a large field of 136 entries on a beautiful sunny Sunday.

A slight digression is appropriate here, to mention that a quick perusal of their website is all it takes to learn what an impressive company ACS Drives is, located right here in Mullingar Business Park. One case study, as an example, involved ACS winning a contract to install state-of-the-art multivariable speed drive units and controllers into a newly constructed €1 billion manufacturing facility for biopharmaceutical manufacturer BMS in Cruiserath, Blanchardstown, their largest such facility in the world outside of the USA. Only the highest standard would be good enough and that was provided by ACS. Well done to all involved!

Interclub Matchplay Competitions

Team Captains are currently busying themselves with team selections. If your name has been included in any of the Interclub Team panels, then you will no doubt have received your Captain’s call. The time has come therefore to put the head down and practice, practice, practice. The gauntlet has been thrown down and many competitive matches await. The very best of good luck in making the team and here’s to many enjoyable and victorious matches ahead, not to mention the garnering of a pennant or two.

Next Week’s Competitions

Tues 18 March: Senior Men’s weekly competition.

Sun 23 March: 18 Holes Scotch Foursomes kindly sponsored by the Mullingar Park Hotel.