Castlegregory Golf Club

Castlegregory have been Nines of Kerry champions on two occasions. The Final Green of our 2005 victory was recently recalled on these pages. 2005 was a great year for the club under Captains John Rowan and Gorretti O’Connor. The Club’s next victory in 2007 is recalled below in verse from the pen of our current Chairman, the Bard of Ballydehob.

 

 

Nines Of Kerry – 2007 – A tale from Castlegregory.

 

The notice when it finally came, Said we must play Dunloe

Oh God I’ve never been, Are the greens there fast or slow ?

With some away on holiday and some just not around,

We politely asked John B O’Shea, could we defer this round ?

 

Defer, amend, adjust you may, he answered in his kindly tone,

But the final date can’t be postponed, for that date is cast in stone !

 

Marion and Lori won first points for the team

But poor J R and Teresa were whipped like clotted cream

Mike and Edel went out third, like a well oiled golf machine

And they secured their victory while cruising through sixteen.

Joe and Merlyn played it cool and on the final hole

She drove, he chipped, she putted and we achieved our goal.

Hanafin and Burrows were lucky to be alive

Cos they were getting peppered by a young lad playing off five !

 

And so we won against Dunloe, on a glorious autumn day

Who’s next upon the list ? Who’ll dare come in our way ?

Now while Williams was the architect, Of our successful plan,

Gorretti clearly was the brains, behind this shy Welshman !

 

We brought Parknasilla, one fine day, to the dunes of our home course

And in the wind on lightening greens, we blew them off with force.

The Corkman said we’ll put the flags, where they will not be seen

But Fergus said he knows where Gorretti puts the ball

On her favourite fourteenth green.

 

Again Marion and Lori were finished by fourteen

While Mike and Edel changed their plan and finished on fifteen

Joe and Merlyn followed suit, to secure the outright win

While George and Gorretti, Liam and Pat

They were all called in !

 

The final is to be played, in Castlerosse some day

But will Ardfert ’ere come back, from their trip to Sceilig Bay ?

 

 

 

In the Springtime of ’08 on ground that’s thick with mud

The final is to be played, we’ve a team and even subs !

Marion went away, for ten days of warm weather training

But the whole thing was called off

Due to four days of non stop raining !

 

So finally, in the month of May, with the sun high in the sky

The papers said there was a fight

But sure we’re all as nice as pie

 

Lori and Gorretti, the prime cogs in our machine

Led us all on a merry dance, Before clinching on nineteen

They could have lost it on seventeen, By almost foregoing a win,

But thankfully the crowd was there

And the Architect stepped in !

 

Jason and Merlyn played super on the day

And with J R there in their corner, let no-one get in their way

They played like demons on the course

With balls both low and high

Was this a home grown plan or one from the VHI ?

 

Mulcahy and O’Carroll, a team ne’re seen before

Were hitting long and hitting straight, But just couldn’t seem to score

Moriarty and Hanafin, so cool we thought they’d win

And on the day the chips were good, But the putts just wouldn’t go in

 

Keane and Randles started off, as if they never played before

And it took a while to settle down and register a score

But in the end, on the eighteenth green, they were in the ‘zone’

He pitched, she putted, and we brought the silver home !

 

Team Management:

Gorretti O’Connor, Michael Williams, Edel Randles, Mike Keane

 

Panel:

Merlyn O’Connor, Gorretti O’Connor, Edel Randles, Liz O’ Carroll, Lori Fitzgerald, Marie McCarthy, Teresa Rice, Marion Kennedy, Helen Besseling, Ger Callanan, George Nash, John Rowan, Jason Rowan, Tom Moriarty, Eddie Hanafin, Joe Mulcahy, Pat Prendeville, Liam Ryan, Michael Burrows, Frank Herlihy, Mike Keane