O'Briens Golf Society

With our summer weather hopefully bringing us dry sunny days Golf is a great way to get out into the fresh air and enjoy the outdoors.

18 holes of golf can easily take an entire morning and the distance you'll walk can be around 8km. If you're like me and not very good at golf then that distance goes up if you don't keep the ball on the course. Add to this the weight of carrying or pulling a golf bag and you certainly get exercise.

Unlike many sports golf allows people of all levels of fitness to participate at your own unhurried pace. It is often seen as an elitist sport because it's expensive compared to playing football or GAA. We've heard in the hay day that membership at some Clubs ran into several thousand euro a year but fortunately the reality now is significantly less albeit still quite expensive. The cost of the land and it's maintenance throughout the year isn't free so be prepared to contribute for that alone.

We caught up with Mark Swaine and Peter Byrne, members of O'Briens Golf Society, to see what some of our local residents are involved with.

What's a Golf Society?

"We're a Golf Society since we've no actual golf course which means we travel between the local courses and get a preferential day rate for our members. The group's been active for 12 years now."

Where's our nearest Club?

"Navan use to have a golf course at the Navan Racecourse but that's now changed to using footballs instead of golf balls. There's several local courses and we've played at most of them."

A quick 'Google' reveals that we have quite a few local courses with around 500 courses across the country. www.GolfersGuide.ie is a good place to look for venues.

Are the golfers any good?

"Yes quite a few can certainly play the game very well and we all have the occasional stray shots."

How often to you play?

"We're meet once a month as a Society and this year we've been to Kilcock, Knightsbrook and most recently Ardee. Our Captains Day is the next outing on June 24th to Newbridge and frequently our outings have a dozen or so players."

"After each event we meet back at O'Briens for a buffet and a few beers to chat about the day. We're a very social community group."

It was fortunate timing that Mark entered and won The Ivy Cafe Prize Draw which he then shared with the group of Golf Society Members returning from a Stag weekend.

Who can join your Society?

"We're a very welcoming group and O'Briens Golf Society membership for the year is only €30 for which we gain preferential day rates for our outings, we host our own group award prizes after each event together with music and food afterwards at O'Briens."

"We're far from being an elitist group and everyone from all walks of life are very welcome. This year we've re-energised the society with new members and new blood in the committee so we're focused but relaxed at the same time."

What type of Awards to you give?

"There's prizes for longest drive, closest to the hole and of course the usual best performance in the different handicap categories. However although we're competitive, enjoy the game we really do enjoy the craic and company so we usually have a 'fun' award for either the worst or biggest mistake of the event too."

Do you compete against other local Golf Societies?

"This is definitely something we've been talking about since new groups have formed at other local venues so there's a chance we might get to play each other in the foreseeable future."

Johnstown Urban Golf ?

As part of our search for Facilities for Johnstown golf is certainly something we could at least practice throughout the many green lawns we have. OK these greens are far from the quality of golf courses, and we'd have to swap the real golf balls for those perforated plastic practice balls, but imagine if each green space had a target hole or object to hit then our entire area could be an urban golf course,

Photo Credit: European Urban Golf 2015, Source: CNN article on Urban Golf

Urban Golf isn't confined to the green spaces of Johnstown.

Contact

O'Briens Golf Society

@the_briens

O'Briens, Johnstown

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