New beginning for Creamer at Narin and Portnoo
LIFE is not always easy for Ireland’s PGA professionals but lady luck has smiled on Leitrim native Richard Creamer following his appointment as the new Director of Golf at Narin and Portnoo.
The lovely Donegal links has been in the news frequently over the past year and even closed temporarily recently as a complex transfer of ownership to Donegal-born, US-based businessman Liam McDevitt was finalised.
But while there are still legal issues to be hammered out with a local farmer who owns some of the lands leased to the club, the members have resumed play and a huge number of changes are being carried out to make Narin and Portnoo one of the best clubs in the north-west.
“The clubhouse is in the process of being completely refurbished right now from the bar and the locker rooms to the pro’s shop, and we hope to have all that finished shortly after Easter,” said Ballinamore native Creamer (44), who had just finished a three-year stint at Arklow Golf Club.
“I really am looking forward to it. When things need to be done here, they are done straight away. I can only see good things ahead for Narin and Portnoo.”
The club got into trouble when membership plummeted from 700 to 350 following the economic crash of 2008 and the club’s loans – totalling €1.7m for the construction of a new clubhouse and course improvements – were transferred by Ulster Bank to US investment firm Cerberus last year.
Ballyshannon-born McDevitt bought the debt and after a series of meetings, the members agreed to his offer to take over the club.
Creamer is one of his first appointments but he has also called in renowned US architect Gil Hanse, creator of the Olympic golf course in Rio de Janeiro, to completely overhaul the links.
While the difficulty with the lease could cause delay, Hanse has already made two visits to the course and some progress on the first phase of the redesign is likely this year.
The new job is almost a homecoming for Creamer, whose mother is from Dungloe, just 20 minutes from the course, and still retains a holiday home there.
He looks set to move to the locality with his family in the summer and start another adventure in his PGA career.
Having started out in the game at Ballinamore Golf Club, he studied European Regional Development in Coleraine before joining The Island as an assistant to head professional Kevin Kelliher.
From there he moved to Royal Dublin to continue his apprenticeship under Leonard Owens and following a spell in Germany, returned to Ireland to manage The Ward Driving Range in Ashbourne with John Dwyer.
A spell in Tuam coincided with the economic crash, forcing him to mix more playing time with teaching at Ballinamore and Cregmore Park in Galway
But he has now found his feet quickly again following his stint at Arklow and could not be happier.
“It’s a really wonderful spot and we hope to be up and running with all the renovations soon before I officially begin my new duties on 1 May,” Creamer said. “I am very much looking forward to getting going.”