TRIM ’N’ PROPER
Never-say-die spirit has ensured the success of County Meath Golf Club By Brian Keogh
RORY McILROY might be best known for pulverising Congressional Golf Club in the 2011 US Open, but there’s a connection between the great American country club near Washington DC and leafy County Meath Golf Club in Trim.
No, McIlroy did not lay waste to the County Meath course record during his amateur days or win a big event there.
He was only 12 when Gareth Shaw captured the Leinster Boys in Trim in 2001. But had he made the trip, he might have discovered that when the club was founded in 1898, the designer of the original course was the Irish American Devereux Emmet, a great grand nephew of Robert Emmet of United Irishmen fame and frequent visitor to Trim.
New Yorker Emmet would go on to design the Blue Course at Congressional Country Club near Washington DC in 1924 – later redesigned by Donald Ross, Robert Trent Jones and Rees Jones – where McIlroy would win the 2011 US Open by no fewer than eight strokes.
Much has happened to McIlroy since then, but his many ups and occasional downs pale in comparison to those of plucky County Meath Golf Club, whose fortunes have been on an upward curve for some time now after many challenging years in its early days.
As the club’s history, The Road from Effernock, colourfully explains, the story of County Meath is “a mosaic of fun, friendship, endeavour and, sometimes, hardship”.
The story began in 1898 when a number of enthusiasts came together to establish a golf course in Effernock, just outside Trim, on the lands that now accommodate the Knightsbrook complex.
Sadly, the Effernock course designed by Emmet only lasted until 1905, when the club moved to Oakstown and struggled on there until 1925, when Club Captain, Barney Allen presided over its winding up.
He was determined that it would rise again, phoenix-like from the ashes and so it did, reopening in 1934 before moving to Dogstown in 1937.
Designed by Co Louth professional Mick McGuirk, the new County Meath thrived until 1951 when the landowner terminated the lease agreement.
It was clearly a huge blow and it was 1968 before County Meath’s ‘revivalists’, as they became known, purchased a farm near the Dogstown site for £12,000.
Mick McGuirk stepped in to design a nine-hole course which was eventually expanded to 18 holes by the prolific Eddie Hackett, opening for play in 1991.
A new clubhouse opened its doors in 1993 and, fortified by its never-say-die spirit, the club has never looked back.
Having survived the economic downturn unscathed, it now has a new Management Committee structure, allowing it to plan far more efficiently than before.
“Traditionally most clubs had a captain, who took charge for the year,” explains committee chairman Pádraig Cribben.
“But the management committee structure has allowed us to do a lot of good work on the course over the past two years, controlling the tree lines, enhancing the drainage and significantly improving the greens.
“They now present a spectacular challenge and have resulted in very few nett scores being returned below 70.
“The course has a wonderful selection of trees that were strategically placed to create maximum effect and difficulty.
“So in light of that, much work has been done on re-alignment which has created a greater sense of openness around a number of the holes and the work the club is doing on its drainage programme will ensure that the maximum playing time will be available to members.”
The benefits of continuity are best seen in the presence of PGA professional Robin Machin, who has been in the role for 20 years.
Widely recognised as one of the best teaching professionals in Leinster, he was the only professional in the Republic of Ireland to be nominated for Most Improved Business of the Year in the annual TGI Golf awards.
With a fully floodlit driving range, well-maintained practice greens and bunkers and a magnificent clubhouse, the club’s membership is recovering after the recent economic downturn with 600 now on the books, including 100 students, juveniles and juniors.
“It is an ongoing challenge for all golf clubs,” Pádraig says. “We are faring reasonably well, but there is still a gap between where we are now where we were 10 or 12 years ago.
“We have had a healthy interest in the Get Into Golf programme, but the challenge is to keep them coming back. All in all, it is a good initiative and we, like all clubs, need to embrace it and promote it.”
The club has produced its share of top players with former East and West of Ireland champion Paul Rayfus – a member of Ireland’s Irish Triple Crown-winning team of 1987 — well-known in elite amateur golf circles.
Brendan Swan, a multiple winner of the World One Arm Golf Championship, is another club stalwart and given the health of the club, more strong players are likely to emerge.
Unlike many clubs that invested heavily during the Celtic Tiger years and paid the price, County Meath weathered the storm very well.
“Any debt we have is very serviceable, our current income stream is good and we are in a position to show positive returns,” Pádraig adds.
The club deserves a long period of prosperity after many years of difficulties and given the work that’s been carried out on its challenging, 6,702-yard par 73 course, it’s only getting better. After coming through more than their fair share of challenges since 1898, it appears there’s nothing stopping Trim’s intrepid golfers.
The club’s motto, Nullae Hic Insidiae Tales, says it all: ‘May it ever be so.’