The Kerryman (South Kerry Edition)
Ballybunion to host Federation of Kerry
THIS year sees the Federation of Kerry Golf Clubs celebrate its 50th anniversary, having been founded in 1968 with the legendary Dr Billy O’Sullivan as its first Captai. And with Ballybunion celebrating its 125th anniversary this year also, the North Kerry club will have the honour of hosting the Federation with John Fox as Captain, Pat Mulvihill as secretary and Michael Barry as Treasurer.
It is Ballybunion’s third time hosting the Federation since its foundation with Michael F. Barrett and Didge O’Connor as the two previous captains.
The Federation held its Annual General Meeting on Tuesday of last week at Killarney Golf Club which was very well attended with every one of the county’s sixteen clubs represented.
Junior Officer Pat O’Dwyer presented a very detailed junior report on behalf of the Federation’s junior committee stating that it was another very successful year for junior golf in Kerry and that he was very grateful to the support received from all the clubs. He spoke about the absolute necessity for having a strong junior section in every club and credited the recent successes of Kerry clubs to the time and dedication which club junior committees put into juniors in each club.
Pat informed the meeting that following many years of dedication and commitment to junior golf in Kerry and particularly in Tralee, Gerard ‘Gatt’ Carey was finally retiring and he presented Gatt with a voucher in recognition of his services to junior golf in the county.
Gatt said it was a privilege to have had the opportunity to assist with the junior programme and he had enjoyed every minute of it. He thanked Pat for all his help and encouragement over the past ten years and wished Ballybunion’s Ed Stack all the best in his new role as junior treasurer with the Federation.
Under motions, Tralee proposed that the Handicap Limit for the Billy O’Sullivan competition would be 19 and that the combined handicap of both players would be at least 41, but following much discussion, particularly about the fielding of teams in the smaller clubs, this motion was withdrawn.
Ballybunion proposed that rule 5 which states: “A player whose handicap has been reduced to less than 18 on the day of the match is eligible to play off his handicap on 1st January” would be amended to read: “A player whose handicap has been reduced to less than 16 (15.4 or less) during the current year is ineligible to play for the remainder of that competition” and this motion was carried.
Ballybunion also proposed that Rule 10 dealing with minimum rounds played during the previous year would be deleted and this too was carried.
So for the 2018 competition the minimum handicap will be 18, the maximum combined will be 39 and all players will play off their handicaps as of 1st January in all of the Federations competitions.
Outgoing Captain, Parknasilla’s Sean McCarthy, said that it was a great privilege to have been the Federation’s Captain for 2017. He became familiar with roads which he hadn’t known existed and met many wonderful people during his presentation visits to the various clubs. He thanked the clubs for the courtesy shown to him and was delighted to see the Federation being held in such high regard.
Seán also thanked Parknasilla for the generous use of their facilities and stated that he was very grateful to management, Captains and Secretaries of all the Kerry clubs but especially to Pat O’Dwyer for all his guidance and assistance throughout the year. He wished all the best to Ballybunion for the year ahead and then captain John Fox to don his Captain’s blazer.
Incoming Captain John said that it was a great honour for Ballybunion, in its 125th year, to play host to the Kerry Federation and he assured delegates that no effort would be spared in ensuring that 2018 would be a memorable year for Federation events.
He thanked Ballybunion Captain, Tom Wall, for affording him the opportunity to be the Federation Captain for the coming year and he introduced the 2018 Federation Secretary, Pat Mulvihill and Treasurer Michael Barry.
John said that he was confident that the three of them would make a great team but that time would reveal all!
He had a number of recommendations for the strengthening of the Federation and sought the views of delegates and their approval to proceed with (a) the setting up of a Federation Website, (b) the establishment of a set of rules (constitution) and (c) putting Federation Trustees in place.
John stated that each of the recommendations would enable better communication at all levels, would assist continuity from year to year and that the trustees would act in an oversight capacity.
He informed the meeting that web designer Ed Stack was willing to set up and maintain the website at minimal cost of around €200 and the meeting agreed to go ahead with this.
As the other ideas were new and required planning, John assured the delegates that he would come back to the clubs in October with an outline of the recommendations and that any changes would require the consent of the Annual General Meeting in 2019.
Incoming Secretary Pat Mulvihill circulated a sheet requesting contact details of Captains and Secretaries of all clubs and he informed delegates that communication would be by calls, texts, email , Facebook and the new website.
He then circulated a laminated sheet outlining the correspondence details of the Federation Officers and also the dates and times of the various competitions.
Pat stated that the draw for the Kingdom Challenge Shields would take place this week at the Meadowlands Hotel in Tralee and that all clubs will be invited to attend.
He also stated that the draw for the Billy O’Sullivan and the Kerry Nines will take place at the Captains’ day in Ballybunion on Saturday April 21st.
There will be a charge for the Kerry past Captains’ day on July 7th and the monies collected will go towards the funds of the Federation.
Finally the major dates for the Federation’s 2018 season at Ballybunion were announced:
Present Captains Day April 21 (Old Course), the Kerry Shield June 9 (Old Course), JB O’Shea Tournament June 30 (Cashen course), Federation Captain’s Prize July 7 (Old Course), Dr Billy O’Sullivan Shield semi-finals September 1 (Old course) and Dr Billy O’Sullivan Shield final September 15 (Old course).