GETTING INTO THE SWING OF THINGS
REPORTER DAVID MEDCALF DUSTED OFF HIS TRUSTY WEDGE AND ENJOYED A ROUND ON THE MINIATURE MASTERPIECE WHICH IS THE COURSE AT POULAPHOUCA PITCH AND PUTT CLUB
AUGUSTA or Saint Andrew’s it ain’t, but Poulaphouca pitch and putt course is great place to swing a club nevertheless.
A good round here is as good as any at Carnoustie or Kiawah Island – on a miniature scale.
One of Ireland’s hidden sporting gems, it is tucked in beside the N81 south of Blessington.
Players have been honing their skills with wedge and ball here for the past sixty-plus years.
The club was first founded in 1956 and it remains very much a centre of golfing activity.
Poulaphouca PPC is not far from well-known tracks like Tulfarris, Boystown and Rathsallagh.
This course, with its small membership, takes up a tiny fraction of the amount of land required at such venues. The three acre field which accommodates these 18 challenging holes is no bigger than a par five at any one of the big courses – scarcely any larger than a GAA pitch.
This is fiendishly clever use of a field which, with its odd shape and peculiar slopes, would be no use at all for team sports.
Instead, a little slice of countryside, with views out towards the plains of Kildare, has been con- verted to provide a stiff challenge.
Pitch and putt is a scaled down form of golf which puts a premium on skill rather than strength. Players do not need heavy bags or high tech drivers as they are strictly limited to just two clubs.
Most participants enter the fray with a putter and, more likely than not, a pitching or sand wedge.
Apart from these the only other requirements are a few tees and a ball – plus a couple of spares.
The tee shot at the first hole requires no more than a 23 metre pitch, the shortest on the course.
A couple of holes exceed 60 metres but there is nothing to cause a hernia with the effort of shooting from tee to green.
Though there are courses elsewhere around the world, pitch and putt is strongest in Ireland and the national body boasts a hundred affiliated clubs. Strange to report, the list includes none in County Wicklow, as Poulaphouca is the wrong side of the border which runs along the nearby main road.
Vigilant motorists may spot the finger-post sign which directs visitors off the public thor- oughfare, a short distance north of the landmark Poulaphouca House.
Club chairperson Charlie Byrne is happy to confirm that he is 83 years of age and that he still plays pitch and putt, off a handicap of 11. He then adds for good measure that played three rounds over the weekend of the recent open competition hosted at the course.
‘I did get as low as six handicap,’ he recalls, adding an explanation of his enduring interest in a sport which is not as easy as it looks. ‘Pitch and putt is tricky but four and a half hours for a round of golf is a bit long.’
Charlie is not the only octogenarian to be found on the fairways. The hole-in-one registered by Larry Walsh – a mere 82 years old – recently is the talk of the club. Such aces are common enough for the top exponents, with 18 holes-in-one carded during the 200-plus rounds in the open event.
The chairperson recalls that he was first drawn to Poulaphouca in the 1960s, shortly after the foundation of the club. It had already been established a few years previously as a facility for the use of ESB staff members, mostly those working at the nearby power station.
Such corporate initiatives were not altogether unusual with Irish Glass Bottle Company and Roadstone also actively promoting pitch and putt.
The land used for the Poulaphouca course was
owned by the power company, adjacent to homes built for employees. Families who resided on the spot provided many of the best players in the early years, notably the Curleys and the Hickeys. From the outset, women players were prominent, with Anne McDonald’s feat in winning a Leinster title still remembered.
Charlie’s late brother Michael, who was on the ESB payroll, persuaded the authorities to allow outsiders on to the premises. Nevertheless, when the focus of electricity generation switched from Poulaphouca up into the hills to Turlough Hill, the club closed. Charlie and his buddies decamped to Athgarvan on The Curragh for a while.
‘We did not think that we would ever get back,’ he muses. ‘ There were rumours that the ESB would sell the place.’ Instead, the golfers returned in the 1980s when brother Michael and Liam Sherry got the show back on the road.
The renewed incarnation boasts a permanent clubhouse complete with lounge, office and toilets.
Though there has been some tinkering with the layout, the course itself remains more or less as it was when the first pioneers teed off in 1956.
The biggest change has been that the trees – rowans, conifers, sycamores, birches and the rest – have all grown over the years. After complaints, from left handers in particular, the committee views pruning some of the branches overhanging the seventh hole as a priority for the winter maintenance programme. programme
The drought ridden summer of 2018 has been tricky, with some of the greens showing a few scorch marks, despite the sprinkler system. Nevertheless, community enterprise workers Eddie and Paul have the place looking otherwise immaculate. An ancient tractor – could it be a Massey? – is available to tackle the grass on the fairways, with more modern mowers used on the greens.
Your reporter was welcomed to make up a fourball, completing a round with competition secretary Stephen Kavanagh, club secretary Derry Crowley and Philip Ryle who has come up through the juvenile ranks. Philip is the only one of the three who plays ‘ big’ golf regularly, at Tulfarris, and he attempts to explain the pitch and putt technique.
‘You need a totally different swing for this, opening up the face of the club and flopping the ball on to the green.’
Hmm! The guest player responded these words of wisdom by shooting a laughable 18 over par for the first nine. But at least he pulled his socks up a little on the journey home, which he covered in four over, a good run of threes spoiled by an ugly double bogey at the last.
Such an achievement was put into perspective by Stephen who revealed that his personal best is 12 under, which works out as 42 shots for the th 18 holes. The best ever achieved was 15 under par, an all-comers’ record of 39 shots for theh course.
One often visited subject of conversation is theth debate as to which ball is best for pitch and putt. p The Commando brand is long established, with adherents insisting that it is best for spin, allowing maximum control of flight and bounce. However, big name manufacturers such as Titleistl and Calloway have responded to demand by producing p soft balls especially for pitch and putt.
Philip reckons that though his handicap has slipped sl with age, Stephen with his high tee shots is still one of the best players in the club. He also rates ra club captain Mairead O’Toole very highly, capable of winning over 55 titles in national competition.
Secretary Derry has 49 players on the club’s listli of registered players and says there is room forfo plenty more. On the course, his unorthodox gripg of the wedge with the right hand at the top ofo the shaft is a reminder of his hurling days in his native Ovens, County Cork. He appreciates thath he can plays pitch and putt on level terms withw his son, Derry junior, who is eleven.
The club’s younger contingent – mentored by Frank F Brady – also includes Jason Brady and Andrew Curran who made a winning impact at the Leinster under 13 championships. They followo in the tradition of Paul Lennon won took the th national under 16 title in 1993.
Stephen Kavanagh not only loves playing pitch and putt, he also enjoys spreading the word about theh game, sharing his enthusiasm.
He recommends it as a pastime for all the family fa and says that it beats sitting at home and watching w TV any day of the week.
Asked to come up with reasons why he recommends o the sport, he rattles off five, scarcely drawing d breath:
One – it doesn’t take long to play – allow just overo an hour for a round;
Two – it is reasonably priced – a visitor’s green fee fe at Poulaphouca costs a fiver;
Three – it is a good walk, and not the good walk w spoiled that Mark Twain spoke of;
Four – it may be enjoyed by both genders and all a ages, from eight to 80;
Five – you only need a couple of clubs, with no n major investment required.
‘ This place is an asset to the community,’ says Stephen, S ‘and it is well located off the main road.’