Seventh haven
Big hearts beat proudly as Berehaven makes its mark in style, by Brian Keogh
THEY say that where the land is mean, the brain stays keen. But they might also remark on the great heart and sense of community that truly powers the small towns and villages of west Cork.
Little wonder then that there was huge pride amongst the denizens of Castletownbere last weekend when news filtered through from Killarney that Berehaven Golf Club had been proclaimed Munster champions in the AIG Jimmy Bruen Shield.
Many will be aware that the Beara peninsula is the birthplace of Pádraig Harrington’s father, Paddy. But while it is clearly footballing country, Covid-19 put paid to all hopes of GAA glory this year, and Berehaven Golf Club took advantage, increasing its membership from 200 to 300 by slashing its membership fee to just €100.
It was a masterstroke from a tiny club whose existence owes much to the British Royal Navy, who evicted the locals and built the course to stave off boredom in the late 1890s, keeping the Atlantic fleet amused up to and during the First World War.
But the club owes an even greater debt of gratitude to local people who not only helped build the original course but rescued the 65-acre site from oblivion in the late 1960s, then donated hardearned cash to buy it outright in the late 1980s.
After the handover by the port and military barracks on Bere Island in 1938, the Irish Government returned the course in 1958 to a Jack C. Murphy, who was considered the last surviving senior member of the family evicted by the British over 60 years earlier.
The land changed hands again in 1965, and while civil bills were issued to four members of the club in 1972 and it would close again as developers planned to build a holiday complex on the site, the golfing dream did not die.
After much wrangling, the property was offered to the club in 1985 for the gargantuan sum of £115,000.
An enterprising committee got a grant of £100,000 from the Chevron or Whiddy Island Disaster fund, but it took a considerable effort to raise the rest of the purchase price.
“The club wouldn’t be there but for the local community,” club PRO David Kelly explained. “That committee – Colm Breen, Breda Holland and the others – went door to door locally seeking £500 from each house.
“Many of those people never went on to swing a golf club or ever set foot on the course. Frank Downey, a wealthy fisherman whose grandson Christopher was on the team in
Killarney, was one of the first to put his hand in his pocket. They just did it so the local area would have a golf course.”
As things turned out, it was the ladies club that was the first to become affiliated to the ILGU in 1986 with the men joining the GUI the following year.
As a result, the club was the first in Ireland to offer equal status with Mary Harrington as president and Teddy Black as captain.
The course had to be rebuilt from scratch, but it is now one of the most challenging nine-holers in the country, a stiff par-68 for the men (5,128 metres) and a par-70 for the ladies (4,401 metres), once compared with Pebble Beach for the beauty of the site.
Set on the shores of Bantry Bay, overlooking Bere Island, its feature holes require you to flirt with the water, just as Christy O’Connor Snr intended when he helped choose green sites.
“He went down with Colm Breen and Donal Kelly to take a look, and they planted a pole where they planned to build the ninth green,” explained club captain Keith Hegarty.
“Colm asked what club would be required, and Christy said, ‘It doesn’t matter’, and took out every club in his bag and landed them all by the pole.”
Several of the founding members remain closely involved with the club which continues to rely on community support for its survival.
“Covid was probably the best thing to happen to the club this year because we all came together to work on the course and off the course,” Keith explained. “We offered membership to the community for €100 compared to the usual €350, and we got nearly 90 new members out of it.
“It all started before the lockdown when three of us went down one evening to knock a tree affecting the fourth green. Then it was suggested during lockdown we should do a general tidy up and it generated into more than that. We are less than 5km from town, so it started off with 10 or 12 lads doing it of an evening, and there were over 30 there in the end with fellas arriving with vans, tractors, trailers and diggers to help out.”
The club has a full-time greenkeeper in Brendan Hanley, and he has done a sterling job battling the elements to keep the course in prime condition, aided in part by the arrival of new machinery that was purchased thanks to a grant of €29,292 from the Sports Capital Programme operated by the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.
As for the golf, the club is indebted to a small army of volunteers with Timmy Lynch, a former member of Howth, the guiding light for many since his retirement to the area.
“If any of the lads are struggling, they go to Timmy,” said club stalwart Joss Crowley. “He looks after all the teenagers who are coming through and takes great pride in it, and he doesn’t want anything in return.”
With a playing panel for the entire club of just 30 players, they still managed to field teams in the AIG Senior Cup, Junior Cup, Pierce Purcell and Jimmy Bruen Shields, winning the Jimmy Bruen and reaching the semifinals of the Junior Cup beating Dooks, Ballybunion and Tralee along the way.
With President Kay Breen at the helm, the club drives on with the help of Chairman Kevin O’Shiel, Lady Captain Ger Owens and the efforts of many