The midweek fourball saw a very good turnout due to the fact that the Annual St Mary’s Competition was scheduled for the weekend and members were getting the feel of the course. However the practice run didn’t pay off as Mick changed the course on Thursday. Noel Mac was in great form and with Josie Twomey’s handicap and support took the nett with a very respectable 38 while Billy Fitton and Paddy Dennehy were the Gross winners with 6 under beating Eileen Murphy and John Ahern on the back nine. Eileen had a magnificent round with 5 birdies so it was fitting that herself and John took the second nett with 39. There was great support from the Members for the St Marys Competition with all the proceeds of the weekend including donations and the income from the green fees going to this worthy cause. This annual competition has been running for over 30 years, originally initiated by the late Jim O’Shea and his wife Rene the competition was very successful with a number of projects funded from the proceeds. Jim and Rene used to organise the prizes which came from far and near but in later years the members started to put up the prizes themselves. The fun part from Billy Fitton’s point of view is to ensure they don’t get their own prize back when they enter the winners enclosure. This year the format consisted of fourballs only and included the Monday of the bank Holiday weekend.
The Competition was very well supported with over €800 raised. Mary O’Donovan has her Yank Ball “Jeepers” trained to drop short of the green and belly forward to the hole like a Marine. Catherine picked up his cousin “Creepers” but is not fully trained yet. Val was hitting so many high balls that the crows went away for the weekend.JP upset Gentleman John on Saturday with his hole in one on the 15th and sharing the pot for the month. JP scored again on Sunday with another on the 13th. PJ was playing well with so many birdies he could open a pet shop but unfortunately the fours crept onto the cards. Pat Moore is considering taking up barbering as he spent so much time shaving the holes over the weekend. John Dineen invented a new dance which includes the putter but its only temporary. All in all it was an interesting weekend.