Lahinch moves up to sixth place in Golf Digest

According to the Golf Digest Volvo top 100-ranked Irish golf courses, Lahinch has moved up one spot to number six.

The prominent Clare links is one of four clubs from the county to feature in the top 100 list just published.
Doonbeg is up 13 places to number 23, Dromoland Castle drops four places to 69 while Shannon is down one to number 73.
The top three on the list, Royal County Down, Portmarnock and Royal Portrush, remain unchanged from last year.
According to Golf Digest Ireland editor Linton Walton, “We considered it appropriate to enlist the views of what could be described as ordinary, day-to-day golfers with a view to making the ranking extra special.
Well-known Ennis and Lahinch golfer Valerie Hassett was one of those chosen to help assess the clubs this year.
At the beginning of each year Golf Digest writes to every club with an 18-hole course to determine if any upgrading has been undertaken over the previous 12 months. Eighty-three clubs responded this year, outlining details of various projects that had been addressed.
Adare Manor, where Pádraig Harrington won the Irish open in 2007, has retained its position as Ireland’s leading parkland course.
Meanwhile, the winner of the ladies’ hamper on the championship course last week was Patricia Kelleher (26) with 39 points. Teresa Felle (3) was second with a similar score followed by Kitty Morris (13) who also had 39 points. Sinéad Sexton won the gross with 33 points.
In the silver section Valerie Shannon (7) was the winner with 38 points from Gráinne D’Alton (5) with 37 points. Mary O’Brien (21) was the winner of the bronze section with 36 points followed by Maria Nolan (24) with 33 points.
The winner of the ladies’ singles Stableford competition on the Castle Course on Saturday was Catherine McKenna (19) with 40 points.  In second place with 39 points was Olivia Lucas (9). Third spot was filled by Connie Fahy (19), who also had 39 points. Gráinne D’Alton won the gross with 29 points.
Darragh Gough (14) was the winner of the men’s hampers singles Stableford competition with 42 points from Diarmuid Leonard (3) with 41 points and Michael Hennessy (7) with 39 points.
Sunday’s men’s hampers competition on the championship course was won by Michael Sherry (12) with 38 points from Bernard Whelan (8) with 36 points and Jim Young (6) with 35 points.
The ladies’ aggregate fourball competition on the Castle Course on Sunday was won by Yvonne Morrisson (17) and Gráinne Hennessy (17) with 68 points.

Kilrush
The annual general meeting of Kilrush Golf Club will take place on Thursday, December 15 in the clubhouse. There will also be an EGM on the same evening, with proceedings getting underway at 7.30pm.
There will be mass for deceased members in the clubhouse on Friday, November 25 at 8pm and there will be a weekly competition for Christmas hampers until December 18. Members can play as often as they wish. The presentation of prizes will take place on Sunday, December 18 at 4pm in the clubhouse.
The winners of the winter league were PJ Hehir, Claire Pyne, Tom Coffey, John McGrath and Martin Brennan with 229 points. They had four to spare over Ollie McNamara, Mary McNamara, John McNeilis, John Robinson and Dion Zerafa, with third spot filled by Annie Gallagher, Tom Prendeville, Margaret Donnelly, Matt Fitzpatrick and Michael Carrig on 223 points.

Shannon
The mixed hampers scotch foursomes competition at Shannon on Sunday was won by Joan (36) and Eoin Hoctor (20) with 45 points from Mary Sheehan (16) and Willie O’Brien (17), who had a similar score. In third spot with 44 points were Eileen McNamara (23) and Tim Crowe (20) while the gross was won by Mary Flynn (18) and Aidan Mannix (7) with 32 points.
In the 15-hole men’s singles, Jerry Breen (19) was the winner with 41 points from Kieran Considine (10) with 40, Michael Moore (12) with 38, Pat Madden (14) with 37 and David Jones (12) with 36. Tony O’Farrell (10) won the gross with 29 points.

Woodstock
Pat Keane (12) won category A (0-13) in the Christmas hampers competition at Woodstock with 46 points. John Dempsey (15) was the winner of category B (14-16) with a similar score while Frank Toner (17) won category C (17-22) with 44 points.
There will be a turkey competition this weekend.

East Clare
In the men’s singles competition at East Clare at the weekend, Mike Stritch (17) was the winner with 43 points from Tony McMahon (12) with 42 and Kevin Wallis (14), who had a similar score.
In the men’s seniors competition the winners were Flan Mullane, Finbarr Ryan and Noel Enright from Liam Nolan, Nick Ryan and Tom Moloney.
Margaret McNamara won the ladies’ seniors outing from Sue Casey, with Catherine Murphy in third spot.
The winners of the ladies’ Texas scramble were Brigid Minogue, Mary Collins and Mary Joe Minogue from Pauline Nugent, Joan Kinsella, Phil Burke and Ina Reddan.
The nine-hole mixed continues for the month of November while there will be an 18-hole men’s singles this weekend.

Ennis
Ennis seniors held a team-of-three competition last week when the winners with 56 points were Jimmy McNamara, Conor Murphy and Johnny Cullinan. They had six to spare over Michael Connolly, Willie Moloney and Michael Culliney, who were followed by Pat Cahill, Michael Ball and Pierce Cahill, also with 50 points. In fourth spot with 40 points were Joe O’Brien, Aidan Guilfoyle and Andy Cregan, followed by Larry Briggs, Greg Fogarty and Seamus Frehill with 47, Luke Coote, Michael Torpey and Colm McNevin with 46. In seventh place, also with 46 points, were Pat McGuire, Bernard Hanrahan and Michael Carmody.

Dromoland
The winner of the turkey competition at Dromoland at the weekend was Pat McGrath with 40 points. He had one to spare over Mick Flannery on 39 with Declan O’Leary in third spot on 39. Aaron Duggan won the junior section with 38 points.
There will be a turkey competition this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with re-entry allowed.

Spanish Point
Turkey competitions continue to be well supported, with over 30 entering last weekend’s singles in Stableford format and with the course in excellent condition, scoring was good.
Dave Fitzgerald (15) with a score of 39 points was the winner on a count back from Joe O’Rourke (16) who also had 39 points. John O’Brien (15) was third with
37 points. Next weekend the format will be a team of three or four in modified scramble format and the timesheet is available in the clubhouse. The annual general meeting of the parent club is scheduled for Saturday, December 3 at 8.30pm. in the clubhouse and all motions and nominations should be submitted by this Saturday to the secretary.

Gort
In the Christmas hampers 18-hole singles competition at Gort at the weekend, the winner was David McAllan with 45 points from Tommy Madden on 42 points and Brendan Gantley with 42 points.  Colman Cooney won the gross with 34 points.
Last week’s singles was won by Tony Curran with 34 points from Peter O’Sullivan, who had a similar score.
There will be a singles hampers competition this weekend.
The ladies’ mini Christmas hampers 13-hole singles competition was won by Sara Broderick with 27 points from Carmel Murphy on 25 points

Doonbeg
Doonbeg Society held an outing to Lahinch (Castle Course) at the weekend when Pat Harte emerged as the winner from Liam Hayes, with Denis Nagle in third spot. Ann Carigg won the ladies’ section from Marie McGuire while the nines were won by Diarmuid O’Donnell and Stephen O’Mahoney.

Clare juniors
This year 46 juniors took part in the Clare Open Championships, which was staged at Dromoland Castle when the weather conditions on the day were very testing for all who took part.
Marl Flynn from Castletroy won the U-14 title from Ryan Mulligan (Dromoland) and Conor McCarthy (Dromoland).
In the U-16 section, John Dillion (Lahinch) won from J Shannahan (Dromoland) and Noel Bugler (East Clare) while the U-18 section was won by Cormac Walsh (Woodstock) from Milan Radish (Rathbane) and Jonathan Chan (Woodstock). The girls’ section was won by Ciara Magill (East Clare).

Portumna
There was a fine entry for the gents’ 15-hole competition at Portumna on Saturday and Sunday. John Cleary (5) won the 0-10 category with 36 points, while the other winners were Ollie Flanagan (14) with 37 points in the 11-14 category, Shane Neylon (15) with 36 points in the 15-18 section, Tony Coen (20) with 36 points in the 19 and over category and John Kennedy (15) with 36 points in the seniors category.
The annual final fling competition for ladies and gents will take place this weekend.
The annual general meeting of the parent club will take place on Tuesday, December 6 in the clubhouse.
The incoming captain for 2012 is Frank Ryan, the incoming president is Mike Carty and the incoming vice-captain is Martin Carty.
At the annual meeting of the ladies’ club last Sunday, Ena Moran was elected captain for the coming year.
Club member Sean Cleary is in the US on a golf scholarship. Sean came through the junior ranks at Portumna and played on most junior and senior teams, winning an All-Ireland medal with the junior cup team last year.
Sean played in five tournaments this year and had seventh, 13th, 26th, 27th and 29th finishes.
The club celebrates its centenary in 2013 and is in the process of compiling a book on the history of the club.
John Joe Conwell, local historian, has been given the task of writing the history and anyone with material should contact him or any of the club officers.

Pitch and Putt
The winners of the two-ball scramble at the Clare Road Pitch and Putt Club on Sunday were Noel Cuddihy and Garath Kerin from Michael Kerin and Marty Fawl.
The annual general meeting of the club will take place this Sunday at 9am.