GLENVILLE AWAITS
IT’S a lovely little oasis off the hustle and bustle that is the Square, Tallaght but you always had the sense the day would come for Glenville to show itself to the world in all its glory. That opportunity comes this weekend with the staging of the Irish Open and according to Joe Flanagan (Competition Secretary) it was an easy decision for the club once the offer was made. “We didn’t have to put much thought into taking it; we’ve always strived for something like this. We were due to host the International Challenge between Ireland and Catalonia in 2010 before the volcano in Iceland intervened. It was disappointing that it had to be called off but unfortunately it was just one of those things that you have no control over,” he said.
Eugene Notaro from the Organising Committee gives an idea of the work that has gone in by the club in preparing for this weekend. “We had our first meeting in November and we’ve met nearly every two weeks to discuss the preparations. We’ve worked informally but with a group of about 18 people it’s been great in terms of having so many different people to get the various preparations done,” Eugene said. The course was thankfully unaffected by the horrendous weather over the winter. “We suffered no damage during the storms and we usually close our main course in January and play a temporary course over that period,” Joe said. The club itself has contributed to the game of Pitch & Putt down through the years with administrators such as Frank Smith (former PPUI and FIPPA President) and Des Flanagan to the fore. On the playing front Peggy Campbell, Leo O’Reilly and Derek Courtney have been prominent representatives of the club although Joe does feel success is a little thin on the National Championship front for the club. “There aren’t as many names of club members in the back of the Fixture Book as we would like,” he said.
Joe had the honour of being the Club’s captain in its 60th Anniversary year in 2008 and it’s a quite diverse membership within the club according to Eugene. “We would draw mainly from the local area but we do have a number of members from the Northside of the city and we also now have a few International members which is a novel thing for the club,” he said. An event like the Irish Open simply would happen without sponsorship and the club have been able to acquire a good number of local sponsors for the event. “Absolute Limos, Alan Kidd Insurance, Beaumex, Daly’s Supervalu Aylesbury, Denis J Ryan & Associates, Greene’s Barbers, KKS and Nolan Kitchens have been very generously in supporting us ahead of the competition and we’re all praying it runs off well over the weekend now,” Eugene said.
Indeed the Challenge of putting 142 players through 54 holes over the course of two days is one the club are looking forward to according to Joe. “It’s a fairly tight timetable but we will stick to it as rigidly as we can. We’re delighted to have Eamon Birchall on board as the Official Referee with all his experience and we’ve a few people in the club who have been assigned some particular roles during the tournament. You have to prepare for every eventuality in running events like this and while they’ll be other issues over the course of the weekend that will have to be dealt with, we’ll do our best to be ready for them if they arise.”
Finally a word from Eugene on the Grounds Committee’s efforts in getting the course ready for the weekend. “It’s absolutely amazing what people will do off their own bat when it comes to getting a course ready. The work that our members have put into the course is phenomenal and we can’t thank them enough for what they have done in getting everything ready for this weekend.”
For anyone wishing to learn more about the history of the club, the club have a great article on its website that can be read at the following link. http://www.glenvillepitchandputtclub.com/about.php