Muskerry

Muskerry Golf Club was founded in 1907, when local farmers Jerome Dorgan and Timothy O’Keeffe made land available for John McNamara (the club’s first professional) to lay out a 9-hole course. The formal opening of the layout took place on 4th May, 1907, with an exhibition match played between John and his brother Willie McNamara from Lahinch.

The club purchased additional land in 1924 and Alister MacKenzie was approached to extend the layout to eighteen holes. The architect visited in June that year and recommended that two of the existing nine holes should be abandoned and eleven new ones fashioned. By Spring the following year, the new layout was ready for play.

The scheme was estimated to cost £2,500 but expenditure ran to well over £3,000. A number of members then paid several years’ worth of subscriptions in advance to avert a financial crisis. MacKenzie outlined the design and his construction crew carried out the instructions.

County Galway native Jack Fleming was head constructor and the group of workers involved in the Muskerry project also carried out subsequent course development work at clubs in Cork, Monkstown and Douglas, as well as Limerick and Lahinch.

Today, the course extends to 5,861 yards from the back markers, playing to a par of 71. Interestingly, there are good old-fashioned crossover holes played at the par three 6th and par four 18th, where shots to both greens have to carry to opposite sides of the River Shournagh.