A Hundred Years of Golf at Baronscourt – Newtownstewart Golf Club

Newtownstewart Golf Club was established in 1914 and is located at the foot of Bessy Bell Mountain in the rolling parkland of Baronscourt, the ancestral estate of the Duke of Abercorn. The inaugural meeting took place on the 9 October 1914 in the Abercorn Hotel where the Duke was elected first president and he would later be made Governor of Northern Ireland. The founding members were the Duke, H. Kiernan (Northern Bank) and W. Ross Henderson.

The club was originally a nine-hole course (c. 2,650 yards) and has evolved over the years. Charles W. Pope was brought in to redesign the layout of the existing nine holes which extended the course to 2,900 yards. Frank Pennink of C.K. Cotton and Company golf course architects extended the course to eighteen holes in the late sixties. The nine holes were laid out on land adjacent to the stream on the eighth-hole. Pennink, an accomplished amateur golfer, had joined C.K. Cotton in 1954 and had become a prolific course designer. The right for sheep to graze on the course was removed in 1970. A new clubhouse designed by Paddy Lafferty jnr. had been erected in 1972 but within a few weeks of its official opening it was destroyed by a terrorist bomb but subsequently rebuilt. Further work would be carried out by Bryan Patterson (inventor or early adopter of the Explanar Swing Aid) to extend the course. A driving range and golf academy were set up in 2012.

Notable players from the club were Don and Bryan Patterson who made their mark coaching using innovative coaching techniques and the Robinsons (Leslie, David and Gavin).