Golf in the Foothills – A History of Grange Golf Club 1910 – 2010

The club’s origins date back to the summer of 1909 when Mr. J. O’Brien Butler laid a rough 9-hole golf course on the slopes of Kilmashogue and sent out an invitation for members which was well received. However the members didn’t like the proprietary nature of club and, the disillusioned decided to form their own club (the Grange Golf Club) which they did after identifying suitable lands at Marlay Grange and procuring a 21-year lease.

The club was officially formed in 1910, with Major Guinness as the first President and Mr Nichol as vice-President, the two guarantors for the lease. Members of Kilmashogue were offered a preferential rate for joining. The course was initially laid out by Tom Hood as were subsequent changes in 1912, but it was reworked by the famous architect James Braid in the mid-1920s.

Over the years, Grange Golf Club has undergone several property deals and expansions. In the early twenties when the club’s existence appeared to be on the line it attempted to purchase the adjoining estate of Marley to secure its future but was outbid. However, they managed to secure a long lease for both the existing and additional land (from R.K. Love who purchased the Marlay Estate), which allowed for the construction of the ‘outer 9’ in 1925. The ‘outer 9’ was designed by Freddy Davies who had designed the Milltown G.C. a few years earlier. However problems with the course led to James Braid being brought in to redesign it, however, he would not go without his 35 guineas upfront and it was R.K. Love who went to Walton Heath with the King’s ransom. Braid arrived in January 1928 and his advice was equally entertaining (‘Hawkish sense of humour’) as it was enlightening especially finding a green that “wasn’t” there and in a ‘Hinny Mune’ (moon on its back) shape. Braid stayed at Marlay House where R..K. Love hosted the great golfer with a golfing dinner each night of his stay which would go on until the early hours. He returned again in 1931 at a fee of 18 guineas where he proposed improvements together with new trademark ‘chocolate drop’ bunkering. In 1966 proper practice facilities were put in place when the club obtained full ownership of the course including the right-of-way between the two nines.

The course remained largely unchanged until the construction work started on the M50 but the planning for it began as far back as 1969. Fortunately the club were able to purchase 41 acres of the Marlay Grange property which might help them mitigate the loss of 4-5 holes with the proposed motorway. In 1977 Hawtree & Co. produced six plans as options in redesigning the course based on the plans for the Southern Cross Motorway and to maximise the compensation for the CPO. None of the plans were yet acted upon as the route had not yet been decided but the proposed route would decimate the club and it all hinged on the belief that the county council couldn’t constitutionally issue a CPO on an educational or religious institution (St. Columba’s) and on the fateful day the club debunked this myth and sent them back to the drawing board. However some of the club’s land would still be needed and the County Council hired Messrs Cotton, Pennick and Steel & Partners to fight their case while Hawtree presented the case for the club. The club had already being using the additional land purchased in the seventies as six additional holes and to get ahead of the final outcome of the CPO they brought in Eddie Hackett with a specific terms of reference to use the lands with a view to creating a third nine, an additional four holes and a routing to take the various options back to the clubhouse. Initially it was decided to create six holes on the new lands as a standalone project. When the CPO plans were finalised in 1995 Jeff Howes was brought in with the options of a simple and radical plan and ongoing debates and meetings meant that the final decision for the simple plan wouldn’t be put into effect until April 1999. The work on the Southern Cross motorway began in August 1998. The club still need to decide what combinations it wanted from the 24 holes it would have or whether to add a further three holes and create a 27 hole complex. Patrick Merrigan was brought in to advise but the sixty percent who voted in favour of the 27-hole complex was sufficient for the change but not sufficient for the financing of the project and one was no good without the other. In 2001/2002 agreement was reached for Merrigan to proceed with the reconstruction and seeding of the greens and upgrading of the irrigation system. In 2006 Dr. Michael Foxe, consultant agronomist, was brought in to put a four year plan in place to end a fractious membership in relation to course maintenance and renovations. The bunkering was looked at by Ken Kearney in 2008 together with a replacement of two greens.

Grange Golf Club features a 24-hole course with three different 18-hole layouts. The course is known for its mature woodland setting and beautiful views. McGinley’s design firm was also involved in a €3.6m investment into improving the course and its facilities to align the club with environmental standards and obtaining GRO Certification. Modifications of holes based on scorecard analysis to challenge the elite golfers without unneccessarily penalising the higher handicapper. All this will be done in keeping with the James Braid ethos for designing golf courses.

Grange Golf Club is home to Paul McGinley, the Ryder Cup Captain. Bobby Locke and Norman Von Nida famously played an exhibition match at the Grange in 1946. Other notable members are David Sheahan, Mary Gorry, John D. MacCormack, Leslie Walker, Sheena McElroy (nee O’Brien-Kenney), Hazel Kavanagh, Therese O’Reilly, Maisie Mooney and Jake Whelan.