Skerries Golf Club 1905-2005

Skerries Golf Club, founded in 1905, is a championship 18-hole parkland golf course located in the beautiful seaside town of Skerries, just twenty minutes north of Dublin Airport. The club was officially opened on April 14, 1906, with the first competition being the Battersby Cup. The story is of a small fishing village on the G.N.R. line who decided to have a golf course to wake interest in the location as a place to visit and settle.

The club has undergone several land acquisitions over the years. The original land, Hacketstown, was leased from the Holmpatrick estate and later purchased in 1954. Additional parcels of land were acquired from various owners, including Portland Cement and Hartford Brothers.

The initial design and layout of the 34-acre nine-hole course were carried out by W.C. Pickeman, Captain and Honorary Secretary of Portmarnock, with subsequent improvements by Cecil Barcoft of Royal Dublin and Dollymount. Negotiations were ongoing with the G.N.R. to create a stop at the golf club which they did intermittently but on a more permanent basis from 1927. Following additional land purchases in 1968 Eddie Hackett set about designed an eighteen hole layout which was completed in 1971. A new clubhouse was opened in 1996.

Skerries Golf Club is known for its challenging layout, with undulating fairways, strategically positioned bunkers, and mature trees. The course measures 6116 meters from the medal tees and offers a fair test of golf for all categories of golfers.

One of the most spectacular finishing holes in Ireland, the 18th hole, provides magnificent panoramic views of the coastal islands and the coastline extending from the Mountains of Mourne to the Mountains of Wicklow.

Notable members included Dr. Gerald H. Owens, the 1939 Irish Close champion, and his father J.F. Owens, the Taoiseach Sean Lemass and the Kinsella family (Bill Snr and Jnr and Jimmy) after Bill join as a professional in 1930 and remained there for the rest of his life.