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A golf course at Clongowes in referenced as far back as 1913 where a five-hole course is mentioned but passed through football grounds with flags being the only way of identifying if a green existed. The list of Clongowians in the early years is noteworthy given it included John D. MacCormack, Timothy Healy, George Crosbie, Charles A. Carroll, William O’Sullivan, Dermot Herlihy and William F. Howley. One of Ireland’s finest amateur golfers Noel Fox would also attend the college from 1986-1992. The Clongowes Union Centenary Chronicle references a nine-hole course in the twenties near the cricket grounds although they couldn’t say if the students used it or not and it may have been members of the community.
The golf course was constructed in 1965 by two entusiastic jesuit priests in Fr. Ray Lawlor and Fr. Gerry O’Beirne before Eddie Hackett stepped in to assist them. Eddie proposed an 18-hole course but the proposal was vetoed by the ‘Minister’ on the grounds he needed the land for farming. Another proposal by Hackett was adopted but would only accommodate nine holes and the Clongowes Wood Golf Club was formed and affiliated to the GUI in 1969. Ivan Morris would recall the priests in his book Ireland’s Best 9-Hole Golf Courses especially the ‘Reigns of Terror’ which described the disciplinary measures adopted by the latter priest known as the ‘Razz’. The course was originally for the use of staff and students but would later allow members of the Clane Golf Club to use it. Clane Golf Club was founded in 1976 and affiliated with the Golfing Union of Ireland in 1980. The course is a picturesque 9-hole parkland course with mature tree-lined fairways.
Eminent Clongowians who also wielded a golf stick would include Tony Conveney, who appears on a stamp commemorating the 1975 European Amateur Team Championship, Michael Smurfit and the author, William A. Menton who was a past president of the Golfing Union of Ireland.
A number of interesting stories appear in this book especially in the chapter ‘The Glongowes Union Golfing Society’ through whose hallowed halls a number of notable golfers spent their early years including George Crosbie and Billy Sullivan and the Lionel Munn association with one of the prizes ‘The Crosbie/O’Sullivan Cup”.
