Tuam Golf Club – Centenary 1904 -2004

Tuam Golf Club was founded in 1904 and was established by two local businessmen (James McDonnell and Henry Concannon) who were inspired by their visit to Harrogate, England. A meeting was held on the 14 October 1904 for people interested in the new venture and the club was formally established. The rules and regulation for the Galway G.C. were used as the basis for their constitution. Initially located in Cloonascragh on land owned by James McDonnell, a prominent businessman and the first president (1904-1937) of the club, which he provided free gratis. Tom Hood was engaged to look over the site and was hired to design the nine hole layout and it was 1910 before the clubhouse was in place.

The deteriorating fairways was the impetus for the  move to the Kilgarriff family land in Mayfield in 1937 and John McAlister was engaged to design the new layout but the course at Cloonascragh was resurrected under the guise of the Tuam Commercial Golf Club which was affiliated to the Golfing Union of Ireland and still in existence in 1942 during this time there were two golf clubs in the town. In 1948 Christy O’Connor Snr. was engaged as professional of Tuam G.C. and he provided lessons to this and surrounding golf clubs. It was while here that he was convinced to play in the Open Championship at Royal Portrush in 1951 after which, as leading Irish man, he took up a new position at Bundoran G.C. Sheep and cattle would graze the land during the time at Mayfield but the greens were fenced off but this drove a move to its current location at Quinn’s farm at Barnacurragh in 1975 with the intention of having 18-holes. The land was purchased in 1971 but needed to be levelled and drained so it was given to a local developer for two years for this very purpose. The initial nine-hole course and was later extended to 18-holes in 1979. The course was designed by Eddie Hackett, a renowned Irish golf course architect who spent a week at the Hermitage Hotel and handed the club a map of the new layout for the princely sum of IR250 plus travel and accommodation. The members initiated a tree planting program and later a company was hired to continue the program.

Over the years, Tuam Golf Club has undergone several development projects, including a new clubhouse constructed in 1991 and improvements guided by golf architect Christy O’Connor Jnr. in 1990 and then Ken Kearney between 2007 and 2009.

The course is a Par 72, measuring 6138 meters, with tree-lined fairways and water features on three holes. The feature hole is the Par 3 15th hole, played from an elevated tee over water to a sloping green.

The club hosted the Irish Boys Open Amateur Championship in 2015 which was won by Adrien Pendaries from France. Apart from Christy O’Connor Snr and Jnr another notable player associated with the club was Oswald Browne who saw himself at the business end of things in both the South and West of Ireland provincial championships.