Courses :: Offaly Pitch & Putt County Board

Courses - Erry: History

Erry Pitch & Putt Club was founded in 1994 when the former Clara Pitch & Putt Club was disbanded. Pitch & Putt has been in the town of Clara since 1965, it began at the rear of the Presbyterian Church under the supervision of an organizing committee that included Tom Duffin, Eddie Recks, Jim Roche, Davy Goode, Pat Hogan and Kieran Loughnane. As the years progressed and property owners had additional purposes for their property the Clara Club experienced uncertainty about their future as they were unable to settle in one location longer than 12 months. In the interim the club had to accept a nine hole course arrangement adjacent to Chapel Hill for 12 months. However, undaunted and determined to succeed the club continued to search for a long term home as membership numbers increases by the day and it was in 1968 that the roots took hold and development commenced at their new course on the New Road. The club was deeply grateful to property owner Joe Grennan for his co-operation and consideration down the years especially in terms of keeping rental fees to a minimum as the club got on its feet.

The club slowly continued to make progress at their new location under the leadership, originally of Tom Duffin, followed by Eddie Recks, Jack Rabbitte, Paddy Sheridan, Mick Gavin, George Digan, Lar Hogan, Mick Handy and Joe Mullen. Each in turn made valuable contributions to the structuring of the club. But the most poignant moment in the progressive history of the newly located club was made during the reign of Michael Handy as it was by his efforts and influence that the constriction of a clubhouse was made possible. The club continued to flourish and in 1983 the opportunity arose to purchase land adjacent to their own course on the New Road. The club duly took up this timely opportunity and moved to their current location overseeing the picturesque view of Clara Bog and the mounted by the Kinnity Mountains in the distance. The future of the club was now secure and the commitment and dedication of the committee continued in the development of the newly acquired land into an 18 hole championship standard course. A vision that continued to be realised as the Clara Pitch & Putt disbanded in 1994 and reformed as the Erry Pitch & Putt Club, as it is well known by today. The course has certainly risen to championship standards having successfully hosted several prestigious Provincial Finals with National Championships a certain honour to be bestowed upon the club shortly.

The first committee of Erry Pitch & Putt Club was as follows: Gerry Rock (Chairman), Joe Egan (Vice-Chairman), Jimmy Newman (Secretary), Jack Rabbitte (Treasurer), Johnny Walsh (Gents Captain), Linda Flanagan (Lady Captain), Paddy Sheridan (President), Joseph McGrath Jnr. (Juvenile Officer), Joe McGrath Snr. and William Kennedy (Committee).

The club boasts an impressive roll of honour spanning over 35 years. A founding member of the Clara Club, Pat Hogan, brought the first taste of National glory to Clara. He holds the distinction of being the first player in the Midlands to win a National title, this being the Matchplay Championship in 1973, at the time when he represented the Catholic Institute in Limerick. National honours followed a close family member in the form of Pat's sister Margaret Hogan in the late 70's while she played with the Clara Club before transferring to the Tullamore Club in 1981. Margaret claimed two Leinster Strokeplay titles and four National titles within 1977 to 1980 period; this included a historic National Strokeplay hat trick and one National Matchplay title.

As the club evolved into Erry Pitch & Putt the talent and skills of its members also evolved competitively at both juvenile and adult grades. The Erry club unquestionably holds an impressive history of developing talented juvenile players through the years with many still playing competitively at the highest adult levels. Juvenile success has come in the form of three players in the 90's; Brian Gavin and Gary Scanlon both claimed the Leinster Boys Strokeplay title in 1992 and 1999 respectively while Tracey McGrath claimed the Leinster Girls Strokeplay in 1999 and National Girls Strokeplay title in 1998 and 1999. On her way to claiming her double national title she broke her own record score of 7 under par set in 1998 by 2 shots in 1999 to set the record lowest aggregate score at 9 under par for the National Girls Strokeplay, a record that still stands today. Also in the adult ranks 1992 Joe McGrath Snr. brought home a first Leinster Junior Strokeplay title to the club. It wasn't until 2001 that further titles were swept up by the club, it was a long wait but it proved the start of a successful decade and delude of Provincial and National titles for the members of Erry. The Carroll family were strong contenders and won no more than 4 Leinster titles in the space of 3 years; Sarah-Lee claimed the Junior Ladies Strokeplay in 2001 and the Inter Ladies Matchplay in 2003 with her younger brother David making it a double winning the Inter Gents Matchplay the same year, James the eldest of the three took his own part in the celebrations when he had a great victory in the Inter Gents Matchplay in 2002. They made their own piece of history when David won this title the following year, the only set of brothers to win the this title. Leinster titles have also been won by father and son combination Larry Maher Snr., Leinster Inter Gents Strokeplay 2007, and Larry Jnr., Leinster Junior Gents Strokeplay 2001. Larry Jnr. is a another product of the juvenile system at the club and is now a top contender at Senior level having made the break through in the past few years claiming numerous scratch cups and is now almost a permanent fixture on the Inter-County team.

It is a great achievement for any club to successfully bring home a title that is highly contested at Provincial or National level but it is even a greater victory when doubles are performed and the Erry club are not short is such victories. William Buckley Jnr. and Tracey McGrath have performed 4 sets of doubles over the short space of 6 years; both won their respective Leinster Senior Strokeplay titles in 2005 and 2007 and also Leinster Senior Matchplay titles in 2002 and 2008, which took place on their home course Erry. Tracey also successfully defended her Leinster Strokeplay title in 2008 at McDonagh, bringing her total Provincial titles to 5. William has gone one step further in the singles; in 2003 he added the prestigious National Senior Gents Strokeplay title to his personal roll of honour. It was a victory that nobody will forget for a long time in which William came from behind in the final round to force a playoff with Cork's Frank Dineen in nearby Tullamore Pitch & Putt Club. William is undoubtedly one of the top Seniors in Offaly having won over 50 scratch cups to date, he follows a tradition set by his father Billy Snr. whom in his prime competed at the highest levels of the game, picking up many victories and honours. Another clubman to win a momentous National victory was the late Mick Sullivan. Mick was devoted to the game some would say addicted indeed and his support and commitment to the game paid off in 2006 when he claimed the National Over 55's Gents Inter Strokeplay in Deerpark, in only the competition's third year in existence.

Away from the singles tournaments the club have become a strong force in team and foursome events. In 2001 brother and sister combination Tracey and Joseph McGrath teamed up with Joe Egan and Sarah-Lee Carroll to comprehensively win the Mixed Team Event at Royal Meath. In recent times the family combination has definitely come to the fore with Tracey and Joseph dominating the Mixed Foursomes Event in 2007 winning the Leinster title with a record +21up at Erry and the National title by one shot in Rocklodge. They successfully defended their Leinster title in 2008 and ran close runners-up to retaining their National title in Castletown. The pair has forged a great partnership which will continue to be reckoned with in the future. Joseph himself is one of Offaly's top Seniors and like William Buckley Jnr. is a seasoned campaigner on the Offaly Inter-County teams and has won several scratch cups and he continues his dedication off the course on administrative side of the game serving on club and county committees.

22 Leinster Singles titles and 2 Doubles titles over 30 years with 20 of these claimed over the past 8 years is a magnificent achievement for a small club as Erry and let's not forget 6 historic National titles also! Such success is a true testament to the club and it's unquestionable championship standard course that has developed such fine talented players. There is no doubt that the club will continue to thrive under the present committee and grounds staff, most notably Joe Egan and his team. But it is important to remember that the future of the game lies with those playing in the present and more importantly the juveniles of our time, so it imperative to become good role models and keep our juveniles playing our wonderful game and see them successfully make the transition into the adult grades and secure the future of Pitch & Putt. Hopefully we will have players following in the footsteps of Tracey and William representing their country at International level in their near future. We cannot ignore to mention also that the club was honoured to announce in 2008 that local Clara man, the newly elected Taoiseach, Brian Cowan was made an Honouring Member of the Club.

The club has been driven by a number of ambitious members and committees since 1965. The commitment of the early committees of the Clara Pitch & Putt Club has indeed progressed to those of Erry Pitch & Putt Club to this very day as the club continues to introduce changes to help improve the course even further. The history chronicles of the club cannot forget to mention one of the club's most influential founding members, Eddie Recks. Eddie Recks was an important figure in developing the game at club, regional and national levels. Eddie's interests in Pitch & Putt began in the early 1960's most notably as a founding member of the Clara (now Erry) club. He became strongly involved in the administrative side of the game serving as Club Secretary in 1966, Club Chairman from 1967 to 1969 to County Board Secretary from 1968 to 1969 and County Board Vice-Chairman 1970 to 1972. His great dedication and belief in the future and development of the game saw him become firstly Leinster Secretary and representative on Central Council in 1969 to National Secretary of the Union in 1972. He remained involved at national level for many years serving as Competitions Secretary and also as National Coaching Administrator, however he always maintained that the local club is the most important unit in Pitch & Putt. People in National and Regional administration can only do their jobs if the club is properly organized and efficiently run. Eddie Recks believed that the most important competitions are those which involve the maximum number of players at local level - namely the weekly 'scrubs'. It is testimony to Eddie's work and beliefs that 'scrubs', even though small numbers at times, are still existent on the 'hill' his home club Erry on a weekly basis where bragging rights are fought for nothing else! Friendships are carved and the enjoyment of the game comes to the fore in such local competitions.