Members gear up for Waterford’s centenary festivities

ANY visitors to Waterford Golf Club on New Year’s Day would have been forgiven for thinking that they had stepped through a time portal to 1912.

The club is celebrating its centenary this year and last Sunday week, the day of the captains’ and president’s drive-in, members posed in period dress.

“It was optional to do so,” says club secretary Michael Foley. “A lot of people did dress up. Blaithnaid McCann, the wife of a former captain, runs a company that sells vintage clothing so it wasn’t difficult to source!”

While the celebration of times past didn’t go so far as to force members to swap their hybrids for baffling spoons or use mashie niblicks instead of mid-irons, captain JJ Ryan did hit a ceremonial shot with an old wood.

“JJ and the incoming lady captain Rosemary Mullen arrived in a vintage car and JJ had an old golf bag with a few clubs,” recalled Foley.

“The first hole is intimidating but JJ hit the old wood and got the ball over the hill, which is easily 200 yards.”

The club is hoping that the drive-in is the first of many events to mark the special year.

“There was a centenary committee set up last September and they had put in a load of work,” explained Foley.

“Clontarf Golf Club is also celebrating its centenary so we have a home-and-away match planned with them, we’ll go up there in June and they’ll come down in August.

“There’s an open week scheduled for May and as well as that, we have a specially designed piece of Waterford Crystal which will be played for by the members on a date yet to be decided.

“The committee is still functional so we’d expect that there would be a lot more activities announced in due course.”