Christy hopes the West begins fight back at renovated Galway Bay resort
The Irish Ryder Cup hero designed the original layout on the Renville Peninsula and launched the club to great acclaim in 1993.
Though he sold his share in the property to concentrate on being a successful senior tour golfer around the turn of the century, the two-time British Senior Open champion returned to Galway Bay to redevelop his course in 2006.
And though hard times have hit the golf industry as much as any other aspect of Irish life, O’Connor believes his course can be a model of success.
In addition to today’s re-launch, the par-72 layout will stage the Guinness Blue Tee Challenge on July 22, when professionals and amateurs will play off the tips in a bid to break Eamonn Darcy’s long-standing course record of 68.
“It’s all about putting Galway Bay back on the map,” O’Connor explained. “As everyone knows, golf clubs are going through a very, very rough time, memberships are falling and a lot of them are effectively hitting closure point.
“I did a massive [redevelopment] job on the golf course a few years ago to bring it in line with many seaside courses by revetting bunkers, raising greens and moving tees onto the water’s edge and that got some great reviews.
“The golf course is now in magnificent shape and that has been a massive help. I think there’s no doubt that you could play any tournament in the world there right now.”
So successful have been the renovations that O’Connor says Galway Bay is attracting new members, bucking the national trend with the help of a more attractive fee structure.
“We’ve got 70 new members this year, and I think 20 on the waiting list, which is huge when golf clubs are losing them. That’s fantastic and it came because there’s no entrance fee any more and the [annual] fee is very accessible with members able to pay quarterly or yearly, whichever way they like.
“So today is all about showing people where we are with the golf course.”
Galway Bay also offers student and junior memberships which O’Connor hopes will help to address what he views as a shortage of golfing talent emerging from his beloved West of Ireland.
“Involving teaching schools for youngsters and students is very important if we’re going to find the next good golfers to come out of the West,” he said.
“That would be lovely to see and hopefully this will be a stepping stone. We went into a lull in the West with people for some reason happy to play just in the western tournaments. We’ve got to get out there, to Dublin and Cork and elsewhere and then further afield because I really believe we’re too home-based in the competitions we’re playing in. They’re too set in their ways to be happy playing in the western region.
“We’ve got to move on those fantastic scholarships to be had at [the GUI National Golf Academy] Carton House, where the school is flourishing and people are coming from all over the place.
“The North of Ireland has been shadowing over us hugely with the players coming out of there, they’ve produced three Major champions and there’s other guys like Michael Hoey and Paul Cutler coming out there.
“I’d like to be part of putting the West on the map as well. We have the golf courses, we have the facilities but there’s just a stalemate for some reason in the West.
“We tend to stay at home a lot more than rest of the country does. That’s a shame and there’s no reason for it because we have lots of scratch golfers. We’ve got to branch out more.”
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