Pitch and putt memberships surge 200% in Ireland amid coronavirus restrictions

More than 2,000 people have taken up club memberships during the Covid crisis, halting 20 years of falling numbers

Tue, 08 Sep, 2020 - 07:30

Martin Claffey

More than 2,000 people have taken up pitch and putt memberships as the sport experiences a surge in interest brought on by Covid restrictions, with numbers up by more than 200% at some clubs.

Limitations on movement and the Government’s message to ‘staycation’ are both being cited as key factors in the revival.

This has halted two decades of falling interest in the sport.

“Some clubs have had to turn people away and have seen their biggest rise in numbers in decades,” says Jason O’Connor of Pitch and Putt Ireland.

In Cork city, Bishopstown Pitch and Putt Club has seen membership numbers jump from 65 in 2019 to 210 this year, up 210%. Across the city, St Anne’s Shanakiel has seen its membership go from 87 to 233 — a rise of 167%.

Portmarnock, one of Dublin’s biggest clubs, has seen membership go from 251 to 412 (up 64%) while Castleisland in Co Kerry has seen membership has almost doubled from 39 to 72.

“The big thing I felt was when they enforced the 5kms restrictions from May 18, a lot of people couldn’t travel to their local golf courses and some may have joined pitch and putt in that area,” says O’Connor. “For some people, it was keeping them ticking over until they could get back into the swing of playing golf. Competitions couldn’t start until June 29.

“Pitch and putt is more volunteer-based, whereas golf is often a commercial venture, and I suppose that drew a lot of people in. A lot would have stayed and played. A round of golf could be to five hours now, I believe, in some cases. You can get 36 holes of pitch and putt played in two-and-a-half to three hours.”

Mervyn Cooney, president, Pitch and Putt Ireland, presents the ladies net winners trophy to Margaret Hennessy, Riverdale, at the National ladies and gents matchplay championships.

The resurgence in memberships means that green fees — on the day walk-ups — have had to be suspended by many clubs.

“We’ve had to turn people away,” says O’Connor. “Not all clubs take green fees but those that do would be recording big increases.

“At my own club Deerpark in Killarney, I’ve been running the clubhouse this summer and we’re definitely up 50% on green fees. We haven’t seen numbers like it in 20 years. There were days we had 12 calls of people looking to play and we had to tell them to come back later or try again the following day. It would tell you how much the ‘staycation’ message is making a difference, too. Clubs that maybe missed out on sports capital funding grants, this has been a bit of a consolation prize for some of them.”

Pitch and putt, the smaller brother of golf, is played on smaller courses with a maximum of three clubs, with holes no longer than 90m and a par of 54. The sport originated in Cork in the 1930s, and gained huge popularity at a time when golf was not as accessible to most people and grew nationally. The game is now played internationally too, in the likes of the UK, Spain, and the Netherlands, though Ireland remains the biggest player, with 100 clubs, 98 affiliated to Pitch and Putt Ireland.

Membership at clubs in Ireland stood around 30,000 at the turn of the millennium, but have been falling ever since. “If you go back to the golden era, which was the late ’90s, the numbers were as high as 30,000,” says Mr O’Connor.

“Golf became a lot more affordable to people, it probably affected a lot of our clubs, Some pitch and putt courses, with land rezoning and the like, went out of existence.

“Thinking back to the recession, there was an assumption people would come back to pitch and putt if they couldn’t afford to play golf but there was probably an underestimation of the fact golf clubs were so willing to keep members and give them easy payment options. They didn’t come back in the numbers we thought.

“We were down to 6,000 in 2019.”

Already that membership figure is up by around 37% on this year to date.

“Schools are back so we’re hoping some of the older members and players will come back playing now. A lot are older faces are back again, and not just from a playing point of view, but also getting involved in clubs. I think one thing lockdown told people was maybe the smaller things were important, in terms of clubs functioning into the future, because we are a volunteer sport.”

Pitch and Putt Ireland executive officers, from left, John Fitzgerald, Munster coordinator, Jason O’Connor, press and communications officer, Mervyn Cooney, president, Breda Brophy, treasurer, Michael Murphy, Hon Sec, Myles McMorrow, national competition coordinator, Mark Keohane, vice president.

The sport’s organisers now hope a new era has arrived. National coach Stephen Enneguess had to curtail a schools coaching programme due to Covid while several national and inter-club competitions were shelved. But with lockdown restrictions eased, September has seen the sport’s competition events get back into full swing.

Last weekend saw the national ladies and gents matchplay championships taking place in Tipperary, at Larkspur Park in Cashel and in Hillview Clonmel, with Sunday’s finals at Larkspur Park being streamed live on Pitch and Putt Ireland’s Facebook page.

Next weekend Athgarvan, Co Kildare hosts the U16 strokeplay finals, with Collins Barracks in Cork hosting the junior men’s strokeplay the following weekend (Sept 19 and 20), with the men’s intermediate and senior also at Collins Barracks on September 26 and 27. The women’s strokeplay is in Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath on September 19 and 20.

“Pitch and Putt Ireland is celebrating 60 years as an organisation this year so it’s timely we’ve seen our numbers rise,” says O’Connor. “Pitch and putt can be played from age eight to 80; in 2017, we had an 85-year-old man win a national senior title in Co Down, so it’s a game for all the family.”