A Very Occasional Blog
I’m a genealogist by profession, and a Fellow of the Accredited Genealogists Ireland,(AGI) I also dabble in local history and the history of Irish golfers, and I’m always writing something!
A Slideshow of Recent Posts
The Tower in the Graveyard
One of the most recognisable structures in Baltinglass is the tower in St. Joseph’s Graveyard on Chapel Hill. Standing almost alone beside the central pathway, it evokes thoughts of times gone by. There is a haunting picturesque quality about it. Familiar as it is,...
Genealogy Presents Surprises and Pause for Thought
In the 1911 Census my great-grandmother, Bridget McDermott, was stated as having had 11 children born alive and 9 still living. I accounted for 10 of these children and, over the years, I tried to find the missing one. The parish register was patchy to say the...
The Irish Walker Cup Player That Never Was
Photo © The University of St Andrews The 45th Walker Cup match, held in September, saw five Irishmen on the GB&I team for the first time ever. Gavin Moynihan had already played in the 2013 match, but the first appearances for Dunne, Hume, Hurley and Sharvin...
Gwen Brandom – Professional Golfer
The performance of Stephanie Meadow since turning professional bodes well for her future. She and Alison Walshe, the Galway-born American, have made it through to the final day’s play in a number of LPGA ‘majors’. Walshe was the first Irish-born player to do...
The ‘South’ – One of the World’s Oldest Amateur Championships
In recent years the South of Ireland championship has suffered because of the changing nature of amateur golf. It’s important to remember that most tournaments have ups and downs in their fortunes. The Open Championship itself has had peaks and troughs. So...
Remembering Joe McCartney – a leading Irish professional in the 1930s
In May 1965 Joe McCartney suffered a stroke at Cliftonville Golf Club in Belfast. He died afterwards at the Royal Victoria Hospital, just a few weeks before his 58th birthday. McCartney had been professional at Cliftonville for many years but before that he...
Pat Doyle – a Forgotten Irish Golfer
Mark Frost’s 2002 book The Greatest Game Ever Played (later made into a film) is a somewhat fictionalised account of the 1913 US Open at Brookline, where the American amateur Francis Ouimet beat Harry Vardon and Ted Ray in a play-off. Hidden in the background of this...
Home Internationals
The Men’s Home Internationals take place on 13-15 August at Southerndown in England. For over eighty years these annual matches between England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales have been an important fixture on the golfing calendar. They have been played...
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