The Day My Grandfather Didn’t Become a Golf Champion

A hundred years ago this very day my grandfather, Joseph Gorry, reached the zenith of his amateur golfing career.  Very probably for him it felt like failure.  The events of that day became the stuff of golfing legend in the family.  His daughter, Joan Gorry, was...

Irish Golf in 1920

The story of armed conflict often dominates and clouds our perception of the past.  When we read about a time of war it seems as if nothing but war was happening: as if normal life was suspended while shooting and killing were all pervasive.  The Great War of...

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...

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...