St. Bridget's Pitch and Putt club in Kilcullen is the home course of World Ladies Strokeplay champion Chrissie Byrne. The course has produced many a fine player in its relatively brief existence. The course was established as recently as 1987. John Archbold, Brendan Walsh and Dan Byrne (father of Chrissie) were responsible for the design and layout of the original nine holes. The lands were kindly leased by local Cross and Passion Sisters to whom the club will be forever indebted.

 

A patch of swamp land was transformed to deliver a further nine holes and the 18 holes set up back in the eighties survive virtually intact today. Leading player Pat Doyle designed the second nine and two pre-cast bridges were constructed over the stream to facilitate the 18 holes. Many trees were planted which have matured beautifully to adorn the modern layout.

 

The 62 metre Index 1 7th is a strong test of pitching hole from an elevated tee over the stream to a horse shoe shaped green with out of bounds on the left. 18 is a classic finishing hole. This amphitheatre to some great drama down the years could well be the most difficult hole on the course. The stream is located close to the green and it's not easy to hold the pitch shot on the surface.

 

St. Bridget's Pitch and Putt club shares facilities on the outskirts of the town of Kilcullen with the local soccer and GAA clubs. The wonderful community complex is a testament to sporting ecumenism and is the envy of many communities throughout Ireland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1964, Major Tumney was posted to the Curragh. Shortly after his arrival, he contacted Mr Phil Lawler, former profesional golfer (associated with the Curragh Golf Club). Together they set about constructing McDonagh Pitch and Putt Club.

 

The club was administered and funded by the McDonagh N.C.O.s Mess. The Mess President and Mess committee were the Officers of the club. The Mess paid affiliation and registration fees and purchased the equipment to maintain the course.

 

The Company Sergeant Miko Kelly (R.I.P.) was the unofficial liaison officer between the club and the Mess committee and was responsible for every issue associated with the course and competitions.

 

The N.C.O. s Mess was very supportive of the pitch and putt club. Around 1965, money was very scarce (especially in the army) and not many could afford to buy a set of clubs.The Mess made arrangements with Phil Lawlor to supply a set of clubs on the production of a chit from the Mess. Each person then paid the Mess for the clubs by monthly instalments. Miko continued to work for many years to ensure the club flourished.

 

On Miko Kellys retirement, P.J. O Shea continued the good work for a number of years, but with other commitments to pitch and putt (ten years as Leinster Council Secretary and three years as National Registrar) together with service to the UN, he was forced to relinquish his role as liaison officer. This loss led to a decline in the upkeep and running of the club.

 

In 1983, the then Commanding Officer, Brigadier General Hogan intervened and a new Committee was formed. In 1989, the Committee signed a lease with the Department of Defence and from then on the surrounding areas and course flourished. Work continued in the intervening years and the culmination of all the effort was the hosting of the Penfold Commando National Matchplay Championsips in the clubs Golden Jubilee Year (May 31st - June 2nd 1997). When you look at the clubhouse today, it is difficult to envisage that it was an old magazine for the PDF.

 

Following on from the success of hosting the Matchplay Championships, and predominantly under the stewardship of Paddy (Sla) Slattery (R.I.P.), the club continued to thrive and had the great honour of hosting the European Championships in 2003, while hosting the Inter County Championships two years previous - bringing an historic Kildare double.The club has seen some minor changes to the layout of the course in recent times but remains a great test of pitch and putt to all those who play it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Irish Ropes factory was established in Newbridge in the post war years and gave local employment a tremendous boost. In 1949 Irish Ropes organised a football match against another local firm and things moved from there to the formation of a social club. Although the club proved highly successful, it was some years before it had premises of its own. Originally, all of the social club meetings took place in the factory until the company acquired a house (which was later discovered to have been the birthplace of novelist Molly Keane) and land at Ryston specifically for the use of the Social Club. The pitch and putt section was founded in 1960 by a group of workers from the Irish Ropes factory and they developed and laid the course so well, that to this day there has been very little change.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The acquisition of the old house, Ryston Lodge, enabled facilities to be expanded over the years and, in the mid-1960s, the original clubhouse was provided. This was a prefabricated structure which had actually been an office block in a previous existance but it served the members very well over the years, as a place with a "fantastic atmosphere" and it has left a legacy of great memories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With regard to the course itself, the tee boxes were grass mounds up until 1976 when the club hosted the Gents National Matchplay. Concrete tee boxes were built with this Championship in mind and they remained until 1998 when it was decided to build all new tee boxes which were exactly the same size and considerably lower to the ground. Over the years numerous greens have been re-sodded and replaced. In the early 80s the 10th, 15th and 18th were all raised. More recently the 5th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th were remodelled and re-sodded. In 1995 the second tee box was moved back approximately 7mtrs for the Leinster Strokeplay finals. For the 2001 Matchplay, the stand areas at all tee boxes were concreted with the 6th tee box being raised to add a new feature to the course.

 

In the early 1990s the Irish Ropes factory was sold and eventually the clubhouse and the pitch and putt course were handed over by the new company and the name was changed to Ryston Sports and Social Club which is now owned and run by the members with a representitive committee at the helm. In 2007 the old clubhouse was demolished to make way for a new state of the art clubhouse which, to this day, serves the club and all its various members.

 

Since its formation in 1960 Ryston players have been at the forefront of the game at local and National level with a total of 6 Ladies National titles (Bernie Harrigan, Josie Doherthy, Jean Donovan, Esther Martin, Rose Kelly and Aileen Bell). The gents haul is 3 with Tommy Hall and Tony McCormack winning the Matchplay while back in 1973, Andy Dempsey won the National Strokeplay.

 

We are sure the Club and its players will continue to achieve great things in the years ahead.

 

 

Prosperous Pitch & Putt Club

 

 

Prosperous pitch and putt club was founded in 1989. It was built on a piece of land purchased by the community of Prosperous - the major achievement of Prosperous Community Associaton to date. We share this property with Prosperous Tennis Club and are proud to act as custodians of this facility which was purchased in the true spirit of volunteerism by dint of hard labour and enthusiastic fund raising in difficult times. We hope that as a community we will continue to develop the facilities in conjunction with our members, those who pay green fees and the wider community.

 

A major step in our club development was our joining the PPUI. This broadened our horizons and our members greatly enjoy competing at County and National level with Nora Tierney and Monica Mc Grath claiming National Titles on more than one occasion.

 

2014 is the twenty fifth anniversary of our club. We will be holding an Open Day in the summertime at which we will be inviting all comers to a celebration of our club.