Brendan ‘putt’ Berehaven Golf Club on the right course

FOLLOWING his retirement from a 33-year career as groundkeeper at Berehaven Golf Club in Castletownbere, Brendan Hanley is now hoping he may have time to take up playing golf himself again.

Brendan, who started his association with Berehaven Golf Club as the club secretary when it officially reopened in 1986, became head ground keeper in 1990.

At that time the course hadn’t been used in a number of years, and Brendan was responsible for clearing it of gorse and overgrowth and getting the nine-hole golf course to the immaculate condition it is in today.

The Royal Berehaven Golf Club, as it was originally known, was laid out by the British admiralty in the late 1890s as part of the recreation facilities for the British fleet which used the sheltered waters of Berehaven for safe anchorage.

Following the handover of Fort Berehaven in 1938, the club was transferred to the Department of Defence. It subsequently sold and was in various hands over the years, eventually falling into disuse.

Brendan at the club. (Photo: Anne Marie Cronin)

Brendan outlined how, in the late 1960s, there was a renewal of interest in the site and it was cleared and the greens rebuilt. However, the property fell into the hands of developers who had plans to build a holiday complex on the site.

‘These plans didn’t go ahead, and the site was offered to the golf club again in the 1980s. We were able to secure a grant of €100,000 from the Chevron Whiddy Disaster fund, and there was a very enterprising committee at that time who managed to secure local donations of a further €15,000 which enabled them to buy the course,’ he said.

The course needed considerable work to bring it up to standard, which Brendan says was undertaken by local volunteers, and FÁS workers.

Brendan completed his City and Guilds qualification in groundskeeping in 1992.

He said he was proud to have been involved with the club over the years. ‘Our ladies club was the first ladies club in Ireland to have equal membership and in 2021 our club won the prestigious Jimmy Bruen competition and in 2022 the ladies team won the West Munster competition.’

The club marked Brendan’s retirement with a function attended by his family, friends and club members and presented him with a framed photograph of the club.

Club president Declan O’Shea thanked Brendan for his work in maintaining the golf course down through the years and wished a long healthy and well-earned retirement.