History

Steeped in Tradition

Perhaps an ever-so-slight misnomer, the stunning Dun Laoghaire Golf Club is in fact situated close to Enniskerry in Co. Wicklow, but resides on the Dublin side of the Dublin Wicklow border, with the majestic Wicklow Mountains as its nearest neighbours. The course decamped the seaside town of Dun Laoghaire in 2007, after ninety-seven years, for the picturesque Ballyman Glen, nestled at the foot of the spectacular Sugarloaf Mountain.

Yet, despite the change of venue, the driving spirit of the Dun Laoghaire Golf Club’s founding fathers remains the Club’s guiding ethos.

The origins of the Club date back as far as 1909, when a number of Kingstown (as Dun Laoghaire was then known) residents assembled at the town’s Royal Marine Hotel on December 9th for the inaugural meeting of Kingstown Golf Club.

The meeting was chaired by Major Bryan Cooper, a Conservative Member of Parliament, who later went on to become a member of Dail Eireann for Co.Dublin. On the night, the Earl of Longford, K.P. was elected President. Earl Longford died in action during the Great War and was succeeded by Viscount de Vesci, who held the position until 1958.

The Club rapidly began to take shape; several hundred Men and Lady Associates were elected and 36 acres of land were leased at Eglinton Park and Highthorn, a nine-hole course was designed; and a clubhouse was built for the princely sum of £1,265.

November 1910 witnessed the extension of the course to 18 holes; and a further forty acres abutting Glenageary Road were leased. At the cessation of World War I, the eminent golf architect, Harry Colt, designed a new layout for the course. This design was to remain basically the same for the next eighty-odd years.

Dun Laoghaire Golf Club wasn’t immune to the country’s changing political mood in the early 1920s. In 1922 the club was re-christened Dun Laoghaire (Kingstown) Golf Club. It would be a further three decades before the reference to Kingstown was finally expunged from the official Club title.

In the 1970s, it became clear that maintaining an 18-hole golf course on 78 acres in a residential area was no longer practicable. Following a number of false dawns, a property development company offered the Club the opportunity to re-locate to a 330-acre site at Ballyman Glen.

Once again the Club convened in the Royal Marine Hotel, where in June of 2002 the offer was accepted by 79% of the members present after considerable, and often heated, debate.

With the move to Ballyman Glen in August 2007, it’s no exaggeration to say that both members and visitors are delighted with what is widely acknowledged as one of Ireland’s most beautiful and challenging courses comprising three 9-hole courses - with five sets of tees - designed to test the mettle of weekend players and low handicappers alike.

Cups and Trophies

Since its foundation in 1910, Dun Laoghaire GC has built up an impressive array of approximately 85 Cups & Trophies, most of them kindly donated by members or by the relatives of past members in their memory. Much of the Club’s history is enshrined in these Cups and Trophies. Click here to view a list of Cups and Trophies and some background on each. There are still some missing pieces of information you may be able to help us with - contact Judy Ribeiro or Lorna Counihan. This is a historical list of trophies and not intended to be read as the format of current day competitions.

Tournaments held at the new Dun Laoghaire Golf Club include:

• 2009 European Ladies’ Seniors Championship
• 2010 Irish Youths’ Championship
• 2010 Leinster Women’s Championship
• 2013 ILGU Eastern District Finals
• 2015 The ILGU Ladies’ Amateur Open Strokeplay Championships
• 2016 The Curtis Cup

In 2016, the Curtis Cup, the biggest and most important Ladies amateur event in the world involving Great Britain and Ireland versus the USA, was staged at the Dun Laoghaire Golf Club.