Inter-Club Golf:
Although it’s early in the golfing season, members of the club have already been involved in representing their club in GUI competitions.
The FBD Barton Cup team got off to a winning start to the defence of their title by defeating Wexford golf Club by 3-2 in the first round on Saturday evening last.
Faced with yet another “away” draw, the team managed to win 2 matches in Wexford and the deciding match in Gowran had to go up the 19th to get a result.
Home:
Kevin Fennelly (8) & Liam O’Grady (7)
Shane O’Brien (5) & Jason Lawlor (9)
Away:
Niall Kiely (4) & Luke Kelly (10)
Rioch Walsh (7) & Nicky Cleere (9)
Eoin Jordan (7) & Dave Kearney (9)

Gowran Park will face the winners of Callan and New Ross Golf Clubs in the next round.

The Mixed Foursomes team take on New Ross on Sunday evening next.

Junior Golf:
The Fred Daly Qualifier for junior golfers was held in New Ross Golf Club on Friday last with 12 clubs form the South East taking part. Despite having a very young team and playing off scratch, the Gowran team had a very creditable score and showed great promise for the future.
The team consisted of Darragh McComb, Gearoid Kennedy, Cristopher Dick, J.P. Treacy, Phillip Dreeling, Sean Roche, Niall Treacy, Paul Delahanty, Matt Kenny and Cormac O’Driscoll.
Gowran Park has also entered a team in the Leinster Boys Under 15 Inter-Club Competition which will be held over the next couple of months.

Membership is still open for Juniors – boys and girls – and new members are welcome with coaching available every Saturday morning at 10:30 am.

Midweek 9-Hole:
The first of the Wednesday 9-hole competitions got underway last week, a real sign that the season is here. This week the competition will be held on Thursday instead because of a re-scheduled race meeting on the Wednesday.
With a lot of members wanting to play and a limit to the daylight hours available, a reminder to play at a fair old pace to keep everybody happy.

Recent Results:
The first monthly Medal and Golfer of The Year competition was held on the last weekend in March and the conditions were tough and the course was playing long off the back tees.

1st Pat Russell (18) – 64
2nd Tim Brennan (12) – 67
3rd Turlough Johnson (19) – 67

Singles Stableford, 3rd/4th April:
1st 44pts Ian Morrissey (14)
2nd 43pts Michael Lane (10)
3rd 42pts Larry Cleere (8)

Open Fourball, Sunday April 11th:
1st Pat Swaine (10) Abbeyleix & David McCormack (12) Abbeyleix, 46pts.
2nd Robert Galster (16) Gowran Park & Scott Daniel (12) Gowran Park, 45pts.
3rd Liam Whiteley (20) Gowran Park & Ted Hughes (20) Gowran Park, 43pts.
Next Open Fourball will be on Sunday May 16th.

3 person Rumble, Easter Weekend:
1st Jim Fisher (19) Gowran Park, Jon Moriarty (10) Gowran Park, Martin Monaghan (6) Borris with 69 points.

Ladies:
Results of 9 Hole Scramble 18th March.
1st Kate Hennessey, Mgt. Logue and Gay Latchford.
2nd Valerie Gallagher, Catherine O’Driscoll and Kathleen Whitehead.

Results 18 Hole weekly comp. 24th March
1st D McCabe (22) 41pts
2nd Hilary Dick (22) 40pts

Results 18 Hole S/ford 07/04/10.
1st Margaret Logue (24) 37pts.
2nd Deirdre McCabe (22) 36pts.

Fixtures – Weekly Competition on Thursday 15th this week due to rescheduled race day on Wed. 14th. Draws 9:45 am, 1:45 pm and 3:15 pm.
Best of luck to the Ladies Minor Team who are playing their first match on Mon. 12th against Mt. Wolseley in Baltinglass.

Condolences:
The death has occurred of fellow-member Dan Bolger, Thomastown. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Fixtures:
Next weekend sees another of the Monthly Medals, singles strokeplay off the back tees. This is the second of 8 monthly medals in the year and points are awarded to the top 8 players (10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 & 1) in each event towards the Golfer Of The Year prize.
Booking for members is available online – see below for more.

Seniors Outing, Mondays:
Members over 55’s competition every Monday morning at 9.30. Draw will be made for competition that morning. Contact Vice Captain Sean Kiely or President Mattie Byrne Snr. for more information.

Seniors Open Singles – Second Tuesday of every month.
Weekly Open Singles – Every Thursday, 056 772 6699 for time sheet.

Handicaps:
Before the seasons gets underway in earnest, make sure your handicap is in order. A lot of new members have joined and in order to transfer your handicap, you must submit your current handicap cert from your previous club. Mark it for the attention of the Handicap Secretary. Once this is received it it’s a simple task to get you up and running and ready to play competitive golf.
If you have joined and are a first-time member of a golf club, you will need to complete 3 full rounds with an existing member (that already has an official handicap). Submit these 3 cards together for the attention of the Handicap Secretary.

Club Matchplay:
The draw for the Club Matchplay has been made and due to a large number of entries there will be a preliminary round. This preliminary round is to be played by April 25th with the first round to be played by May 19th. Full details on the notice board at the club as well as on the members blog online.

Online Booking:
The Online Booking facility is now active for members.
Select the ‘Members Area’ under the ‘Golf’ section of the gowranpark.ie website and follow the instructions to register using your 8 digit GUI number which can be found on the back of your swipe card.