Club History

 

In a letter to King Charles in March 1637 Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford (Known to history as Black Tom) wrote that he had found in Coollattin 'that which he did not believe had been in Ireland, a place which affords sports to pass over a grass-time (i.e. the time of year when animals are at grass) in as great measure, and with as much delight, as most that are in England.. here I may have for a month or two a year a place to take my recreation.... keeping myself so please God, a little longer in health'.
This was to set the tone for the best part of three and a half centuries. In a way Coollattin Park was to become a recreational playground for the parent house at Wentworth, Wodehouse. To augment shooting, horse riding and similar outdoor pursuits, the pleasure grounds at Coollattin was developed around the turn of the century. Set in an idyllic sylvan setting it was what would be called today an outdoor leisure complex. It included a nine hole golf course, a cricket ground, tennis courts, hockey pitch and a football pitch. It was here that the tennants and estate workers at Coollattin would pit their skills against visiting teams from the parent house in Yorkshire. The neatly manicured oval cricket ground was located where the persent day practice ground is situated. Through the first half of this century there were memorable matches between visiting teams and teams representing Coollattin.
  These include Neil Robertson (fast bowler), George Rothwell (batsman & wicket keeper), Don Furlong (batsman) and Joe Dowse (left handed batsman). The cricket club also produced it's share of memorable characters, not least the late Dick Swallow Behan. He carried his pet name from the gliding movement on his run up to bowl. The hockey pitch was located on what is now the third fairway, the hockey pavilion was the old tool shed to the right of the fairway, a building which existed until the big storm of Christmas eve 1997.
The actual layout of the original golf course is not clear. Neil Robertson recalls playing on it in 1947, but the passage of years has eroded all but snippets of what the course layout looked like. One course design in the aerly 1960's by Eddie Hackett was not fully implemented.
 During the early part of the 20th century the Earl, being a keen golfer spent many vacations at Coollattin. The visiting party included a private professional from Wentworth. The late Ned Mulhall as a youth and prior to serving in World War II was head caddy. The youthful Ned was lucky in so far as he had his golf swing taught to him by the visiting professional. Many subsequent members were as young lad's, to have their technique taught to them by Ned. Indeed when one watches players such as Pat Byrne and Peter Doyle swinging, one can see a clear link dating back three quarters of a century.
Following the tragic death of Earl Peter in 1948, much of the dynamism which kept the sporting facilities at Coollattin in such pristine condition was to be removed. Through the 1950's both the cricket ground and the golf course became neglected. Due to lack of competition and a decline in intrest the cricket was the first casualty and it petered out prior to 1960. The golf club was kept ticking over through members such as Fr. Kehoe, Ronald Correll, Fr. Browne, Willie Robertson and his son Neil, Kevin Ryan, Peter Doyle, George Rothwell, Paddy Behan and Ned Mulhall.  
Through the energy and drive of these people the future of the golf club was secured. It's members took over the task of looking after the course, took over it's running fron the Estate and registered it with the Golf Union of Ireland in 1962. We oew a great debt to these pioneers. Initially inactive was shifted by a conservatism, a reluctance to expend money on the course and a reluctance to push membership fees out of the reach of locals.
It was not until the 1970's that the developements hwich were ultimately to lead to the great course that we have today began. During this decade a machine shed was provided, an extension (meeting room and kitchenette) was added to the old corrugated iron pavilion. An irrigation system for the greens was also added during this time. In 1977 alarm bells rang, when Coollattin Estate was advertised for sale. Included in the billof contents, Coollattin Golf Club. It was with great relief to the club when senior counsel revealed, that as a sporting facility the future of the club was secure in law.
The final big undertaking of the 70's was the building of the new club house. It was planned during the captaincy of Eamon Dalton in 1978, built during the captaincy of the late Cyril Griffin in 1979 and officialy opened by the President of the Leinster Branch of the Golfing Union of Ireland Mr. Michael Fitzpatrick, during the captaincy of Kevin Lee in 1980.