Golf
“
It was a great opportunity for me to be my own boss and to be able to run and maintain a golf club the way I wanted to
John Adair, Donal Murtagh and Paul McGeaney. Missing from photo is Sean Murtagh
factory. He was made redundant in 1991 and decided to take up the game of golf, now that he had plenty of spare time. He thoroughly enjoyed the sport and thought that working on a golf course would be very appealing.
A chance opportunity, involving a ‘Back To Work’ scheme, turned up in 1992 at the newly constructed golf course near Crossmaglen, called Ashfield. He started working there on a three day week and thoroughly enjoyed it. He attended Greenmount College on a day release course to learn more about the greenkeeping profession. A full time vacancy arose at Nuremore Hotel Golf Club, which Donal applied for and secured but, after a year, he got full time work back at Ashfield. His time at Ashfield was brief and, again, after one year, he was packing his bags and off to Rossmore Golf Club where he got the top job as Course Manager. Five years later, he
When I came back in 2012, a five gang trailed mower was used to mow the fairways, tees and surrounds - all at the same height of cut!
” A view of the course with the clubhouse in the background 20 I PC OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2015
became Course Manager at Mannon Castle where he remained for thirteen years. In the meantime, life at Ashfield was changing. In 2012, the owner of the club, James Quinn, retired from looking after the course. Most of his children were working and living abroad and had no interest in returning home. He therefore decided to lease out the course and clubhouse. James thought that Donal would be an ideal person to take on the lease, since he was already familiar with the set up of the course and club. He contacted Donal and asked him if he would be interested. After a lot of thought, Donal decided to take up the offer and, with agreeable negotiations, became the leaseholder. “It was a great opportunity for me to be my own boss and to be able to run and maintain a golf club the way I wanted to,” said Donal. The course covers approximately ninety acres of land. Donal has two full time
members of staff working for him - brother Sean and John Adair. He also takes on one part-timer, Paul McGeaney, in the summer. Being the leaseholder of the club brings
additional pressures. “Since taking on the lease, I have become more aware of budgeting and financial planning. We have a small membership base at Ashfield, so the money put aside for course maintenance is low, but this is part of the challenge and I’m really loving my time here.” Indeed, the membership is just under 200 members, but there has been a steady rise in numbers lately and if, as some analysts are predicting, we come out of the recession, then more members will join. The members are very happy with the course and have seen huge improvements since Donal came back in 2012, and this can only be a good thing when trying to attract new members. “When I came back in 2012, a five gang trailed mower was used to mow the
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