GOLF


Greenisland Golf Club


Monumental Efforts


It was formed in the late 1800s and still proudly sits under Knockagh Hill near Belfast. Chris McCullough paid a visit to Greenisland Golf Club to meet Head Greenkeeper Mark Middleton to discover how he and his small team look after this 9-hole course set in the shadows of the Knockagh Monument War Memorial


42 PC February/March 2021


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estled under the escarpment face of Knockagh Hill on the outskirts of Belfast lies Greenisland Golf Club, which is one of the most historic


golfing venues in Northern Ireland. When the popularity of the sport took off in the country during the late 1800s, Greenisland Golf Club was later formed by a group of like-thinking men in 1894 in the very same spot the club occupies today. Naturally, since that time, the club and course has undergone a few changes and there have been a number of characters that came and went, making a name for the club. Like at every other club, the Covid-19 pandemic has certainly affected the playing


schedule at the club, but the job of maintaining the course is still very much an important one, players or no players. Greenisland Golf Club hosts a nine hole parkland type course with a practice area stretching to 6,000 yards. Tight tree-lined fairways, water, sand and slopes all play a part in making this Par 71 course a challenge for all levels.


The club sits in a 100 acre site, but around 65 acres are unusable due to the extreme elevation that it lies on. When playing or working the course, on a clear day it is possible to see Scotland, across County Down and beyond Belfast to the Mountains of Mourne. Today, the man in charge of keeping the


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