Beech Park is becoming a second home for Irish Blind Golf
Paddy Morgan investigates the relationship that Beech Park Golf Club and Irish Blind Golf have grown together over the last number of years.
Mental health has become a huge issue in sport over the last few years and meeting with Beech Park’s General Manager David Callanan & PGA Professional Mark Murphy is a great outlet for keeping positive and having a laugh.
It has been difficult for golf clubs to accept visually impaired groups but that has changed in the last numerous of years due to Golf Ireland, Sport Ireland and Irish Government pushing inclusivity in sport. IBG are proud to be associated with Beech Park as it is the first ever partnership that I am aware of between a private golf club and a disability sports group. The partnership has opened many avenues for IBG especially in promotional work on social media, bringing awareness to visually impaired blind golf and been mentioned on notice boards inside Beech Park Golf Club.
2018 was the first time that both myself and my dad along with our Treasure Adrian Downey played a casual round at Beech Park to see if it suited Irish Blind Golf members for an outing. After chatting to manager of Beech Park in the clubhouse, he was very impressed and invited IBG to play at their course in 2019. May 2019 was the first year for Irish Blind Golf to have an outing at Beech Park Golf Club, IBG members were most impressed with the layout of the course, the excellent standard of the greens and of course the catering facilities in the clubhouse. Beech Park tests all parts of your game but it is not an impossible challenge for middle and low handicap golfers.
2020 was a difficult year due to the covid-19 pandemic but Irish Blind Golf had its first outing of the year at Beech Park on Friday 10th of July. All IBG members were excited for this outing as this was the first competitive round since golf courses reopened in May. Nine golfers from IBG played in this event with Chairman ED Maguire been the winner on the day. All the staff at Beech Park were generous with their time in making IBG feel welcome at their club. Beech Park Golf Club is a very accessible venue especially for IBG members travelling from various parts of the country.
The 2021 Irish Blind Golf AGM took place where I had the honour of being elected Captain for both the 2022 and 2023 season. One of my first duties was meeting with the Beech Park management along with Pat Morgan Handicap Secretary and Oliver O’ Connor from Irish Blind Golf in January 2022. The meeting was a fantastic success as they came on board with the offer of Irish Blind Golf’s annual fundraiser to be held at the Beech Park Golf club in June 2022. The teams that played in the fundraiser were delighted with the new venue and were very impressed with the layout and clubhouse facilities. IBG members played twice at Beech Park in 2022 with an outing in October and the first ever Guide appreciation day in November.
Blind golf is a two-person game that involves a sighted guide and a visually impaired golfer. It is not possible to play the game without the assistance of a sighted guide especially when it comes to lining up the player and keeping an eye on were the ball ends up after each shot. The appreciation day was an end of year game as a thank you to the guides of IBG. The golf course was in fantastic condition for both outings and the speed of the greens is a severe challenge at Beech Park. Golf courses are usually covered in leaves around October & November but the greenkeeping staff do an extraordinary job in keeping the leaves off the course.
IBG members are a big fan of Beech Park due to the quality of the course and practice facilities. The food is always excellent, reasonably priced and all our members look forward to having a well-earned bite to eat, tea, coffee or a nice pint after a round of 18 holes.
The IBG committee met up again with Beech Park’s General Manager David Callanan & PGA Professional Mark Murphy in December 2022 to further cement our unique relationship and plan events for 2023 season. IBG were delighted that the annual fundraiser will take place again at the club on Friday 30th of June 2023 with tee times from 12pm until 4pm. IBG are also really appreciated that both a monthly outing which will be the first event to be held at a golf club on a Sunday and second appreciation day will also be at Beech Park in the second half of the year.
IBG are looking forward to strengthening their relationship with Beech Park Golf Club and growing the game for visually impaired players in the coming years.