Athlone Golf Club

About the club

In 1892 the first Athlone golf course was laid out on the undulating terrain of the Batteries, a raised area west of the Shannon. It was the ‘Athlone Garrison Golf Club’ and during the early years it was mainly British army officers and R.I.C. personnel who were members of this nine hole course. Soon, leading businessmen and professional people of the town began to take an interest in golf and in 1904 a new constitution was adopted and the club was renamed Athlone Golf Club. Those who played an important role in the development of the club at this time were P.V.C. Murtagh, J. Lyster, Dr. C. J. McCormack, J.J. Coen and P.B. Bingham. Athlone Golf Club moved from the Batteries to Garnafailagh in 1920 because of the encroachment of urban development. The Batteries course however, left its mark on the history of Irish golf. Club member, John Dillon McCormack, won three Amateur Close Championships and represented Ireland twenty-four times. In 1924 he was selected on the Walker Cup team but could not play for personal reasons. It was almost eighty years later that a club member did play on the Walker Cup team, Colm Moriarty played at Ganton Golf Club in 2003.