Rathdowney Golf Club

About the club

Rathdowney golf club was established in 1930 and was the brainchild of Fr. Dunphy who was a curate in the parish at that time. Fr. Dunphy collected a number of interested parties and they set about the task of getting a “golf links” underway. The first formal meeting of the club was held on the 24th of October 1930 in the Ossory Hotel (now Supervalu) Rathdowney. The conditions which prevailed in the clubs early days were of necessity primitive, even by the standards of the time. Early plans for the 9 hole course were drafted up by a Mr. Collins (Birr professional) and the committee set about the task of implementing this. A wooden Pavilion was built and this continued to be used right up to relatively modern times with some changes to the general structure in the intervening years. During the clubs early years membership was approximately fifteen men and six women with a subscription of one pound and ten shillings.