Castlewarden Golf Club is celebrating 35 years

Formed in 1990, Castlewarden Golf Club is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year and is celebrating with a variety of events and occasions throughout the year, including an Open Week tournament which is set to commence this Saturday June 21st.

The club has received numerous high profile visits over the last couple of weeks such as Minister for Agriculture Martin Hayden as well as Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless just this past weekend launching Open Week and celebrating the 35th anniversary of the club.

Each day there will be an open golf competition where golfers of all backgrounds and affiliations will be allowed to come and enjoy the course. We spoke to Men’s Club Captain Jim Collett about what will be on offer.

“We have team events, we have singles competitions. There’s a ladies day as well as some junior competition events as well and we have a rolling nine hole competition.”

The club serves a wide range of people with over 700 members, 100 of these are women and around 70 are juniors.

A large portion of these members are from Dublin South West.

“You hit the nail on the head, Clondalkin, Tallaght, Templeogue and some further afield but predominantly there.

‘We have a real big south west Dublin contingent. Nowadays we really are the first bit of rural land you reach if you come away from the red cow.

‘It’s like stepping into a different world. The course is magnificent. It’s really well kept by our head greenskeeper Glen and the course committee headed up by Mick FitzPatrick.”

Castlewarden aims to break away from the image of elitism that golf is often branded with.

“We follow the One Golf ethos of getting all people into golf. Produced by Golf Ireland and supported by Castlewarden Golf Club and definitely implemented.

‘It’s all about being inclusive and getting as many people in.

‘The majority of our golf club are working class people that from whatever age have gotten into golf and been drawn to the club and stayed because of its friendly nature. We are very welcoming to new members, we had about 60 new members so far this year.”

Castlewarden Golf Club was formed in 1990 and consists of a 72 par parkland championship course designed by Michael Brown and Tom Craddock.