‘We appointed the first female golf club captain in Ireland’

An Irish golf club has revealed that, contrary to recent reports that an Irish club became the first to appoint a female captain this year, it did so last year.

Dungannon Golf Club in Northern Ireland was said to have become the first golf club in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to appoint a woman as its overall captain earlier this year.

However, Dunmore East Golf Club in Waterford appointed a woman as its overall captain in 2021.

The venue removed its men’s and ladies’ sections in 2020 to become a gender neutral club that uses gender neutral tees, and therefore has one captain, whereas many clubs have a men’s and ladies’ captain.

That first captain, appointed in 2021, was Mandy O’Neill.

She said: “It was a great honour to be given the opportunity to be the captain of the new joint club at Dunmore East Golf Club. It was a strange year with restrictions and Covid but we certainly made the most of it. I had a great year which was made easy with all the wonderful members and the beautiful new course.”

The club’s manager, Alan Skehan, added: “From the onset we were delighted to work with Mandy to bring both committees together and create a more enjoyable and sociable atmosphere both on and off the course; we are delighted with the results.”

The club was originally built in 1992 as a nine-hole course and was extended to an 18-hole venue in 1998.

The club reviewed the business model in 2016 and decided to redesign the golf course to a coastal nine holes, which would mean making 70 acres available to further develop the resort which it is in the process of. It is also applying for luxury lodge accommodation to add to its mix of existing accommodation on site.

“We engaged the services of re:Golf to redesign the remaining golf course land. This redesign involved the construction of two new greens and 12 new tee complexes,” said a club spokesman.

“During this alteration to the course and after many committee meetings we decided to allow tee box use to be based on playing ability. This coincided with the new world handicap rules, which was perfect timing. Along with this we also decided to join both the gents’ and ladies’ committees to form one club, one committee and have a single captain. It was unanimous that Mandy would be the captain as she had shown great determination and spirit in her ability to work with both committees and management.