The 1970's
The 1970’s in Ireland was a time of austerity and emigration for many but the decade was not without its good parts, perhaps for the majority of Irish people the highlight was the visit by Pope John Paul II in 1979. The Pope’s appearance at Phoenix Park in Dublin generated the biggest ever gathering of people in Ireland! So too did record crowds attend the Pope’s visits to Knock and Galway.
In 1971 decimal currency was introduced, replacing the pound, shilling and pence system with the pound and pence – 100 pence in one pound, and in 1973 Ireland finally joined the Common Market (later the European Union), an event that was to benefit Ireland immensely in the following years.
1973 saw the oil crisis, which in Ireland, as well as other countries, led to rationing and huge queues forming at filling stations.
The 1970’s saw the arrival of colour televisions and the number of households having televisions increased as well although for the majority of homes there was just one channel available – RTE1. In the 1970’s a second channel was launched by RTE.
Natural gas was discovered off the Cork coast and this was brought ashore and distributed and sold by Bord Gais for heating and electricity generation.
1976 saw the world’s first supersonic passenger jet come into service. Concorde reduced the transatlantic flight time to just four and half hours!
In sport, Kerry and Dublin dominated the GAA All-Ireland Championships whilst in Olympic swimming, American Mark Spitz won a record 7 gold medals in 1972 and in 1974 Muhammad Ali regained the World Heavyweight Boxing Title by defeating George Foreman.
The 1970’s for Castlebar Golf Club were a busy ten years.
In 1970 the landlord offered to sell land to the Club, either the existing nine hole course for £6,500 or sufficient land for an eighteen hole course for £13,000. An E.G.M. was held to discuss this offer at which a decision was made to purchase the nine hole course for £6,500 and to take an option for the other nine holes. However it seems that this purchase did not go ahead for in 1971 it was reported that Mr. Carson had sold all the land to Mr. Harry Jennings.
In 1970 also Mr. Frank O’Brien, Club President and former Captain and Trustee as well as former Delegate and Chairman of the Connaught Council of the G.U.I. died.
1972 saw the introduction of the Junior and Juvenile categories of membership which have proven immensely popular and beneficial to the Club in attracting young people to join the Club and take up the game.
In 1972 also Castlebar Golf Club won the Connaught Shield and also won the Connaught Pierce Purcell title.
In 1979 a fire destroyed the men’s locker room which was located in the old house.
All in all it was a good decade for the Club.
The 1980's
The 1980’s are historical in many ways. The first space shuttle, Columbia, was launched in 1981, sadly in 1986 its sister shuttle Challenger, exploded shortly after takeoff, killing all seven crew members.
Pope John Paul II was shot and wounded in an assassination attempt in Rome.
There was widespread famine in parts of Africa, most notably in Ethiopia and sights of this prompted Bob Geldof to organise “Live Aid” in order to raise funds to help the beleaguered country and its people.
In Russia in 1986, the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl suffered an explosion, showering the area around with radiation, causing thousands of deaths with the effects of the radiation still seen today.
The Berlin Wall came down in 1989, signifying the unification of West and East Germany and indeed signalling the end of communist rule in much of Eastern Europe.
In Ireland the 1980’s saw the National Lottery commence, offering huge cash prizes weekly.
ATM machines became common place outside bank buildings and fast food restaurants opened in many towns and cities.
The 1980 Olympic Games were held in Russia with more than 60 nations, including the UK and Germany boycotting them in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
In 1987 Stephen Roche became the first Irishman to win the Tour de France.
The 1980’s got off to a flying start for Castlebar Golf Club: there were back to back County Cups in 1980 and 1981 and Stephen Munnelly won the Scratch Cup in 1980. The Club won the County Cup again in 1984.
The early years of the 1980’s were dominated by plans to expand and develop the course. Among the options explored to finance the development was the selling of sites along the main road. Planning Permission was sought but was not granted and the Club just sold one site – The Orchard.
Work was however on-going on the development of the course, culminating in 1985 with the Official Opening of the new eighteen hole course. The Official Opening was the centrepiece of the Club’s 75th Anniversary celebrations.
Once the new course was opened the Club turned its attention to the development of a new Clubhouse. Plans were submitted by an architect and construction on the new Clubhouse started in early 1990.
As it started so too the decade finished on a winning note! Castlebar won the Connaught Junior Inter-Club Match-play in 1988 and followed that up in 1989 by winning the Connaught section of the Pierce Purcell Shield.
The 1990's
Life in Ireland in the 1990’s as well as the rest of the world was changing beyond all recognition. Technology played an increasing role in everyday life with the personal computer becoming almost the norm in every home, the popularity of the World Wide Web increased annually, mobile phones became smaller and more popular and text messaging was becoming a popular method of communication.
In Northern Ireland the Good Friday Peace Agreement is signed. This was an enormous step forward and has paved the way for peace in the Province.
Scientists warned of global warming and climate change due to the depletion of the ozone layer. People and nations very slowly began to try to reduce carbon emissions in an attempt to reduce the rate of depletion.
In 1990 the Hubble telescope was launched into space. It allowed scientists to search further into space.
In sport 1990 was the year that the Irish soccer team under manager Jack Charlton reached the Finals of the World Cup. In the Finals in Italy, Ireland reached the Quarter-Finals before being knocked out.
For Castlebar Golf Club the 1990’s was an exceptionally busy decade, with major improvements and changes taking place. At the very start of the decade a new Clubhouse was built. This was opened in July 1990.
In 1991 Joe Langan set up the “Phembers” society for high handicappers in the Club. Michael McDermott was the first captain of this new society which today is known as the “Phyxers” and is going as strong as ever.
Associate Membership was abolished in 1991 with the result that ladies became full independent Members.
On the competitive front, 1993 saw the most successful year ever for Castlebar Golf Club in Inter-Club competitions. Under Club Captain, Jim Tiernan, Castlebar won a total of seven pennants, made up of one All-Ireland Pennant (Junior Foursomes) and six Connaught Pennants. Jim Tiernan is rightly very proud of this achievement, referring to it as “The Magnificent Seven”.
In 1994 Castlebar Golf Club finally purchased the remaining land being leased for the course. The Club and Mr. Harry Jennings reached an agreement and the deal was completed. After 84 years in existence Castlebar Golf Club finally owned all the land.
The end of the 1990’s saw the Club embark on its most ambitious project to date. Due to on-going issues with drainage and green problems it became necessary to undertake corrective measures. In 1998 the Captain, Jimmy Broderick and his Committee engaged the services of Peter McEvoy and Craig Cooke to carry out an assessment of the course and to submit recommendations for improvement works. This was the starting point for the development of the new layout complete with 18 new USGA specification greens and 18 new tees, work on which began in 1999.
The 1990’s for Ireland finished on a high note with the country enjoying a boom time and for Castlebar Golf Club the decade similarly finished on a high!