Seapoint and Termonfeckin growing together
Wednesday July 25 2007
The course was sculpted from 260 acres of rugged Termonfeckin countryside and since it opened in 1993 it has blossomed into a challenging links which attracts visitors from near and far.
Club professional David Carroll, aka Skippy, outlined how the club's progression mirrors that of its home village.
'The club here has expanded much the same as the village has really, and at the same kind of timescale,' he explained. 'I suppose the golf club has brought more people to the area and the more people come to live in
Termonfeckin, the more the golf club will continue to grow also.'
Anyone visiting the course can bear witness to this. The place is undergoing huge development at present, with extensions to the locker rooms, restaurant and offices being built to cater for the increasing numbers. There
are currently 650 members including juniors and new members are arriving all the time.
Seapoint was designed back in 1991 by US Champions Tour player and Ryder Cup Vice Captain Des Smyth, along with Irish International Declan Branigan, who is the club's current green keeper.
In relative terms the course is still a baby and like wines, golf courses get better with age.
But despite only being in its infancy, Seapoint's reputation among golf fans at home and abroad has shot up in recent years and it has even been named in the top 50 golf courses in the country.
'As far as golf courses go it's relatively young, but when people play it they always say it's as if it's been there for the past 100 years,' says Skippy.
The club pro's love of the game began 28 years ago, across the road in Seapoint Pitch and Putt Club. He then learned his trade under Paddy McGuirk in County Louth Golf Club, before moving to Cork where he worked for three
years. He then returned to Drogheda and has been club pro in Seapoint for the past 13 years.
Skippy has seen plenty during his time at the club. He recalls some of his favourite memories like 1995 when Baltray man Des Smyth fought off the challenge of Paul McGinley to win the Glen Dimplex matchplay, which Seapoint
hosted.
He also remembers seeing famous faces such as former Newcastle great Alan Shearer, Gary Kelly and John Aldridge who come and play the course, not to mention Ross Kemp aka Eastenders' Grant Mitchell.
With a-list stars like these frequenting the course, it's no wonder it has become one of Termonfeckin's best known landmarks.
