Many golf clubs are holding their drive-inns this month, and in Douglas it was a special experience for captain Shane Scanlan.
President Dermot McHugh and ladies captain Dara Norton got to hit off their drives to mark the ceremonial start to the year, but men’s captain Share drove in twice.
One was for himself but the other drive was in memory of his dad John.
Back in 1991, John Scanlan was elected as captain but sadly passed away before the drive in.
With the agreement of his fellow officers, Shane took the opportunity to take a drive for his dad, and he used John’s old MacGregor driver.
It was an emotional event for Shane and he marked the event in a very unique way.
“I went down to his grave in Passage West before it with my jumper on me and I had a quiet moment down there.
“It was nice to start the celebrations that way. James Doolan, my brother in law provided a balata ball from the time, I had a wooden tee and he always wore a flat cap when he played so I had a flat cap on me, and my brother brought the driver.
“I drove off first to salute the captain from 1991.”
Shane Scanlan teeing off with his Dad’s driver from 1991 at the Douglas Drive In. Picture: James Doolan
Despite the bad weather, the emotion of the event – and 35 year old equipment, Scanlan drove off stating this was for the 1991 captain.
“I actually hit it reasonably well and quite similar to way he hit it. He always hit a slight fade. It started off on the right hand side of the fairway and finished at the right edge.
“Two days later I was up in the club when the snow had gone I just said I’d have a stroll down the fairway to see was it was still there and I found it just up against the edge of the fairway.
“It was lovely to find it and reclaim it.”
Scanlon, like his father is a loyal Douglas member of over 40 years, starting off like most others at the time when his dad brought him to the course.
“I’ve been a member of the club since 1978, when my dad would have brought me up when I was 13. I haven’t always been living in Cork but I kept up my membership even though I wasn’t playing.”
While Douglas boasts a full membership and impressive facilities on and off the course, the Captain has a plan to help the club to more success on the course.
“I set out my stall on the day I was elected Captain, we have a large membership and don’t think our success in national competitions has reflected that.
“We sat down with the men’s committee and came up with a plan that will last 3 to 5 years to develop panels for all our teams in national competitions.
“We’ve had a good response from the members, and we have around 100 now. We’ve started well but there’s a long way to go. We have our spring league and they will be entered as a Bruen team or Purcell team so you’ll be playing with the guys who are on the same panel as you so it’s a good opportunity to compete.
“We have the national finals of the senior cups here in August so I’d love that something would happen.
“The last time we won a senior men’s title was 1991 which was the year my father was captain so there’ a beckoning of history in some ways.”
Work on the course have been limited because of the national finals but there has been one development in Douglas that ties the course back to when it was originally shaped by Alister MacKenzie 100 years ago.
“I was on the course committee last year and we talked with Simon O’Hara, our new green keeper about what type of look did we want Douglas to have in the future and we started talking about the original MacKenzie design and the use of pines.
“We planted a lot of small pine tree towards the practice area a few years ago, a number of them now have been lifted and brought on to the course.
“They are still only around 15 feet but they have been planted in strategic places so that the next generation will have those very tall pines that were the dominant feature in Douglas when I was growing up.”
This subtle development will bring back a key MacKenzie design feature, once again linking the club of 2025 to the rich history that stretches over 115 years.
