News
Opening of Putting Green
Thursday 21 May sees the opening of the new 600metre2 putting green. This facility is the latest addition to St Patrick’s recreational facilities and is the culmination of four years work in fund-raising and promoting golf in the Keady area for all pupils. Highlights in the Keady school golf club have been trips to Troon to work as scoreboard carriers at The Open and to the Ryder Cup at the K Club. Oversees trips have also played a part in the growth of golf in the school and many pupils have enjoyed overseas trips to Barcelona and next month will enjoy a trip to Orlando where the school has been invited to play golf at Lake Nona and Isle Worth (Tiger Woods’ club). The pupils have also made huge contributions to charitable organisations and thus far have contributed over £11, 000 to Breakthrough Breast Cancer in the last three years. The school has a very positive relationship with Armagh Golf Club and this year alone 16 pupils have availed of the opportunity to join the Club. This relationship prospers and grows year by year and the pupils are greatly indebted to Conor McKenna for his tireless work coaching the boys and girls of St Patrick’s, Keady.
The green was built by Dar Golf Construction Limited, Co Wicklow and was built with great care and diligence to USPGA specifications with a minimum of fuss and inconvenience within a busy school environment. The school would also like to thank the Ulster Junior Golf Ireland Officer, Gary Lavery and the President of the GUI, Mr P J Collins for their continued support. The school golf club had applications from 68 boys and 35 girls this year to join and thanks now to this new facility we can hopefully extend and improve the opportunities for even more children next year. Over 70 pupils have joined the local clubs in the last six years and 24 youngsters have signed up for next year’s trip to Barcelona. The school is delighted to welcome Mr Damian McGrane who has kindly taken time out of his busy schedule to perform the duties at the official opening and hopes that this will encourage even more young people to go out and give golf a try.
