Mount Juliet Golf Notes

The inter club draws for this year have been completed by the Leinster Branch of the G. U. I. and Mount Juliet have some stern tests in front of them if they are to make any progress. The Pierce Purcell Shield qualifying round will be held in Enniscorthy Golf Club on Saturday 22nd May with the top four qualifiers out of 10 teams going through to the match play stages on the following day. In the Barton Cup, the opponents are near neighbours Kilkenny, with the home advantage resting with Kilkenny. The Leinster Fourball team are also away to Waterford and the Irish Mixed Foursomes team are drawn against Bunclody with Mount Juliet getting the home advantage. All matches have to be played by early April so the managers of the various teams have a busy two months to prepare their respective panels of players.

The draws for the competitions in the Midland District of the ladies branch of the I.L.G.U. will be made this week and these draws will be available on their website soon.

Next week, weather permitting, sees the next round of the popular Winter Series and tee times can be booked by phoning 056/7773071 or 77773064.

As things begin to slow down with the change of weather and less competitions, our thoughts begin to focus on the arrival of the New Year ahead. Mount Juliet has entered the usual number of G.U.I. events for 2010 and it would be nice if one of the teams could have success after some great efforts over the past few years. The nearest any team got to winning a pennant was the Irish Mixed Foursomes team back in 1996 which got to the Leinster Final. Perhaps this year may bring that elusive pennant to the club.

Our congratulations go to Kilkenny golfer, Gary Murphy, on retaining his tour card for 2010 and which is no easy feat in the light of the number of players trying to earn that distinction.

This week sees the last round of the Winter Series for 2009 down for decision this Thursday and the series returns again on Thursday 14th January 2010.

The Leinster Branch of the Golfing Union are deliberating over the recommendations from various clubs in the province for reductions and increases to members handicaps on performance during 2009 and these recommendations should be known this week.

On Christmas Eve in Mount Juliet House a group of carol singers will perform at 6.30pm. As they did for the past few years they will sing traditional carols, this was well received by guests and members alike as it added to the start of the Christmas festivities.