Club History

The Buncrana Golf Club has been in existence since 1890 and was formerly known as Buncrana Municipal Golf Club. In 1944 after the Buncrana Urban District Council purchased the property from the then English Landowner, the property was put in the trust of the Buncrana Municipal Golf Committee for the purpose of making Golf facilities available to the local community.

The committee are in the process of researching the history of the golf course and history would show that golf was first played in the early 1800’s, which would make the club the oldest 9-hole links golf club in Ireland.

In the early 70’s the members of the club at that time took it upon themselves to construct a clubhouse, as the premises they had at the time were very outdated. The premises at the time were constructed out of a tin frame with a wooden finish internally and on stormy days the sand from the shore would blow through the premises.

Members in the early 70’s constructed the then new clubhouse on a voluntary basis in their spare time, members like M. Fitzpatrick, J. Doherty (W), J. Longwill (B), D. Hegarty, C. Harvey, J. Mc Grory (L), N. Doherty (S), J. Mc Grory and H. Doherty. These are only a few of the names involved at the time but it was the dedication and resolve of these members that ensured the existence and continuance of the clubhouse and golf course in general.

Over the years the club was very fortunate to enlist the services of some very hard working committee members who maintained the clubhouse and course to a high standard. One of these members, who went on to become the clubhouse caretaker in later years was Neil Doherty (sonny) who did a tremendous amount of work for the club and the members. Unfortunately Neil had to retire in 2001, but the club was extremely lucky to secure the services of Jim Doherty (W) as caretaker. Jim has managed to maintain the friendly welcome, which is always on offer to members and visitors alike to the Buncrana Golf Club.

In the late 90’s like their predecessors, the committee and the members of the Buncrana Golf Club decided that the clubhouse was too small and the time was right to bring the clubhouse into the 21st century.

Although the clubhouse was ‘state of the art’ back in the 70’s, as time would have it the facilities were now outdated and in need of upgrading. This new development would consist of new locker rooms, shower rooms, reception, function room and kitchen.

After various applications for grant aid and the continued rejection by the departments and ministers involved, the committee and members set about raising their own funds. The club ran two very successful prize draws which were very well supported by the local community and surrounding areas. These draws raised enough revenue for the club to contemplate the clubhouse extension/refurbishment and in September 2000 this development started.

It may have taken slightly longer than anticipated to complete this development but it is a tremendous achievement to the committee, members and local community.
Throughout this development the club has managed to maintain operations and even expand it member base and cater for the visiting golfers to the area, which in itself is no mean feat.

Once the clubhouse development was complete, rather than sit back and rest on their laurels the committee then decided to enhance the course. The decision was taken to develop 2 new holes to expand the course by introducing another par 4 hole and a new par 5 hole. This development like in the past was carried out by various fund raising projects and opened in the spring of 2010. The course will remain a 9 hole course but the par will increase from a 62 to a 66 and the extra length will also be beneficial.

The Buncrana Golf Club is a community based golfing facility and is somewhat unique and different to other golf clubs as it offers a golfing facility to all at inexpensive rates. As a 9-hole course it caters for all types of golfers from the beginner to the most advanced and even boasts a Special Olympic Gold Medal Winner, Mr. Oliver Doherty.

The Buncrana Golf Club has produced some very fine golfers, as a lot of juveniles are attracted by our juvenile policy. A lot of these juveniles remain with the club into later years and indeed help the club to various successes in inter-club competition.

The senior members of the club participate at inter-county and inter-club level and on their day they are formidable opposition for any club. Indeed the club has various successes at inter-club level by winning the Donegal senior-league and Donegal minor-league on various occasions.

The committee and members would also thank everyone who supported the various fund raising efforts over the years for without this support the club would not be in the position it is today.