After a busy final semester, full of long days invested in the MBA Capstone project, the MBA Golf Society Classic had arrived. Once again the stunning K Club in County Kildare – home of the 2006 Ryder Cup – played host to the annual event. This year’s chosen charities were the UCD Ad Astra Academy and CRY (Cardiac Risk in the Young).
Teams arrived to the clubhouse early to prep their gear, take in the scenes and get some vital practice on the range. Attire was varied – just like the golfing abilities! From the man-in-black Cadwell to Mr “Del Monte” Hope donning police sunglasses and a quintessential panama hat. Regardless, rumour had got around that this year’s prizes were worth leaving it all on the course, and focus was on the golf and not the outfits. Competition was on!
Father and son duo Padraig and Cameron Kenny were up first. Broad-shouldered Kenny Jr, an integral part of the Smurfit MBA Rugby World Cup Team back in April, was pipped as the favorite to win the Business Performance Perspectives Longest Drive on Hole 7. He wasted no time smashing his first up Fairway 1 against a strong wind.
Next up, the team led by Chairman of the MBA Rugby Team, Cathal Murphy, with fellow Full Time MBAs Conor Hurley and Traolach “Tray” O’Connor. Also joining them was Chris Cadwell a welcome guest best known for strength training the Smurfit MBA Rugby Team at The Edge in Clontarf. A solid all-round team that knew they had a strong chance of taking home the prizes.
Finally, a mixed team of Full Time MBA students Ciaran Hope and Colin Dunne, Part Time MBA Ciarán O’Shea and MBA alum Mark Good. Paddy Power wasn’t sure what odds to give this group after their wild range practice. There was plenty of experience in the team though with O’Shea a well seasoned MBA Golf Society member and Hope an Irishman with a distinguished Los Angeles golfing career. Hope apparently took up golf so he could rub shoulders with LA’s rich and famous – unfortunately his stories of LA golf will have to be left on the K Club’s fairways. Mark Good, no stranger to an MBA Golf society outing, was striking his irons well on the range and looked like a contender for the NxtGEN Executive Training Closest to the Pin on Hole 17. Dunne started strong in this group leading the round with a par. However, it looked like his team-mates had left all the steam on the range and couldn’t match his three stable-ford points.
The wind persisted throughout the front 9 with Good convinced every hole was against it. This may, however, have been something to do with the zig zag route he took up a few fairways. The wind didn’t stop the sun shining with O’Shea making sure he was topped up with sunscreen while explaining that the Swallow Quarry rock and water feature on the 7th hole had been artificially constructed at a substantial cost. The Civil Engineers among us found it hard to believe but agreed that anything is possible with enough capital.
As suspected, Cameron Kenny hit big off the 7th to land himself the prize for the Business Performance Perspectives Longest Drive. Sharp shooter Mark Good heard that the prize for the NxtGEN Executive Training Closest to the Pin was 12 golf balls and so decided that he was going to take this on to replenish his stock, having lost a few to his wild drives. Sure enough, with a smooth 7 iron, he was the only player to hit the green and landed the ball just 17 feet from the pin to take home the prize.
Following the discussions about the rock features, there were a few attempts to check whether the water features were real; confirmed by the splashes, with the Swallow Quarry swallowing up many a golf ball. Murphy laid up on the 18th fairway to chip over the water onto the green. His chip on was perfectly in line with the pin and the palatial clubhouse in the backdrop. Unfortunately Murphy had under-clubbed marginally and the splash short of the green crushed his hopes for par. The 18th was good to the other teams though. Kenny Jr managed to hit a 240-yard shot over land and water with a strong cross to find the green and set him up for par. O’Shea chipped from off the green with precision aim and weight in front of a captive audience on the clubhouse veranda to see it roll slowly in from distance for par.
With not much between the scores the winning team of Murphy, O’Conor, Hurley and Cadwell took away the main prizes. Dunne, Good, Hope and O’Shea weren’t disappointed to take 2nd place after such an enjoyable round, while Team Kenny was still in shock after Kenny Jr’s 240-yard diamond.
The Winning Team (L-R Chris Cadwell, Conor Hurley, Traolach O’Conor and Cathal Murphy)
An extremely enjoyable round of golf in a beautiful setting with some great company. Soon we’ll be handing over the reigns of MBA Golf Society to next year’s MBA Class and I’m already looking forward to playing a few of their outings.
Colin Dunne, Full Time MBA & Golf Society Captain 2016-2017
With sincere thanks to the following:
Business Performance Perspectives
NxtGEN Executive Training
The Edge Clontarf