Wind Downs and Tee Offs – The MBA Golf Society Classic

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.

golf-classic-august-2017

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

http://www.pamelafay.ie/

 

NxtGEN Executive Training

http://nxtgen.ie/

 

The Edge Clontarf

http://www.theedgeclontarf.com/

UCD Smurfit MBA Golf Society

MBA Golf

The first MBA Golf Society (MBAGS) event of 2016 has finally come and gone and it’s surely one for the history books! Not really. But, it was great fun. With our original first event at Luttrellstown cancelled due to snow in March, we kicked off the year at Dun Laoghaire Golf Club on the 8th of April. The forecast was rain but that wouldn’t stop us. We were determined to get out and play and, for me, to put faces to the names as I only know most of the members according to where they fall on my MBAGS member spreadsheet. The day was filled with sun, rain, beautiful mountains in the backdrop, banter and of course that ever so coveted end of round pint of the black stuff.

 The player field was small but we made the most of it. Being in the full-time MBA and not having classes on Friday’s it’s easy for me to go out and play as I please. However, for those members who do have jobs, it’s a great excuse to get away from the office, meet new people and potentially walk away with great prizes. This event offered 1st place, 2nd place, closest to the pin and longest drive prizes. Embarrassingly, the longest drive prize was converted into a 3rd place prize due to the fact that we all failed to hit the fairway on the allocated hole. But that’s beside the point! Being a part of the MBA Golf Society allows you to play some golf in the fresh air and network with people who you may have otherwise never had met. Along with the current students there were MBA alumni and faculty in the field of players who have backgrounds in the airline industry, the beer brewing industry, consulting and engineering. It’s an eclectic bunch and you never know who you will be paired with.

Logos

Being a part of the MBAGS committee has been a great stress reliever for me this year. It allows me to take my mind off of the busy schoolwork and plan for something that I love to do. We have a total of seven events scheduled this year with our big charity event taking place at the K-Club Smurfit Course on Friday, 24th of June (Ireland is not playing in the Euros this day). We are proud to have partnered with Special Olympics Ireland with all profits going to a great cause. For those of you interested in attending this event or wanting more information, please visit this link.

MBAGS is always welcoming new members (MBA and non-MBA) and even if you do not want to join as a member, feel free to play as a guest for any desired event. You can visit our website for more details. The next event in May is soon approaching and I hope to see you out there!

 Kyle McCarihan ~ Full-Time MBA