Athlone man enjoying his role as Pitch and Putt Ireland president

The first Athlone president of Pitch and Putt Ireland has outlined his plans for his three-year term at the helm of the organisation.

Among Davy Reddin’s aims is to encourage clubs to bring more juveniles on board and grow the sport of pitch and putt throughout the island.

“I was once a juvenile officer at Athlone GAA, so I would like to see more and more juveniles involved and it has to start at club level,” said Davy.

Davy has been involved in pitch and putt in Athlone for more than 50 years, first as a player, starting at ten years of age, and later in roles on the local committee, leading to national roles, notably as National Executive Competition Secretary for two years, before becoming Vice President last year.

The Assumption Road native will have a busy few months ahead of him, particularly this summer where the President or his representative will be in attendance at 16 competitions throughout the country.

“There are three of us, President, Vice-President or Treasurer who are involved in running the competitions, and overall, there are seven officers and two competition co-ordinators also involved in the games,” said Davy. “I’ll have to also be at the European Championship in late July in the Lucan course in Co. Dublin, and give a speech on behalf of Pitch and Putt Ireland.”

Davy was Athlone juvenile player of the year in 1976. The now 63-year-old won several competitions throughout the late '70s and early '80s, including being part of an Athlone team that won the Intermediate Scratch Cup in Newbridge in 1979. The following year he won the Offaly/Westmeath Intermediate Strokeplay Championships, which was held on the course in the grounds of Athlone GAA – putting him into the senior grade in pitch and putt.

It was also that year, 1980, when Davy, aged 17 years, won the Carroll’s Athlone Sportstar of the Year award for pitch and putt.

Over the next two decades he continued to be involved in the sport while combining it with his army career in Custume Barracks – spanning almost 44 years many of them as a Private, although nine times as Acting Corporal, before he finished his career as Corporal.

Sport and Army duties co-existed beside the realm of his loving and growing family ties. Davy is married to his Assumption Road neighbour Shelly (née McManus, daughter of Mary and the late Christy) and the Athlone couple have four grown-up children, Nicola, David, Shauna and Jason.

A life-long friendship with Athlone politician Mary O’Rourke encouraged Davy to keep up his Athlone pitch and putt dream in the early 1990s of having new course grounds, independent of Athlone GAA’s grounds. The club achieved that goal when Custume Pitch and Putt Club grounds opened in Garnafailagh in 1994.

“I used to bring Mary to the Coosan Tavern to do the presentation of prizes for us and I always called her Auntie Mary,” he said laughing. “But seriously, we needed funding and myself and Gerry Daly went to see Mary at her house in Arcadia to ask her for help in getting a National Lottery grant. In no time, I got a call from her; to ask me to call around again and she had a cheque for us for £5,000.”

Former Minister Mary O’Rourke died in 2024, as did another friend of Davy’s, Sean Quilty, who also helped in the building of the pitch and putt grounds.

“I was very saddened at the deaths of Mary and Sean last year, and it brought back memories of when we were building Custume Pitch and Putt grounds,” said Davy. “At the time, we also got a grant from the army and Colonel Sean Quilty gave me another cheque and sent me to Byrne's Hardware on the Square to buy a rake, pick and shovel and myself and two men that are also no longer with us designed the course, Leo Flanagan and John Kelly RIP.”

Now, over 30 years later, Davy Reddin is President of Pitch and Putt Ireland and would like to see the game continue to thrive throughout the country.

“National titles are open to all of Ireland, from the length and breadth of the country, the competitions are there, and we stand for hours on end running the competitions, because we love it,” he said.

Davy admits disappointment at never winning a national or Leinster championship. However, he won all awards that were going at local level.

“I’m not going out there anymore to win, it’s about going out for the pride of playing and encouraging others to try and do so,” said Davy.

He has his own battles though and due to a car accident, he is not playing like he once did. Despite that, he still holds a handicap of six!

“My back locks if I play more than two rounds of the course, but exercise is important,” he said. “If you never went to competitions, to play 18 holes is great exercise.”

He expressed disappointment over the fact that 10,500 people were registered to play pitch and putt during the Covid years, but that has fallen back to 7,500 now.

“I know there are many other things going on, but that is a loss of three thousand people,” he said.

“I’m of the old school. I go around a table and if we can’t come to an amicable decision, we have a vote, and if I lose it, I lose. I have lost two and if it’s not broken, why fix it? But it’s also good to try something different and I’m definitely looking forward to the next three years when I hope to see game facilities improved for players,” Davy added.