North West Golf Club has unveiled a plaque commemorating their long-serving greenkeeper Plunkett Duffy.
Mr Duffy, who dedicated his entire working life to the club from starting out as a ten-year-old caddy to becoming head greenkeeper in 1968, passed away in 2024.
In an interview with the Inishowen Independent in 2007, not long after his retirement the previous year, he spoke of the constant battle he fought to prevent coastal erosion on the iconic Lisfannon course.
“At North West they’re always talking about claiming more ground, but if we hold onto what we have, we’ll be lucky,” Duffy remarked, adding that the clubhouse was in such danger for years that a joke among the greenkeepers was they might need to retrain as lighthouse-keepers.
“I'll miss getting up in the morning and coming down in the good summer weather before half seven with nobody on the course,” he said back then when asked to reflect on what he'd miss in retirement. “It's a great feeling to look out over the course where there’s nobody on it and the only thing you see is the rabbits.
“I'll miss it alright. Golf was my life from when I was small.”
The Sixth Hole at North West Golf Club has also been renamed in memory of Plunkett and will be henceforth known as Duffy's Windmill.
5. Family, friends and members of North West Golf
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6. Friends of Plunkett Duffy read the newly installed plaque at North West Golf Club
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7. Hugh Duffy reading the plaque in memory of the late greenkeeper Plunkett Duffy at NWGC
Hugh Duffy reading the plaque in memory of the late greenkeeper Plunkett Duffy at NWGC | Iconic
8. Hugh Duffy says a few words about Plunkett Duffy on the course at North West GC
Hugh Duffy says a few words about Plunkett Duffy on the course at North West GC | Iconic