Cathal Simpson takes the World No.1 Course in his stride

After winning a qualifier back on 11th February Cathal Simpson was awarded the opportunity to play last year’s Irish Open venue and recently announced the World No.1 golf course, Royal County Down. Cathal's only previous visit to Royal County Down was last year when Darren Clarke Golf School took the students down to do some volunteering for the week at the 2015 Irish Open. It is fair to say Cathal was extremely pleased to have been given this unique opportunity to play in his first Pro-Am with Coach Stuart Bickerstaff on such as prestigious golf course. A Pro-Am which included European Tour players Simon Thornton and Damian Mooney. He was certainly looking forward to getting out onto the fairways and experiencing it for himself.

With such a huge build up of excitement and anxiousness to get going it would have been easy for Cathal to slip under the radar. However once again he did not disappoint. Cathal blew away the rest of the field of 34 players to shoot an impressive net 73 in what would be described as very windy conditions.

A very solid opening start paring the opening 2 holes helped to settle the nerves and enjoy his golf. It was to much the same for the remainder of the front nine with a very solid 3 over par. However Cathal was to go on and play the back nine in 1 under par net. After birdieing the 11th and 13th holes Cathal was just 1 over par going into the last 5 holes however a bogey on the difficult par 4 17th hole left Cathal finishing on 2 over par which was enough to take the victory.

What this now does for Cathal is give him tremendous confidence and self belief in himself and his golf to help him kick on and continue to develop his game as he approaches the start of the new season.

Cathal stated, 'Having the opportunity to play Royal County Down gave me great experience. Although I feel I could have played better I am delighted with the result and the victory. Having Stuart there and his knowledge of the golf course helped me to hit shots into the correct areas of the course. I hope to once again have the opportunity to play the World No.1 course again in the near future'.

Conor Hagan Bio

DCGS Student Bio

Name: Conor Hagan      

Date: 03/02/2016

Home Golf Club: Clandeboye Golf Club

Handicap: 5

Golf school location:  Antrim           Class: 1^st Year Full Time

Why are you at the Darren Clarke Golf School?  To improve my golf  

What are your highlights of your Darren Clarke Golf School experience to date?  The winter training trip to Spain

What is the greatest thing you have learnt at the golf school so far? To never give up

What are your future golf or career ambitions?  To become as good as possible at golf

How do you feel you have progressed as a player and a person since arriving at the school? I have made positive improvements

What is your DCGS best Flightscope combined score?  211

Who is your favourite golfer?  Soren Kjeldsen

What is your favourite golf course?   Clandeboye Golf Club

What was your favourite childhood TV show?  SpongeBob

Have you ever had a hole in one? If not have you ever come close?  12^th at Dunmurry Golf Club

Favourite song in the current top 40?   N/A

Links or parkland?   Links

Questions about your classmates:

Most likely to be president?  Ted Harman

Most likely to be world number one?  Aaron Lennie

Best looking in the morning?  Conor Hagan

Most likely to be living at home with their mother at 30?  Aaron Lennie

Most likely to succeed as a golfer, why?  Joseph O’Neill as he has made a lot of improvements

Harry McGeary Bio

DCGS Student Bio

Name: Harry McGeary

Date: 03/02/2016                                                   Home Golf Club: Dungannon Golf Club (Darren’s Home Club)

Handicap: 5

Golf school location:  Antrim           Class: 2^nd Year Full Time

Why are you at the Darren Clarke Golf School?  To become a better player

What are your highlights of your Darren Clarke Golf School experience to date?  Being a member of  the British Schools Winning Team

What is the greatest thing you have learnt at the golf school so far? How to play better golf

What are your future golf or career ambitions?  To gain employment

How do you feel you have progressed as a player and a person since arriving at the school? Yes indeed

What is your DCGS best Flightscope combined score?  210

Who is your favourite golfer?  N/A

What is your favourite golf course?   Fortwilliam/Hilton

What was your favourite childhood TV show?  Thomas the tank engine

Have you ever had a hole in one? If not have you ever come close?  16^th at Dungannon

Favourite song in the current top 40?   99 Souls

Links or parkland?   Links

Questions about your classmates:

Most likely to be president?  Eric Rumley (Beans)

Most likely to be world number one?  Shea Smyth

Best looking in the morning?  Eric Rumley (Beans)

Most likely to be living at home with their mother at 30?  Cathal Simpson

Most likely to succeed as a golfer, why?  Conor Hagan

Aaron Lennie Bio

DCGS Student Bio

Name: Aaron Lennie

Date: 03/02/2016

Home Golf Club: Clandeboye Golf Club

Handicap: 3

Golf school location:  Antrim           Class: 1^st Year Full Time

Why are you at the Darren Clarke Golf School?  To increase my knowledge and improve my overall game

What are your highlights of your Darren Clarke Golf School experience to date?  The Spain Trip

What is the greatest thing you have learnt at the golf school so far? I have learnt a lot about my strengths and weaknesses which has identified what I need to work on.

What are your future golf or career ambitions?  To become a Tour professional

How do you feel you have progressed as a player and a person since arriving at the school? I feel I have progressed a lot technically in the golf swing and also my fitness.

What is your DCGS best Flightscope combined score?  241         

Who is your favourite golfer?  Jason Day

What is your favourite golf course?   Royal Co Down

What was your favourite childhood TV show?   SpongeBob

Have you ever had a hole in one? If not have you ever come close?  No. Yes extremely

Favourite song in the current top 40?   Renegades

Links or parkland?   Links

Questions about your classmates:

Most likely to be president?  Brendan Lawlor

Most likely to be world number one?  Joseph O’Neill

Best looking in the morning?  Aaron Latus

Most likely to be living at home with their mother at 30?  Ted Harman

Most likely to succeed as a golfer, why?  Luke Foster because of his dedication to getting better

Benjamin McCartney Bio

DCGS Student Blog

 

Name: Benjamin McCartney                                 

Date: 04/01/2016            

Home Golf Club: Hilton Templepatrick

Handicap: 3

Golf school location:  DCGS               Class: 1^st Year Student

Why are you at the Darren Clarke Golf School?

I wanted to get a good balance between my education and golf

What are your highlights of your Darren Clarke Golf School experience to date?

Getting to know everyone and having the opportunity to play with a different group of guys each week

What is the greatest thing you have learnt at the golf school so far?

Practice makes perfect. No matter how good you are you can always get better with the right help

What is your future golf or career ambitions?

To become a PGA Golf Coach

How do you feel you have progressed as a player and a person since arriving at the school?

I have become a more rounded player by understanding the game better and I have become more confident in myself as a person.

What is your DCGS best Flightscope combined score?  243 (Top of the class!)

Who is your favourite golfer? Jason Day

What is your favourite golf course? Royal County Down

What was your favourite childhood TV show? Drake and Josh

Have you ever had a hole in one? If not have you ever come close? Yes (11^th Hole at Hilton)

Favourite song in the current top 40? Downtown - Macklemore

Links or parkland? Links

Questions about your classmates:

Most likely to be president?   Luke Foster

Most likely to be world number one?   Paul Murphy

Best looking in the morning?   Ted Harman

Most likely to be living at home with their mother at 30?    Conor Hagan

Most likely to succeed as a golfer, why?   Joseph O’Neill

Christian Kennedy Bio

DCGS Student Bio 

Name: Christian Kennedy                                       Date: 6/1/16

Home Golf Club: Lisburn Golf Club

Handicap: 3

Golf school location:  Greenmount           

Class: Golf Performance Year

Why are you at the Darren Clarke Golf School?  To improve my overall golfing ability

What are your highlights of your Darren Clarke Golf School experience to date? Meeting new people and learning the different ways to practice.

What is the greatest thing you have learnt at the golf school so far? Best thing I have learnt so far is how to improve my bunker play

What is  your future golf or career ambitions?  My ambitions is to get a scholarship in America

How do you feel you have progressed as a player and a person since arriving at the school? As a player I feel I’m getting better each week, I get more confident and as a person I feel more mature

What is your DCGS best Flightscope combined score?  191

Who is your favourite golfer?  Rory Mcilroy

What is your favourite golf course? Lough Erne

What was your favourite childhood TV show? Scooby dooby doo

Have you ever had a hole in one? If not have you ever come close?  Yes 7^th at Edenmore golf club. My coach Stuart Bickerstaff was playing with me. 

Favourite song in the current top 40? Sorry by Justin Bieber

Links or parkland? Depends on weather but mostly Links

Questions about your classmates:

Most likely to be president?  Luke

Most likely to be world number one?  Paul                                       

Best looking in the morning?  No one

Most likely to be living at home with their mother at 30?  Cathal Simpson

Most likely to succeed as a golfer, why?  Joe O’Neill, he works hard at what he likes to do and is very competitive and is determined to achieve his goal.