His friends at Lakeside Pitch & Putt Club pay tribute to the late Paddy Purcell

The passing of Paddy Purcell, (RIP), Clifton, Co. Galway and formerly Templemore, is recalled in a tribute by the friends of Lakeside Pitch & Putt Club.
He was with us when we needed him
And he toiled in no man’s land.
He lived the dreams of Charlie
And rolled back the drifting sand.

The news of Paddy’s passing came as a shock and a sense of disbelief to his many friends at Lakeside and Templemore.
He came on board the committee sometime in the 1970’s, often referred to as the hungry years, when the course resembled no man’s land and the word glory was unheard of.

While the club enjoyed some success in the years following it’s opening, it experienced a serious decline over the next six years or so. Lack of finance and proper equipment meant the committee were unable to maintain the course to an acceptable standard, and as a result there was little or no income from membership and greens fees.

Paddy who was affectionally referred to as the “PP” regularly posed a lonely figure, complete with pick and shovel digging drains to alleviate the flooding during the winter months. Then, on a cold frosty November night in 1977 a meeting was convened in the old club house (a shed) and the only item on the agenda was, should the ground be returned to the council or should they make a final effort to restore it to something like it was originally.

All present on the night including the “PP” were mindful of the founding members and their role in providing this amenity - therefore the decision to bring the club back to life, or at least try, was unanimous. A week or so later a further meeting took place during which a fund raising campaign was launched the likes of which wasn’t seen before or since and went on forever. While fund raising is never easy it’s surprising what you’ll do and what can be achieved if you believe in the cause and Paddy played a leading role when canvassing his wide circle of friends.

Every Friday night the draw was held in the Old Arms Hotel, winners were declared, cards returned to the promoters, and it was back on the campaign trail for the following week.

Over the following six years the club underwent a complete transformation with occasional breaks from the fund raising. Eighteen new greens were put in place, a new club house was built with water and electricity laid on, followed later with a sprinkler system and the “PP” was in the thick of all this activity. By 1983 the greens were finally taking shape and were open to green fees. The previous year we had applied to host an open weekend which was granted for August ’83 and it proved to be great success.

That year Paddy was appointed the first club Captain in recognition of his services to the club, and his role in helping to make the “impossible dream” a reality can’t be over stated. One of the great stories during his time with the club concerns the old tractor which was very temperamental when it came to starting it. Most who tried it walked away in despair but not the “PP”. It was as if there was a special bond between them.

The story goes whenever Paddy arrived on the course the tractor would immediately spring to life on its own, and Paddy made the most of the good humoured notoriety that had attached itself to that story. Sometime in the mid 1980’s he moved to Clifton with his wife Connie and family to make a new life for themselves.
In June 1989 the Pitch & Putt Union nominated Lakeside to host the Gents National Matchplay Finals which is the blue ribbon event in their calendar and Paddy returned from Galway to be part of that historic and memorably weekend during which he was presented with a memento of the occasion. He returned to Templemore again in 2015 when the club celebrated its 50th anniversary.

What is not generally known about the “PP” was his love of athletics especially cross country and while we don’t know what success if any he enjoyed, we know he competed against some of top athletes in Munster in his younger days. During his time at Lakeside Paddy was hugely popular with members and casual players alike. He was a quiet soft spoken honourable gentleman who always avoided controversy. He played very little Pitch and Putt and was at his best buzzing around the course with his tractor and gang mower and generally carrying out maintenance work.
Over the years Lakeside has won many awards including two ‘National Course of the Year’ awards and we should never forget the role the “PP” played in making that possible.

The “PP” may be gone, But the dream lives on. On behalf of the friends of Lakeside also his w ide circle of friends in Templemore and Loughmore we offer our condolences to his wife Connie, sons, daughters, grandchildren, brothers and sisters and extended family members.

‘Rest in peace old friend and may heaven be your home.’