Being made an offer you can’t refuse conjures images of hulking figures in fedoras who leave severed horses heads at the end of your bed. For Catherine McGrath, one of the most impressive business people you are likely to meet, it was a happy event that meant the end of her career in the free-range egg business and the start of a brand new enterprise that became Cregmore Park Golf Club. It’s a wonderful story of good old fashioned get-up-and-go, of family values and the benefits of hard work, and it’s been an enormous boon to golf in the Galway area. Ideally situated, just eight miles from Galway city centre and a mere five miles from Athenry, Claregalway and Oranmore, the golf course designed by the late Dr Arthur Spring opened for business in 2007. While the economic crash soon followed, it’s come through those tough times with flying colours and continues to flourish. That’s a credit to Mrs McGrath, who worked for 21 years as a nurse at Merlin Park University Hospital before cutbacks by the health service reduced her working hours and obliged her to seek ways to supplement her income as her husband Murty ran their mixed farm on some 200 acres. “I started a business selling free-range eggs in 1992, and I grew it and grew it for the next 16 years,” Catherine explains. “The boom was on, and I got an offer for the company that I just couldn’t refuse. “We had a big business supplying free-range eggs all throughout the west, and we basically got an offer of a few million and just ploughed that right into creating the golf course, to be honest. “The kids were all getting their degrees at the time, and farming is not an enterprise for young people because you never know when your money is coming in. “So we built the course on what was a family farm, and lo and behold, the recession came in February 2008. So it was a tough start. It was a blessing the family could row in behind us – two boys and four girls who were going through their college days at a time. “As we used to say during the recession, it could only get better and better it did get in the last two years especially.”

The family was fortunate in its choice of course architect – “an out and out gentleman”– as Dr Spring created a spacious, par-72 on 180 acres measuring 7,088 yards from the blues and 5,635 yards from the red tees.
Laid out in two loops of nine, each boasting two par-fives and two par-threes, no more than two consecutive holes run in the same direction, leading to a varied and testing examination of the game, emphasising straight hitting.
“All 18 holes will call for accuracy and strategic placement of every shot on this course,” the designer said of the course, struggling to pick out a favourite amongst so many strong holes.
“That said, the par-three 16th, with the lake spanning the distance between tee and semi-island green makes for a wonderful spectacle and is sure to introduce a fair element of excitement. Suffice it to say that, with a good card in your pocket, this hole will test the nerves.”
He went on: “On the day I first walked the site, I knew that there was a special ambience. When members and visitors experience this, they will wish to return to Cregmore Park on a regular basis.”
He was proven correct as the initial membership of just 65 souls has since grown to some 600 as the course and driving range sits at the heart of a busy catchment area.
The course has come on hugely in recent times following the appointment of greenkeeper Damien McLaverty to a staff that also includes Catherine’s son Ronan.
“When it opened first, the course ran into a lot of weather problems with snows and floods at that time, but it’s really come on,” explains men’s captain, Dinny Monaghan. “We’ve had a huge influx of members and everyone has commended the club on the course. Damien McLaverty has been very, very good, and Catherine McGrath is a fantastic businesswoman. She’s there seven days a week behind the counter.”
The club’s 10-bay, covered driving range is a significant plus, and the entire operation is a constant hive of activity with Catherine ever-present at the helm, making plans to build a new driveway and complete a significant tree-planting programme on the course.
“I don’t want to be blowing my own trumpet, but there’s a great family buzz around the place,” she says. “It’s a family-oriented place, and it’s no effort at all to create that atmosphere. The members all enjoy it, and even through the recession, most of our members stuck with us and the younger people that had to leave because of work or other things, they came back to us again. So we must be doing something right because the course is improving at a great rate.”
The club did not sit still during the lockdown with Catherine directing operations – painting, decluttering and generally tidying up as course renovations and daily maintenance went on.
As for taking up golf, that’s the only offer she’s so far refused.
“I just wouldn’t have the patience,” she admits with a chuckle. “If the ball didn’t go into the hole, I’d be gone!”