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League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories A crowd at the Esker Hills clubhouse celebrates Shane Lowry's victory at The Open in 2019.Tommy Dickson/INPHO Where it all started 'We're so glad to be part of such a good story' - A day spent at the club that made Shane Lowry The 42 speaks to some of the people who knew Shane Lowry when he started out at Esker Hills. 7.01am, 27 Oct 2025 Share options Sinead Farrell IT’S THE DAY after the 2009 Irish Open, and a telegram has just come in to the Esker Hills golf club in Offaly. It’s coming in from Portugal just as the newly crowned champion Shane Lowry is coming back home with the trophy. The telegram is from the course designer, and Irish golf icon, Christy O’Connor Junior. He’s away on holidays but he wants to pay tribute to the club, and to Lowry for a sensational win. With so much going on trying to host a homecoming, there’s little time to look at the telegram. But it a goes bit like this: “I said I was going to make this place famous. And now Shane is making it famous.” The entrance to the Esker Hills golf club. Ten years on, and Esker Hills has received another piece of correspondence. This time it’s an email. The members are celebrating Shane Lowry’s latest milestone success, his first Major at The Open in Portrush, when it hits the inbox. “Mr Molloy, I was right!,” it begins, addressing the club director and mastermind behind the creation of Esker Hills. Ray Molloy is transported back to a day in 2006 or 2007, when Lowry was about 16, as he reads on. The sender is from Navan. He’s contacting Molloy to remind him of an occasion when he played at Esker Hills, and Lowry was playing in a group behind him. The Navan man started to gradually notice Lowry’s skills as his round progressed. And when his round was over, he decided to take a closer look. Molloy takes up the story from there. “When he came to the 18th, they were just on the green. And the next thing they saw this tee shot coming up within 30 yards of the green. It would have been at least 280 yards, 290 yards tee shot, which would be above most of us. “They put back in the flag and they stood to one side of the hole. And this chip came in and the flag was at the back of the green. It hopped about 12, 13 foot beyond it. One of the lads said, ‘It’s long.’ And next thing, it spun back within six inches of the hole. He came up with one club and he just tapped it in.” It’s a Sunday afternoon at Esker Hills golf club as we hop into a buggy. The 42 sits in the passenger’s seat while Ray Molloy slips in behind the wheel. A towel is placed beneath us as it’s been raining heavily but the sun is moving out from behind the clouds now, and the course in Esker Hills is there to be seen in all its glory. The first tee is just in front of the clubhouse, up a short hill. Pictures of Shane Lowry in victory mode greet us on the ascent. A Par 5 with dog leg to the right, you need your compass dialled in if you want to arrow your ball around the trees and into position on the fairway. And that’s just a flavour of what’s to come. Almost every hole at Esker Hills is a test of what you have in your golf bag. Hills. Dips. Mounds. Slopes. Elevated tee boxes and raised greens. Complicated putts with a lot of break that demand accurate reads. These are the things that would break a beginner golfer. And they’re all here in abundance at Esker Hills. A group of young boys are preparing to tee off as we pass. They’re not the only youngsters we meet as we move along through the full 18 holes. The walk up to the first hole at Esker Hills golf club. “This lady is looking to chat to some good golfers,” Molloy says to another bunch further along in their round. “Tell her to keep going,” they respond jokingly. They’re standing where Lowry once stood. He was their age once, when it was all before him. “It’s a course that would put manners on you,” says Molloy. And so it would. This is where it all started for Shane Lowry. This is the terrain where a Ryder Cup hero, an Irish Open champion, and 2019 winner of The Open was forged. It’s around lunchtime, and some of the regulars of the Esker Hills golf club are gathered in the clubhouse. Brothers Willie and Brendan O’Shea, members since it was first opened in 1996, play here every weekend. They’re already sitting down to tea when I arrive. Ray Molloy is with them. He’s writing down the names of the other important people who we will meet later. There’s pictures of Shane Lowry all around us, on the walls and in the cabinet. The first golf bag he received as a professional is in there too. It was here that Brendan O’Shea had a chance encounter with Lowry before his stunning victory at the 2009 Irish Open in Baltray when he was still an amateur. Lowry, of course, was never expected to compete in what was his debut at a professional event. The field was packed with some of the world’s best golfers including Rory McIlroy and Pádraig Harrington. But Brendan O’Shea decided to quiz Lowry about his chances. “He says, ‘As much as I know here [Esker Hills], I know Baltray more. I know it like the back of my hand.’ “He was 1000/1 at the time and I never put that on. I was sick.” The O’Sheas witnessed some of Lowry’s milestones moments here in the clubhouse. This is where they watched a proud son of Offaly win his first Major at The Open in 2019. They were in the clubhouse again three years later to see Lowry prevail at the BMW PGA Championship in Wentworth. There was a crowd in here recently for Lowry’s high-pressure putt which ensured Europe retained the Ryder Cup, but the O’Sheas watched it elsewhere. Advertisement Shane Lowry celebrates winning the Irish Open in 2009.Cathal Noonan / INPHO Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO Former club captain Gerry Buckley, who is also a referee with the Golf Union of Ireland [GUI], was in Portrush in 2019. “We had tickets for the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. We had no tickets for the Saturday or Sunday, but we were very lucky to meet a couple of people from Royal County Down on the way out. They got us two tickets and we got another two tickets up there. So, we drove up early on the Sunday morning and got home in the small hours of Monday morning.” Everyone here today can still see a young Shane Lowry coming through the gates of Esker Hills on his bike, ready to hit some shots after completing the four-mile cycle from his home in Clara. That was a regular sight for everyone in the club at the time. Practically every day. “When he was supposed to be in school,” Brendan O’Shea adds with a smile. Playing 45 holes in one day would not be unusual for Lowry in those days. Breaking only for food and a brief reset, he was always watchful of the groups that were arriving for their tee-time. Hungry for more, he’d offer himself if they needed another player. “‘Are ye short one?’” says Brendan, quoting Lowry from memory. “We’d play Sunday morning,” he continues. “We’d go out at nine o’clock and Shane would already have been out playing 18 [holes]. “He’d go back out and play another one. He’d come back in again, and he might go back out to play nine again.” Lowry wasn’t a standout talent from the beginning. He started out by playing pitch and putt in Clara where he learned the importance of having a good short game. He learned how to strengthen it at Esker Hills. Molloy recalls him as a quiet boy for his first two years at the club. Not too different from any of the other boys around. The needle started to move when people started remarking on the technique of Lowry’s swing and the precision of his chipping. “He’d come every day and spend hours out there,” says Willie O’Shea, clearly still marvelled by what he saw when Lowry first started out. “Just practicing, practicing, practicing. He’d spend four hours chipping at one hole. It was amazing how it worked out for him. We don’t remember anybody else doing it at the time. He was so dedicated.” The first golf bag Shane Lowry received as a professional is proudly displayed at Esker Hills. As Lowry continued to reach an advanced level with his game, the club took the decision to award him a senior handicap. Some questioned the decision at the time but those who were truly clued in to his progress could sense that he was ready for the next step. “People said he was too young to get a senior handicap,” says Molloy. “But he answered that within a month when he got second in a member’s prize, and got first the next week. “And once he got better, he was cute enough to play with low handicappers to make him better.” Brendan O’Shea can recall playing against a 14-year-old Lowry in matchplay. O’Shea was the victor and he still considers that win to be a badge of pride when he looks at how Lowry has flourished in the game. “Every time I see him on television, I say, ‘Imagine, I bet you?’” he smiles. The current men’s captain at Esker Hills, Andy Hoctor, has a similar story. Hoctor’s connection with the Lowry family goes beyond what he knows of Shane as a golfer. When he was younger, Hoctor was the ball boy for the Offaly footballers when they won the 1982 All-Ireland final. That brought him into the orbit of Shane’s father Brendan along with his uncles Seán and Mick. All stars of the team. But back to the golf. It was a Winter League some years ago in Esker Hills, and Hoctor was paired with Lowry. They were coming to the 12th or 13th hole when darkness descended and and a car light was switched on to guide their remaining shots. “He hit the ball and it was pitch dark,” Hoctor continues. “I hit mine and didn’t know where it went. He was six foot from the pin. “I was like, ‘Who’s this fella?’” The approach into the 14th hole at Esker Hills.Kevin Markham Kevin Markham At some point during the chat, Lowry’s uncle Tommy Scanlon comes in to take a seat. A brother of Lowry’s mother, Bridget, he’s had a front row seat for the Lowry show. And he has plenty of stories about his nephew that leaves the others in knots. He confirms the talk about how Lowry prioritised golf over education and that he skipped school “a good few times” to be at Esker Hills. It was a similar story when he was old enough to start a part-time job at Jimmy Rabbitte’s hardware shop in Clara. “Shane used to ask Bridget if he could go to Moate to play golf and she said, ‘No.’ “He’d be like a divil and Jimmy Rabbitte said to him, ‘I’ll bring you out but don’t tell your mother.’” Eventually the chat among the men fills the room. All enthusiastically bringing their associations with Lowry to the table. All still entranced by his enduring legacy, and the positive impact on their club. Scanlon gets them going again by telling a story he heard at the homecoming after Lowry won The Open in 2019. An old hurling manager of Lowry’s was laughing about putting pressure on him to commit to the team instead of playing golf. “You could be on the Clara Junior hurling team and be in goal,” Scanlon says, taking up the story he was told as the laughter erupts around us. “Imagine me doing that to that gossun? “And he was self-taught. “That’s right. “He learned everything out here on his own. “He was 15 or 16 when he really got it. It’s amazing isn’t it? “And then to bring the Claret Jug here, that was marvellous. We always called it the Clara Jug. “He walked in and he handed it to Packy [Taylor] and Liam Wyer and says, ‘Here ye are, boys.’ And walked away. “It was the biggest thing. He done a one-to-one with Michael Duignan. It was very intimate. He spent an hour out there on the putting green, signing autographs in the rain. He had a word with everyone in here then and it was really personal.” The great Christy O’Connor Junior has just started walking through a farm near Tullamore when he turns around to make a bold prediction. “Lads,” he begins. “You’ve something special here. I’ll make this place famous for you if you let me at it.” The year is 1994 and Ray Molloy is the reason O’Connor is here. One of the biggest names in Irish golf, O’Connor has just recently designed a golf course at the Glasson Lakehouse resort in Westmeath. Molloy, an avid golfer since finishing up his days playing hurling and football, wants him to reproduce some of that inventive magic here. Christy O'Connor Junior pictured in 2000.Andrew Paton / INPHO Andrew Paton / INPHO / INPHO There’s a golf club in Tullamore but it’s difficult to become a member there due to its growing popularity. The farm belongs to Molloy’s brother but the land isn’t suitable for agriculture. With the backing of his family, he wants to repurpose the acreage as a golf club. O’Connor agrees to come down and they go for a walk through the farm. They stop at an area that will later become the third hole when O’Connor excitedly reveals a vision that aligns with Molloy’s. “There was a lot of talk and so forth,” Molloy adds. “So, he came back a couple more times and then he produced little drawings and we smiled when we saw the way he was taking it. “We opened then in June of 1996. And it was a real hot year that didn’t suit us. We were trying to water our fairways and we wanted the grass to be green, and it wasn’t green, but that was it. He did a superb job because no change has been made to the course since.” The membership was at around 100 in the early days. According to Molloy, they “didn’t do everything right in the beginning.” But they battled through those growing pains, and retained the loyalty of members like the O’Shea brothers and others while they figured it out. Molloy isn’t sure of the particulars but he reckons Lowry first joined as a 12-year-old between 1998 and 1999. Still trying to find their feet, the club didn’t have a junior section at the time. Lowry didn’t have a coach but managed to teach the art to himself. Back in Esker Hills clubhouse, the conversation shifts to the course record. Both of the O’Shea brothers thrash out the names of who they think might be. It’s not still Lowry. They’re certain of that much. Surely someone has surpassed his effort by now. As they continue racking their brains for the answer, Molloy walks over to us with a photo frame in his hand. As he flips it around, we can see that a scorecard sits behind the glass. It’s dated September 18th, 2005. The score is 65 and the player is Shane Lowry. Seven birdies, 10 pars and one bogey. Never been beaten since. Shane Lowry's course record of 65 which he set in 2005. It was signed at the time by Paul Rabbitte who was playing alongside Lowry in a competition when the score occurred. And just as we are making this discovery, Rabbitte walks in to the room. He’s here for his tee time but can spare a few minutes to sit down and recount his memories of that day. “There’s two shots that really stand out,” he begins. “There was a bunker on the 11th, front right. He hit a bad second shot into the bunker. It was a 40-yard bunker shot [and] he pulled it into six inches [to the hole]. “And then on the 16th hole, he hit a drive that went out to a rock. It was a guided missile that just turned at the rock onto the middle of the green. It was a Par 5 at the time [with a] dog leg. “And he bogeyed the 17th. He could have been one shot better.” The 17th green which Lowry bogeyed on the day he set the course record in 2005.Kevin Markham Kevin Markham Lowry’s level of excellence took him by surprise at the time. They were just enjoying each other’s company over the first few holes before Rabbitte realised that Lowry was purring. He declines to reveal his score from the day, which is understandable. “We were all delighted for him. He was top class at that time. He was just tipping around and he just happened to be five-under. I didn’t shoot anywhere near that.” For much of his early years, he was ‘Brendan Lowry’s son’. It was always there, hovering above him throughout his breakthrough as an amateur. Being the son of a successful athlete can be a heavy burden to carry. They live with the weight of their parent’s legacy. All-Irelands hold little significance to golf fans abroad but Celtic Crosses are high-value currency at home. Brendan Lowry was part of a famous Offaly team who won the 1982 All-Ireland SFC final, stopping a great Kerry team from completing a historic five-in-a-row. His brothers Seán and Mick were also involved, playing as defenders that day while Brendan scored three points from corner-forward. Shane and his father Brendan after winning The Open in 2019.Morgan Treacy / INPHO Morgan Treacy / INPHO / INPHO There is a serendipitous link between the two. Srixon produced a golf ball for Shane which has the number 15 on it. That number signifies both his winning score of 15-under in The Open, and the jersey number his father wore for Offaly. A comparable GAA career was never in the stars for Shane but he did play hurling and football for Clara up to around minor level. Similar to his father, he was a corner-forward and free-taker for the footballers, and played in goal for the hurlers. “He’s a good free-taker but he’s lazy,” his uncle Tommy Scanlon jokes. “That’s why he took up the golf.” Despite his commitments on the PGA Tour, Lowry continues to be a passionate supporter of Offaly GAA. He’s a regular sight at hurling and football matches, proudly wearing his green, white and gold jersey energetically celebrating their victories. The wealth he has generated from his success as a professional golfer has also enabled Lowry to provide sponsorship for both his club and his county teams. Shane Lowry celebrates after Offaly's victory in the 2021 All-Ireland U20 final.Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO His father Brendan is a constant feature at Lowry’s tournaments and he remains a core member of the Esker Hills golf club through his work with the junior golfers. “Brendan’s the man,” adds Brendan O’Shea. “The amount of young kids that come out on a Monday evening and head to the driving range. Balls flying everywhere. They run out of balls and have to try and slow them down.” Andy Hoctor is equally grateful for Brendan Lowry’s input with the younger members at the club. And to Shane too, for inspiring them to believe that his achievements could be theirs one day. “It gives them the ability to dream and think [that] someone from around here made it to the level he did. If he can get there, why can’t we?” Becoming just Shane took time. Earning a spot on the Irish Boys’ squad at 17 in 2005 helped unpick the lock. Winning the Irish Close Championship two years later liberated him too, especially since he played with a borrowed set of clubs after losing his own at the East of Ireland Championship. He captured the prestigious Mullingar Scratch Cup in 2008. His brother Alan, a brilliant amateur golfer, also won that tournament in 2015. Ray Molloy pictured with Alan Lowry in 2015 when Shane won the WGC Bridgestone Invitational.James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO But it was the events of 2009 that truly elevated Shane Lowry. Winning the Irish Open and turning professional within days of each other did more than simply accelerate his career. It transcended golf and made him a household name in Irish sport. “I think people totally underestimate how talented Shane is,” says Gerry Buckley. “I don’t know that Shane always gets the credit he deserves to be honest. People were slow to give him credit when he started, asking ‘Was he lucky to win the Irish Open as an amateur?’ You’ve all these lads playing as professionals every week and he went out and beat every one of them. That was a huge indication of what was to come.” For every great moment in the Shane Lowry highlights reel, there’s a moment of misfortune to illuminate the scale of his journey. After winning The Open in 2019, Lowry told the media that he cried in a car park at Carnoustie after missing the cut at The Open for the fourth year running. He lost his PGA Tour card in 2018, which makes winning his first Major the following year all the more remarkable. At this year’s Open, Lowry was slapped with a two-shot penalty following his second round over a blade of grass causing his ball to move while taking a practice swing. Lowry endured bad luck in his amateur career too. He was disqualified from the 2006 West of Ireland Championship after signing for an incorrect score. A few weeks later, he forgot to sign his card at the Irish Amateur Open in Portmarnock. “He bounced back and I suppose that’s the mentality there,” says his uncle Tommy Scanlon. ”That’s why he’s that little bit special.” The rulebook can be the undoing of a golfer and Lowry is not the only one to trip into one of the many landmines. It’s an area of the game that Gerry Buckley tries to emphasise to the younger members at Esker Hills. “We held talks with underage golfers earlier this year in the club about getting the basics right. “It’s such a different sport to hurling or football, where you walk out and you do your thing. Golf is a kind of a self-governing game from that perspective. You need to get your own house in order before you go to the first tee.” Shane Lowry after nailing the decisive putt which secured the Ryder Cup for Europe.Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo Ray Molloy wishes they kept more of the mementos that came to the club throughout Lowry’s career. That telegram from Christy O’Connor Junior has disappeared, as did that email from the man from Navan. It was just hard to keep pace with it all. “Things happen so fast here that they just went by us nearly.” Esker Hills will celebrate its 30th anniversary next year but has already enjoyed days that some clubs can only contemplate. Tourists often call to see the place that made Shane Lowry and they’ve had television cameras at their door too. “When he [Lowry] won The Open, they did the news from here on the Monday,” says Molloy. “The sports was on at half six or seven o’clock and it was done from the putting green.” Another homecoming is imminent to celebrate Lowry’s Ryder Cup success. Lowry was a captain’s pick for that win in Bethpage Black, and was forced to suffer through vitriolic abuse before silencing them all with a magnificent putt. It will make the homecoming in Esker Hills all the sweeter. That will all happen in its own time as Lowry is still on tour, and is in Abu Dhabi next for the HSBC Championship on 6 November. Over to Ray Molloy for the final word to sum it all up. “People often ask me, ‘Have ye another Shane Lowry coming?’ Won’t happen again in my lifetime. It’ll be another 50 years before we have another Irishman do what Shane has done. “Everybody’s so nice to us and so kind. We’re so glad to be part of such a good story. And the real story won’t be told of Shane for another 15 years. We’ll fully realize then how good he was.” Sinead Farrell Viewcomments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “'We're so glad to be part of such a good story' - A day spent at the club that made Shane Lowry”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “'We're so glad to be part of such a good story' - A day spent at the club that made Shane Lowry”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. Please give full details of the problem with the comment... This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy before taking part. Leave a Comment Submit a report Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines. Damaging the good reputation of someone, slander, or libel. 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