Taylor Made Couple “Bag” Funds Fore Aware
I'd like to share a good news story with you this week! I had the good fortune to attend the wedding of my good friend and fellow PGA Professional Brian Cosgrove a year ago. He was marrying his childhood sweetheart Eimear Lavelle in Belmullet, Co. Mayo. We had a fantastic weekend in the Wild West and Brian and Eimear celebrated their first anniversary on the 28th December just gone.
Now if you know Brian like I do you will know he always has a scheme or something in the pipeline to keep you on your toes and his wedding day was no exception!
One of the stars on the big day was a Taylor Made golf bag. The bag took pride of place at the welcome reception in the Broadhaven Bay Hotel with many people taking photos as it had been logoed especially. It added greatly to the golf theme on the day but I for one did not realise the fun to be had the following night.
Brian and Eimear had come up with a novel idea to raise some money for Aware, a charity that is close to their hearts. On the night after the wedding the happy couple hosted a barbecue for friends and family at Belmullet Golf Club. “Decky Rock” was the man on stage for the night and the Clubhouse was rocking. The idea was to have a raffle to win the golf bag. Around 11pm John “Fun Bobby” Conmy’s burgers had gone down well and the porter was flowing when Brian took to the stage, microphone in hand, to start proceedings. He explained what they were doing and ticket sellers came around the room. The bar was mayhem at the time with about 150 people in attendance. I remember Michael Van Gerwen and Adrian Lewis having a cracking battle in the World Darts Championships on TV, Ger McDonnell giving a demonstration of his new set up and posture position in the corner of the bar and Martin Kennedy telling the Mayo folk how much the Dubs were going to hammer them by in the championship. It was great craic watching the drama unfold.
The first draw took in about €700 and the winner of the bag was Monica Henry. Now Monica is not a golfer so she decided to put the bag up for auction even though her husband Seamus (a notorious 15 handicapper) could have used it!! Brian conducted the auction from the middle of the bar and everyone had a bid to get the price up for the eventual buyer. The aforementioned Seamus finally bought the bag for €270 which was great for the charity. A final sting in the tail was to come though when Seamus decided to generously raffle the bag again as long as a new batch of tickets was sold! Around the room we went again. And as Van Gerwen won the darts and Ger convinced the Broderick Twins of his new way to play golf another €480 was raised before the final draw was done.
The lucky winner was Army officer and renowned GAA Strength and conditioning coach Ross Dunphy. Wexford man, Ross, who studied in UL with Brian and has been a friend for many years, is an occasional golfer but according to those in the know he’s a precocious talent. Incidentally he then got into his car at about midnight and drove home to Naas as he was training a team the following morning!
After that, things became a bit blurry (I don’t think they have closing times in Mayo!) but after a healthy contribution from the new Mr. and Mrs. the eventual total raised was around €1800 for Aware.
Everyone agreed on what a great weekend it was and what a generous way for Brian and Eimear to start off their married life but we’ve come to expect nothing less from this cool couple.
Brian and Eimear… Stay Classy!!!!!
Best Wishes
Mark Collins
