This film is part of Free

Irish Open Amateur Championship

Golfers compete in the prestigious tournament.

Sponsored film 1955 8 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for Northern Ireland Screen

Overview

The Mourne mountains provide a majestic backdrop for this celebrated golf championship. The film reveals the singular facets of the course, the nestling greens and the beautiful turf. Competitors and spectators traipse from one hole to another. Interspersed are images of the golfers teeing-off and putting.

The Irish Open Amateur Championship, inaugurated in 1892, was regularly played at Royal County Down. The event was played in match play format before changing to strokeplay in 1958. In 1955 the title was won by Cork's J.F. Fitzgibbon. These colourful rushes are amongst a wealth of footage that was generated by the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. This government department had their own staff who documented the region through stills and moving images and the films they created capture various facets of life in Northern Ireland. This material captures Northern Ireland at an interesting time, post-World War Two and pre-Troubles.