GOLF IS AN OBSESSION IN MY FAMILY
1. How’s your golf?
It’s good, but I just lack consistency.
2. How did you get started in the game?
I played a lot of pitch and putt in my youth and moved on to the bigger course when my dad joined a club and took me along. Golf is now part of the family. Since retirement, my mum has become obsessed with it!
3. Choose your weapon. Driver or putter? And why?
Driver. You can’t beat the feeling of connecting a long, straight drive.
4. When were you happiest on the golf course?
Winning money from the lads.
5. Who’s your sporting hero?
I love watching old clips of Ali, and more recently when I was making the step into full-time sport, Roy Keane’s determination, standards and work ethic provided a lot of inspiration.
6. Name an opponent or rival you especially admired and why.
Martyn Rooney [GB 400m athlete] was for many years my training partner but also my big rival in competitive races. As training partners, we pushed each other every day to become better and faster, but I always admired his resilience in dealing with setbacks and injuries. Regardless of what would happen during a training year, he would always toe the line at a championship and find a performance regardless of how his training had gone.
7. What’s your golfing ambition?
I’m always looking to improve but, generally, it’s to get my handicap down to single figures.
8. Name your dream fourball and name the venue.
Augusta with Pádraig Harrington, Paul McGinley and Roy Keane.
9. What’s the best tip you’ve ever received, golfing or otherwise?
Drive for show and putt for dough. You use the putter more than any other club.
10. If I gave you a mulligan in your athletics career, what would it be?
Staying in the UK, trusting myself and not heading to train in the States. You have to do your due diligence and my relocation to the States ended in injury and I missed the 2011 and 2012 seasons, which was hard to take. The environment didn’t suit me. I don’t regret giving it a go, but in hindsight, I should have looked into what life would have been like away from the track, not just the training element. Happy off the track, happy on the track.
11. Is there a course you’d love to play before you die?
Lahinch and Augusta.
12. What’s your favourite Irish course?
Glen Mill in Wicklow, just down the road. It’s always in great condition, and it will provide a challenge. It’s also excellent value for money.
13. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
The grass is not always greener, and trust your gut!
14. What’s your motto?
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Einstein.
15. What’s your most treasured possession?
Last year my grandmother passed away, and recently we were clearing out her house. I managed to take the one and only kitchen stool, doesn’t sound like much but this stool is older than me, and if it could talk... It was ever present in my Gran’s kitchen and it was the seat each member of the family would have sat on to tell my Gran stories, troubles, gain advice and put the world to rights.
16. If you could change something about your golf, what would it be?
My putting stroke. It lacks consistency, and at times I get myself into a really good position, but mess it up on the green. It’s very frustrating.
17. What’s your idea of perfect happiness?
Contentment in one’s self along with that ability to switch off and enjoy the things that really matter in life. Simple and attainable activity such as walking with my family in a peaceful and tranquil setting.
18. Who made the David Gillick story possible?
I will always remember the day I decided to move to England and become a full-time athlete. I was sitting at home in Ballinteer one evening and I was contemplating my future. I had just finished college and I was wondering if I should get a job, go travelling with the lads or see how far I could go with athletics. My mum, who was doing the ironing, simply said, “David, you’ve got a God-given talent, move to England and give it go.” It was the defining moment in my running career.