The ILGU book turned into a labour of love. The women who founded it were the suffragettes of golf
1. How’s your golf?
I did not play at all this winter, and it shows. Currently making a big effort to resurrect the semblance of a golf swing, but it is like ironing a shirt. You think you are making progress, but more crinkles keep appearing. I hate playing badly, and my patience, which was never my strongest attribute is being stretched to its limits.
2. How did you get started in the game?
Both of my parents were golfers and my three brothers (Robert, Brien and Dermot) and I gravitated towards the game in the most natural way. Golf was a way of life in our house, and it still is.
My mother might have been the keenest of us all. She had a notice on her kitchen door: Only Golf Spoken Here! It was the perfect title for my first book.
3. Choose your weapon…. Driver or putter? And why?
When I was a ‘proper golfer’ the putter was my weapon of choice, I clobbered opponents with my PING O-Blade, which Eamon Darcy kindly picked out for me at The Open in 1976. I had my best years thanks to that putter. My driving was suspect back then. I could never rely on it but, I was a very good iron player.
It is the other way around now, but I’m not claiming any credit. The modern golf ball and high tech drivers as big as frying pans flatter one.
4.Linksorparkland?
Always the links! I like to see the ball bounce and roll. Having no trees as obstructions is a bonus.
5. When were you happiest on the golf course?
Gosh, did I ever give the impression of being happy? Seriously, when I was playing in Barton Shield matches with Vincent Nevin or Jackie Harrington as my partner and we were ‘on the tear.’ Jackie and I began an All-Ireland semi-final match at Tramore in 1976 with five birdies. That sure made me happy!
Vincent and I were virtually unbeatable. Largely, because I did what I was told. Jackie never issued any instructions, he was the coolest of dudes!
Captaining an All-Ireland winning Fred Daly team in 2016 might have been my happiest moment because every member of the team reached his potential on that special day. I am very proud that I helped to engineer it.
6. Who’s your sporting hero?
Rugby was my first love and Jackie Kyle my first hero – I was transfixed by him as a kid and tried to play rugby just like him. As an adult, CMH Gibson became my hero. I am still being told that I should never have given up rugby. It suited my aggressive temperament better than golf.
7. Name an opponent or teammate you especially admired and why.
Denis O’Sullivan because of his transparent love for the game. We played foursomes for Munster together and have remained the best of friends.
8. What’s your golfing ambition? Do you have one?
I’d love to be able to reduce my handicap to respectability again. I hate it that my youngest brother, Dermot, is lower than me!
9. Name your dream fourball. And name the venue.
It would have to be Heavenly Gates, which always looks uncannily like Sunningdale in my dreams. My companions would be Christy Senior (what shots he could play), Harry Bradshaw (what yarns he would tell) and Seve because he told me I was HIS hero! That story is in Life as a Way of Golf.
I’d also love to tee it up with my best, lifetime golf buddies: James Carew, Gerard Enright, Tony Costello and Derry Culligan what fun we would have dissecting the golf swing. I miss them all hugely.
10. You’ve just written two books – “A History of Women’s Golf in Ireland” to mark the 125th anniversary of the founding of the ILGU and “125 years of golf at Ballybunion”. What surprising things did you learn?
In the Ballybunion book, I was intrigued how the course developed through the random actions of various members, none of whom were expert golfers. The story of Club Manager, Sean Walsh and his sons, driving down the 16th fairway during a ferocious storm in 1977 with headlights on to appraise the damage and discovering a dead pig is an unforgettable story.
The ILGU book turned into a labour of love. I met so many wonderful ladies during my research. The women who founded the ILGU (the first national ladies golf union in the world) were the suffragettes of golf! My biggest surprise was to learn that Irish women have won more British Amateur Open Championships than our men.
11. If I gave you a mulligan in your golfing career, what would it be?
That’s easy! I should have laid up on the 18th in the inter-pros at Portrush in 1970. If I had done, Munster would have beaten Leinster and won the championship. That one stray shot still haunts me.
12. Is there a course you’d love to play before you shuffle off this mortal coil?
I presume you mean one I haven’t yet played? Not too many of those, you know! Cypress Point.
13. What’s your favourite parthree?
The 13th at Rosses Point. It seems I have made a lot of 2s there!
14. If you could change one thing about golf, what would it be?
A 54/16 format in our amateur championships. It would breed tougher competitors. I don’t like the mollycoddling of our top players by the GUI. There’s no mollycoddling on tour. Amateur golf is bedevilled by stagnant wages, student debt and rising costs. The 16 qualifiers should be remunerated appropriately.
15. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Have more patience.
16. What’s your most treasured possession (golfing or otherwise)?
I have no meas on medals and trophies, but I do my love my large collection of golf books.
17. Who’s your favourite golfer of all time?
Peter Thomson, the Melbourne Lion. I have met him, and to my amazement, he had read The Doonbeg Ghosts (my third book). He told me I ‘get golf’ and to publish and be damned. That was some praise!
18. What’s your idea of perfect happiness?
No such thing as perfect happiness, it does not exist but playing a game of golf somewhere exotic with my wife, the Sainted Marie, but only if she is playing well and enjoying herself too.