Tralee’s Young retires as course superintendent
TRALEE course superintendent JJ Young who retired at the end of October after 41 years of outstanding service to the club was honoured by a special tournament at the club last weekend attended by members and friends who turned out to celebrate his retirement.
A native of Causeway, JJ joined the staff of Tralee Golf Club on November 1, 1976 as course manager at the old nine-hole course in Mounthawk close to the town where he remained until the club moved to its current location their new links at Barrow in 1984.
Scottish native Bill Semple was appointed as Tralee’s first course superintendent back then and JJ worked under him for a period of ten years before he assumed the role he held until his retirement.
Working under six different managers in his time from Paddy Carey in Mounthawk to the current incumbent Anthony Byrne, JJ says the highlight of his career at Tralee was seeing the course develop from its infancy to what it is today.
“My highlight is looking back on what I have achieved for Barrow especially for the past eight or ten years when we went through a cultural change in greens bringing back the natural grasses,” he told The Kerryman.
JJ says that he was not really one for meeting the many celebrities who have played Tralee but says that meeting Arnold Palmer back in 2002 was indeed a thrill and a highlight for him also.
In spite of the on-course rivalry between Tralee and Ballybunion, JJ has always had a great affection for the North Kerry club and is a close friend of former Ballybunion Superintendent Dan Blake saying: “Dan and I spoke frequently, and I also knew his predecessor Eamon Allen and of course Seán Walsh and Jim McKenna, who were always most welcoming and extended me the courtesy of the course anytime that I wanted to play Ballybunion whom I considered a ‘sister club’ rather than a rival.
The members of Tralee bestowed Honorary Life Membership on JJ earlier this year and improving his golf game is now on the agenda in his retirement as he’s planning to take up a few invitations extended to him over the years to play some of Ireland’s finest courses in the coming months.
I’m sure you will all join me in wishing JJ a long, healthy and happy retirement and he can certainly look back with much pride at his work in Tralee which is now ranked up there with the best links courses in the country.