Kerry mourns death of ‘Mr Golf’ Paddy O’Looney

I WAS saddened when I learned on Friday last of the death of “Mr Golf” Paddy O’Looney, a man I have known for the best part of thirty years.

A native of Dublin but an adopted Kerry man since 1985, Paddy was one of the bestknown faces in Irish golf and helped to bring hundreds of thousands of golf tourists to our shores through his involvement in SWING over a period of a quarter of a century or more.

On the course, Paddy was also a very formidable player who was a regular competitor on the Irish amateur circuit for over thirty years with victory in the Castletroy Scratch Cup among his many achievements.

He won two All-Ireland Junior Cups with Portmarnock, represented Castletroy, Lahinch & Tralee in Senior Cup and Barton Shield and played on the Connaught team from 1974 to 1986 in the Inter-Provincial Championships.

His proudest moment on the course, however, was a member of the only Connaught side ever to win the championship, in 1983 at Connemara.

For many years he had a very successful career in the Hotel industry, but Paddy moved to Kerry in the mid-eighties to set up South West Ireland Golf (SWING) in Tralee along with businessman Denis Brosnan which became an instant success thanks in no small way to Paddy’s endeavours and brought a massive influx of golf tourists to our shores, most notably from the USA.

Paddy travelled all over the USA and beyond, as Ireland’s unofficial golfing ambassador, selling the Irish golfing experience to the Americans through his unique brand of sales talk and his repertoire of golfing stories winning many life-long friends along the way including USPGA Tour Commissioners Dean Beaman and Tim Fincham.

Sadly, his retirement years saw a decline in his health and he was no longer able to participate in the game that he loved, but his legacy to Irish golf and to golf here in Kerry is there for all to see. Rest well, Paddy.