Colin Byrne: Walker Cup representation shows rude health of Irish golf

There must be something good going on in Irish amateur golf these days. Or perhaps it’s just a coincidence that there are five Irish golfers on the prestigious Walker Cup panel for this year’s event in Royal Lytham & St Annes in September.

Beyond the five possibles destined for the ultimate amateur team challenge in the western world where Great Britain and Ireland take on the mighty USA, there is a wealth of talent on the fringes of the Walker Cup team that are only inches away from that standard. Of course inches mean a lot in the fickle game of golf.

To have a quarter of the panel from our relatively modest reservoir of players is very encouraging. Our record to date is four Irish representatives on the 1951 team which played down the coast from Lytham at Birkdale. Jimmy Bruen, Cecil Ewing, Joe Carr and Sam McCready made up a third of the 12-man team. The legendary Joe Carr made 11 appearances in the Walker Cup and McCready from the North, who lived in London, had won the British Amateur title in 1949.

We have always been well represented in the team but this year could be our strongest contribution since the 50s. It could be argued that circumstances, like some of the top amateurs in Bradley Neil, Paul Howard, Ben Stow opting to turn professional before September, have given those not on the selectors' radar a boost.

But everyone needs a break in order to get a break in golf. There are endless tales of the last man getting into the final field ending up as a serious contender or even winning the event. Some players are specialists at seizing the moment.

Take care

Anyone who watched the British Open at St Andrews a few weeks ago will testify, amateur golfers are becoming more professional than the weekly full-time grinders on tour. Five made the cut in St Andrews and four were legitimate contenders on the final day. Probably the main reason they are more professional is that they have to prepare and take care of so much detail that a professional lets his minions attend to in readying himself for play. Those amateurs at the British Open looked like they belonged and not like they had stumbled through a back door onto the world stage of golf.

This eye for detail comes from attentive tutoring and mentoring from an ever decreasing age.

In the case of some of our Walker Cup panellists, they have been groomed from the Irish under-14 squads and up. Detailed preparation would be ingrained in these kids by the time they reach their late teens. Gavin Moynihan and Paul Dunne both started with the under-14 GUI squads

Talking to the GUI's head coach Neil Manchip, I got a sense of the environment that has been created to help our young talent develop. He describes the amateur scene in Ireland as a bedrock of a sound volunteer structure. There is a wealth of golf knowledge at the disposal of these aspiring youngsters. Manchip is careful to explain that the source of information is there but the players are encouraged to ask for help rather than have it foisted upon them. This of course is critical in probably one of the most selfish sports where you and you alone ultimately have to take responsibility for your preparation, swing, putting stroke, decision making, attitude and performance. Getting kids used to self-sufficiency is vital.

Neil outlined to me the varied backgrounds of this year’s Irish contenders, highlighting the varying approaches that the players have taken to developing their games, intertwined with the GUI’s support.

Probably the most interesting path to success is that of the young Northern Irishman Cormac Sharvin. He was a good hurler who started dabbling with golf at 15, and only played seriously two years later. He is studying in Sterling University in Scotland. He does not limit gleaning improvement information to playing. I met him caddying at the Dunhill Cup a couple of years ago.

Gary Hurley from Waterford is a runner-up in the Young Scientist of the Year awards with a creative miniature snowmobile designed by him and his partners. He started his national golfing career at under-16 level. He also played in two Palmer Cups. Jack Hume won all four provincial boys' events in 2010 and is probably the only full-time golfer of the five. Gavin Moynihan won the Peter McEvoy trophy by five shots in 2012 the same year that he won the Irish Amateur. Neil describes Gavin as small but tenacious, attentive, a good ball striker, a good learner and self-reliant. Paul Dunne, who carefully selected his university in the States in Alabama, has gone from zero to hero with his impressive performance in the British Open recently.

Hectic schedules

The European Individuals are on this week in Slovakia where all five contend. Then Sharvin, Hurley and Dunne go to the -US Amateur. Their hectic schedules are more reminiscent of professionals.

From a strong tradition of provincial boys events, provincial coaching, GUI and Irish Sports Council support and the comfort of knowledgeable, unobtrusive mentoring and widespread accessibility for those who want to play golf, the cradle of the Irish amateur game would appear to be in very good and progressive hands.

Chance may well have it that our young contenders for Walker Cup fame have converged in the same year. But the environment that has been created here for their unique talents to be developed has not been accidental.