The erstwhile doyen of British golfwriters, Peter Dobereiner, once said of Sean Walsh: "They ought to put a preservation order on him as a unique example of an endangered species." This charming observation took on a profoundly sad dimension at the news of Sean's death on Tuesday at 67, after a brief illness.
As a member of Ballybunion GC for 47 years, he was elected to the committee in 1957; was captain in 1959 and again in 1993, the club's centenary year; became honorary secretary in 1960 and served as secretary-manager from 1971 to 1992. And in all of those roles, an incalculable contribution was based strictly on what he could do for the club, rather than what the club might do for him.
My last conversation with him was last summer, when the club endured a major split over the staging of the Millennium Murphy's Irish Open. His view then was: "British visitors to the south west these days are few and far between. We should be attempting to change the situation and I have no doubt we'd be able to accommodate the Irish Open if Murphy's limited daily attendances to between 10,000 and 12,000. So, my message to the committee is `Wake up boys - we must have this tournament for the good of the club and the community at large'." And as usual, he was right.
A local man through and through, Sean was held in great esteem by everyone who knew him. "We got on famously," said Margaret Hughes, who has worked in the golf club office since 1980. "He was a people's person: he loved people and while he could get angry, he never held a grudge."
One of his most treasured achievements was being a member of Ballybunion's victorious All-Ireland Jimmy Bruen Shield team in 1979. But he will be best remembered for tremendous work in setting up the coastal erosion fund two years earlier. Then, after Tom Watson's first visit in 1981, there were his tireless efforts to promote the club as a tourist destination, especially among American golfers. His success can be gleaned from the fact that green-fee income when he took over as secretary-manager in 1971 was £5,600: at the time of his retirement, it was £620,000.
Sean Walsh's great love of golf was evident in everything he did at his club. Indeed he and Dobereiner were both worthy of preservation orders, which one now imagines them smiling about, having discovered that it is, in fact, possible to get closer to God than on the heavenly Ballybunion links. Ar dheis De go raibh a anam.
