GOLF: Philip Reid tracks the road taken by several clubs to Galway, andtalks to John Joe Maher, Billy Connell and Don Sutton about their achievements and aspirations
The green piece of fabric, triangular in shape, is a most coveted prize. Whether it be symbolic of victory in the Irish Senior Cup, or the Barton Shield, the Irish Junior Cup or the Jimmy Bruen Shield, or perhaps that competition which has an affinity with more club golfers than any other, the Pierce Purcell Shield, the scene - whenever or wherever the place - is invariably an emotional one.
Later this week, at Galway Golf Club in Salthill, a place where many an Irish family has at one time or another worked its way to for some holiday entertainment, club players from all over the country will descend in their search for one of the Bulmers Irish Cups and Shields titles, for that cherished green pennant which says to a golf club that they have done something right.
It tells them that their year is complete. But this will be no holiday; for the men who have made it to Galway have done so only because they possess the battle-hardened will that only winners have.
For many, it will be a first taste of this unique national inter-club competition that will see seasoned international players and double-digit handicappers competing on adjoining fairways. For each of them, the pressure - in its own way - will be as great as the other.
The road to Galway has not been an easy one. Sectional qualifiers have been followed by regional qualifiers and, finally, provincial finals. And the costs incurred by teams along the way are not insignificant.
Yet, for the honour and the glory, it is considered money well spent if diligent preparations and dedication stretching back to the spring months bring the ultimate rewards.
This is a special and unique competition, the envy of Unions in England, Scotland and Wales. It brings together players like internationals Noel Fox and Adrian Morrow of Portmarnock - the aristocrats of the Irish Senior Cup, attempting to win it for the 18th time - with young guns like Cian McNamara of Limerick, winner of the British Junior Open.
It enables a plus-handicapper like Nenagh's Collwyn Martin to team up with five-handicapper John Tierney in their quest for the Barton Shield.
It continues the tradition of some of the country's great golfing families with the Waltons, Gannons and Branigans all playing this week. It will see Clandeboye attempt to do the double of Barton Shield and Senior Cup.
THE OFFICIAL
... John Joe Maher
You'll find him on the first tee. He's there, every morning, before the early bird has risen to catch the early worm, and he won't leave until the last drive of the day has been dispatched down the first fairway. He's well used to neglecting the warmth of a bed for the crisp early mornings.
For 40 years he was a fruit trader in the Dublin markets and he believes there were many of his best and most trusted clients who didn't even know his surname. To all, he was known simply as John Joe!
John Joe Maher, to give him his full name, is the official starter on the GUI Championship circuit. Once upon a time, he represented Ireland in different sporting pursuits - clay pigeon shooting and fishing. But once he discovered golf, that was it.
The only time the shotgun is used these days is for, you've guessed it, a shotgun start on the golf course.
Once the golf bug bit, John Joe was hooked for life. He's a former captain and president of Forrest Little Golf Club in north Dublin and was on the committee there for 21 years and he's a former president of Oughterard Golf Club in Galway.
He's on the Leinster Branch course rating committee and, when the Golfing Union of Ireland's championship committee was formed some five years ago, John Joe was given a seat at the table.
John Joe's job as starter is one that Ian Woosnam would appreciate. He meets the players on the first tee and reminds them they should only have 14 clubs in their bag. He tells them the local rules; informs them of the pin placements for the day, and reiterates the pace of play that is allowed in competition.
For the players, there is the little extra of the bananas and apples that invariably appear on the first tee, courtesy of John Joe, the fruit trader.
Most times, the players, young and old, listen with the utmost respect. There are rare exceptions, like in the Irish Close championship at Carlow Golf Club this past summer. It was the height of the soccer World Cup. Ireland were playing Spain.
John Joe was giving his spiel to the players, momentarily turns around to fetch something and there is a roar from the bar area.
He turns back, and, as the man says, there were the players, gone.
Ireland had been awarded a late penalty and, for them, the golf could wait a few more seconds. John Joe had been deserted. "But I've never had to send anyone on to the second tee for being late," he admits.
In the Irish Close at Killarney a few years ago, Mark Murphy, now an Irish international, turned up on the first tee to be met by a bright eyed John Joe.
"I'm thinking of giving up this golf," says Murphy.
"Why?" inquires John Joe.
"I'm thinking of playing football . . . at least they don't play matches at seven in the morning."
John Joe Maher is an institution on the first tee of any championship in Ireland. He'll be there in Galway this week for the All-Ireland Cups and Shields, as usual. To those who doubt the passion of these unique club competitions, he'll remind you of the time when they were played in Athlone a couple of years ago.
A player from Moate arrived on the first tee and, from the moment that he came near John Joe, it was obvious to everyone he was hyper.
The adrenalin was flowing and he had barely managed to get his first drive away when a loud shout came from the man's mouth. "Ye boy yah," he bellowed, and it could be heard all around the countryside.
In all the years that John Joe has been on that first tee, he has seen huge improvements. Young kids in the Under 15s championship with swings as smooth as silk. "I've seen thousands and thousands of golfers and they're all different shapes and I often wonder, 'what's the perfect swing?' They're all different sizes and, yet, they can all hit the ball. It's a great game."
John Joe's had a long and busy season and the Cups and Shields will be his last duty for the year as official starter.
Later this month, he'll go into hospital for an operation "to get a new knee" - but, when the golf season gets under way again next year, John Joe Maher intends to be back as a fixture on the first tee of the various championships.
He's an institution, you see.
COURSE SUPERINTENDENT
Billy Connell
For two decades, Billy Connell has been tending to the course at Galway Golf Club. As the course manager, he's responsible for ensuring that the many players who flock there this week in search of a green pennant will be presented with a test of their golfing skills that will be a worthy and potentially rewarding experience.
But it is not something that materialises overnight. Indeed, the task of preparing the course for the demands of this week's All-Ireland Cups and Shields started "nearly a year ago".
Indeed, as soon as these club competitions conclude, Billy and his greenkeeping staff will continue their programme of upgrading the course, replacing what he calls the "push up greens" that were put down some 80 years ago and replacing them with new USGA spec greens. "We're doing all 18, and we're half-way there," he says.
That's part of the long-term aim to continuously upgrade the course, but the more short-term ambition has been to give the club players of Ireland who are playing here this week a course that is worthy of these national competitions.
During last winter, all 64 bunkers on the course were refaced and, months ago, fresh sand was put into the traps. "The last thing you want is to get fried eggs," remarks Connell, talking of every golfer's dread when their ball lands in newly-laid sand.
No, this sand has well and truly settled and anyone errant enough to find one of the strategically placed bunkers will at least find a fair lie.
One of the demands for a course superintendent in a week like this is that he is preparing a course for a wide range of handicap players. Some of those involved in the Barton Shield and Irish Senior Cup are playing off plus handicaps, and the range goes all the way up to the Pierce Purcell Shield for mid to high handicappers.
Still, all players will find pristine greens and double cutting, will find putting surfaces with a stimpmetre reading of "10 and a half to 11" - which is pretty fast - and the rough, although not totally penal, is certainly tougher than it would normally be for club competitions.
"The place has dried up in the past couple of weeks and I think players will find it tough enough," concedes Connell.
Connell and his team of nine will be out and about from six in the morning - "we'd look to get a two hour head start on play" - and will set up the course, completing this stint some time after 10 o'clock.
Then, it will be a case of returning in the evening, from four to half nine, to maintain the course.
"We've put in a lot of extra hours to make sure that the course is really well presented for the players, but you do get a great kick out of seeing the players take it on."
THE TEAM MANAGER
Don Sutton
Unlike the football manager who can roar encouragement - or abuse - from the sideline, and who can alter the team's line-up if things aren't going your way, the team manager in golf can do none of those things.
His work, for the most part, is done once the match is underway; and all he can do is watch and see if the preparatory work has paid off, or if he has managed to get compatibility in his pairings.
Don Sutton, the manager of the Jimmy Bruen Shield team from The Island, considers such foursomes golf to be "the purist form" . . . . and he will know soon enough if his men have what it takes to go on and claim a national title.
"At least," he says, "this has put us back on the competitive map and it would be a huge honour, and mean so much to the club, if we can go on and win."
The job of managing a team, though, takes months and months of planning and co-ordinating. What Sutton describes as a "process of trial and error" as that all-important compatibility is found.
The system in operation at The Island is to appoint two people as early as last November. As things transpired, Sutton's joint-manager turned out to be Paul Cullen, who also earned a place as a playing member of the team.
"We trawled through the club's handicap log around March and identified 20 players who had potential to be on the Jimmy Bruen team and we put an emphasis on youth and experience," he recalls.
The result is that there are five teenagers in the panel who, he claims, "have a tremendous rapport with the older members."
After various trials and working out different partnerships, the team was ready for duty. However, Sutton recounts that they were "very fortunate" to get over the first qualifying hurdle, only beating Corrstown in the last pair on the last green.
But, as the campaign progressed, so too did The Island's pedigree which ultimately produced success in the provincial final over Borris.
"The younger players have come on in leaps and bounds. They're fearless, and you can't beat that. Four of them were on the Smurfit panel that lost out in the final this year and they're gung-ho to go one better in this."
THE PROGRAMME
Thursday
Barton Shield Semi-finals: 8.30 - Clandeboye v Mullingar; 8.50 - Ballinasloe v Nenagh. Final at 2.30.
Junior Cup Semi-finals: 9.10 - Co Louth v Malone. 10.00 - Killarney v Portumna.
Pierce Purcell Shield Semi-Finals: 10.50 - Loughrea v Woodstock. 11.40 - Moyola Park v Castlewarden.
Friday
Junior Cup Final: 8.30 - Co Louth or Malone v Killarney or Portumna.
Jimmy Bruen Shield Semi-finals: 9.45 hours - Harbour Point v Claremorris. 10.35 - Warrenpoint v The Island.
Pierce Purcell Shield Final: 12.00 - Loughrea or Woodstock v Moyola Park or Castlewarden.
Senior Cup Semi-finals: 1.30 - Portmarnock v Limerick. 2.20 - Galway v Clandeboye.
Saturday
Senior Cup Final: 9.30 - Portmarnock or Limerick v Galway or Clandeboye .
Jimmy Bruen Shield Final: 10.30 - Harbour Point or Claremorris v Warrenpoint or The Island.
