Willie (William) Nolan

For the record <click here>

Born Bray, Co. Wicklow on the 25th March 1897, although the actual date of birth will depend on which source you believe, they all agree it was the 25 March but the year varies depending on the source from 1895 to 1897. His previous jobs included seaman in the Dardanelles, coalminer, meatpacker and docks worker. In 1917 his ship was torpedoed and he waited four hours on a lifeboat together with thirty other survivors until they were rescued. In 1921-1922 he joined the County Sligo GC, as resident professional but stayed only for a short spell although well regarded amongst the local community. He is seen to have played a significant role in the development of Cecil Ewing and their golfing techniques were considered to be very similar. "Nolan had a very fast, upright swing and with large hands and powerful arms, he would punch the ball - an action that resulted in a very short follow through. He was professional at Sutton, Tullamore (1922), Co. Sligo (1921), Galway (1921), Howth (1925) and Portmarnock (1925-1939].

According to Paul McWeeney he favoured the aerial route into the green rather than the pitch and run associated with other links golfers. In 1927 at the inaugural Irish Open he shot a course record 72 but fell down the field in subsequent rounds but remained the highest placed Irishman. In the 1929 Irish Open he was the favourite Irishman to take the title but his game deserted him. By 1930 he had become a regular at the British Open, this was the year of Robert Tyre Jones jnr's Grand Slam.

At home he didn't succeed in the Irish Professional Championship ("IPC") until 1934 but was runner-up a further four times 1925-1928-1935-1938. The 1928 IPC was played at Rosses Point on the 24/25 April it was eventually won by L.Wallace with Nolan three shots further back with the comment in Irish Golf was "Nolan had every chance of equalling Wallace's total but weak putting at the last few holes scuttered his chances". At the Championship in Newcastle 1929 he was beaten into joint fourth by Hughie McNeill in atrocious weather conditions he scored 83-78-84-81, a 326 total, compared to the 317 shots carded by the winner. Wm. Nolan had a disastrous first round in the 1930 IPC which effectively took him out of the running for the event. He carded a 307 compared to a winning total of 291 by J Mc Cartney of the Ormeau Golf Club. In 1931 at Portstewart he was joint sixth behind Hughie McNeill with rounds of 72-73-75-79 = 299 the winner carded 71-72-69-71=283.

In J.P. Rooney's book: "Play Good Golf" we get one of the best insights into the player who was discussing the DRIVER and how best to get good results. He was considered proficient in the use of the driver in both distance and accuracy so it could well be considered his forte. In the interview he acknowledged his weakness as a putter but noted that they (the Irish Professionals) hadn't the opportunities that their English counterparts had in honing their skills. Willie was quizzed on how he achieved his prestigious length but felt that strength had only a small part to play, inferring that balance was key in this area. He advocated the overlapping grip but wouldn't dissuade a player who had the two V grip although considered the palm grip as inadvisable. He promoted a slight waggle placing a forward pressure with the right knee before the start of the upswing much in the same vein as George Duncan had espoused.

C.E. Anderson from the County Sligo Golf Club recalls Willie Nolan in "A Personal Account of Golfing Experiences" who was a professional at the club before John McCourt and it was through Willie that Cecil Ewing got his initial start which explains the speed of Cecil's swing which would have been mimicked from Willie's swing. He refers to Willie as a "big, kindly charitable man probably the only professional who had a road named after him to commemorate his charitable works for unfortunate children and indeed others and for many other deeds that went unsung" He goes on to tell how Willie use to cycle to Malahide after closing up shop at Portmarnock to play around with the author in whom is saw some promise and without monetary reward. After playing he would get home again by bus to Dublin and train back to Sutton and then cycle the remainder home. Unfortunately these trips were in vein as the author never achieved the potential that Willie had attributed to him. " Another man with a very upright swing, he punched the ball with his great hands and arms and followed through only for a couple of feet. Each shot had a slight draw on it and was beautifully flighted. His iron play was most remarkably good." The author refers to his weakness in the area of puttng and his ability to score low when the putts were dropping. " A gentle, quiet spoken, modest, charitable, giant of a man with arms and legs like trunks of trees, he will not be forgotten by me or by many others"

He was honorary secretary of the Southern branch of the Irish Professional Golfers Association at a time when the professional golfers were beginning to take the destiny of professional golf into their own hands. The GUI offered the IPGA the administration of the IPC in 1930 which they accepted. On the 3/4 July 1930 W. Nolan won a professional tournament played in Bundoran both himself and P.O'Connor finished on 285 with Willie winning the play-off with a 73 beating his opponent by one. The 72-hole tournament at Bundoran had prize money of over seventy pounds. At the end of the first day Nolan had a three-stroke lead at the top of the leader board. P.O' Connor clawed back a five stroke deficit only to lose in the play-off on the Saturday morning by one stroke.

J.B Carr recollected in his biography that his early influences were that of seeing Willie Nolan play golf shots at Portmarnock and it was Willie who provided Joe Carr with his first set of cut down hickory shafted golf clubs. In Fred Daly biography an extract mentions Fred's next milestone was to compete in the 1936 Irish Dunlop Tournament the venue for which alternated between North and South this one was being held at Royal Belfast the Portmarnock man took a liking to Fred, was impressed by his potential and took the trouble to give him a piece of advice which later proved of inestimable value to Fred's game." He advised him to alter his grip from a 'free' grip to use the Vardon grip, following this Daly found he was able to strike the ball further with more control and accuracy. Willie Nolan was considered to be the Father of Irish Professional golf and was held in such esteem the IPGA held an annual tournament in his memory. Harry Bradshaw's biography "The Brad" recalls the first tournament in played in was the 1933 Adgey Cup which was presented by the Northern Ireland Bromford agent of the same name and which was a 36 hole strokeplay event. Harry was leading the field by two with three holes to play only to squander this as he became unnerved by the size of the gallery. The winner was Willie Nolan the Portmarnock professional "and one of the finest players in these Islands". The rivalry between Willie Nolan and Paddy Mahon the Royal Dublin player was legendary. Eddie Hackett referred to him as "a lovely man and boyhood hero" In Baldoyle a road was named after him "Willy Nolan Road" where he spent the latter part of his life.

Willie Nolan died on the 4th March 1939 at 42 years of age. In the words of Dermot Gilleece in the County Sligo centenary book "His life was tragically short but his impact immense, not least for those members of our club who had seen rich evidence of his talent during regular practice rounds at Rosses Point"

Willie Nolan came of age in 1933 the following article appeared in Irish Golf in June titled: "Willie Nolan's Great Effort" in honour of his joint second place finish in the Dunlop-Southport 1,500 Guinneas tournament. Four Irishmen qualified Willie Nolan, Syd Fairweather, P Stevenson and P J Mahon. Willie was the only one to figure in the prize money with a score of 294 one shy of the eventual winner W H Davies (Wallasey) and tied with Henry Cotton and E.R.Whitcombe each winning Stg110. "Nolan has shown on several occasions what he can do but never has he done so well as on this occasion. His rounds were 73-76-72-73 on the Southport-Anisdale course. Nolan was from Bray but learned his golf at Sutton and Portmarnock. During the war Nolan assisted in the naval warfare and one of his ships was torpedoed under most unpleasant conditions"

Another article appeared in the same magazine in August of that year entitled "A Great Golfer" which read:

"Those of us who have watched Willie Nolan in the past have admired his fine play through the Green [i.e. tee to green] and felt sorry for him on the greens. Last Winter in was determined to overcome his putting weaknesses and by Spring astonished even himself. But it was solid patient endeavour and as such ought to be a fine example for the amateurs. At Southport Nolan astonished the world but the world remained strangely silent over his being second in that great tournament we in Ireland wondered at the silence putting it down as one of the results of the economic war.

Then came Nolan's 71 on the new course at St. Andrews equalling the record. Papers across the water began to mention Nolan. Autograph hunters began to want his name to a lesser degree. Next day came the 67 over the famous Old Course beating all records, and with it Nolan was flung into the limelight the World over. Autograph hunters' besieged him. Had those two rounds counted in the championship as many think they should Willie Nolan would be Open Champion today.

A study of Nolan's figures at Southport, Templenewsam and St. Andrews qualify him for a high place on the Ryder Cup team. We have turned out many famous golfers Lionel Munn, Charles Hezlet, Noel Martin, Michael Moran, Harold Reade, Dr. MacCormack and John Burke to name but a few: but in Nolan of Portmarnock we have, perhaps, the best Irish player yet produced and the grand thing about it is that Willie Nolan remains the same as he was before his brilliant efforts at Southport and St. Andrews.

Those who are anxious to see what they can do in the best company should not forget that they can arrange games with Nolan at Portmarnock. And those starting the game will find him a sympathetic teacher........."

How much of this was hyperbole is of course open to question but the esteem in which he was held by his peers is not and a tournament was played in his honour The Willie Nolan Memorial Cup and it must have given fellow competitors in the Open championship that year a bit of a scare and they included Gene Sarazen, Walter Hagen, Craig Wood and Henry Cotton. Walter Hagen who shot a 68 at the Open Championship would have run into Willie Nolan before this, on Saturday 26th May, 1928 he played an exhibition match <click here for Pathe newsreel> over Clontarf's new 18 hole course. Hagen partnered Jack Quinn against Willie Holley and Willie Nolan and resulted from Hagen's decision to play in the Irish Open at Royal County Down the following week which he didn't actual do in the end probably when no appearance fee was forthcoming. Hagen was probably the world's most famous golfer at the time with the exception of Bobby (Robert Tyre) Jones, it was originally meant to be a singles competition but because of the small turnout and the weather Hagen (who was playing for gate receipts) delayed the first match and played in the afternoon fourball citing his unwillingness to get drenched twice in the one day. The Irish Times which covered the match reported that Hagen's very serious facade deserted him when:

"...he made a poor stroke..a cynical smile was visible, and occasionally, when Nolan hit one with the wood well outside him, he would watch the ball soar and drop and, looking down on the tee box, would utter the one word 'S-h-o-t', taking longer over it than others would over 'Oh! A grand shot.' " however they weren't getting the better of the Holley/Nolan partnership. Of Nolan the report went: "..He hit a great brassie (two wood) past the second hole and go a three; in fact his wooden club shots were marked by great length and his putting at the close was such that he holed in one at the 14th and 15th to win the former in three and the latter hole in two" The better ball figures were as follows:

Having digressed slightly let me return to the Open Championship of 1933 at St. Andrews. His first round was a the "New Course" where Willie Nolan scored a 71 it was odd that on the day this was one of the lowest rounds (two other players scored 71) on either course even though it was always considered to be a shot or two harder than the old course and this even after recording a seven on the 6th hole. The scores read as follows:

The Scotsman's reported his feat with a certain reverence "Nolan who steps right into world notice from comparative obscurity.. a well built man of 37 and of a reserved but cheerful type" and continues to recount the story of how Sir Stanley Cochrane (founder of the Woodbrook GC in 1921 and of Cantrell & Cochrane fame) aware of Nolan's chance to break the course reord after securing a two at the "High Hole" (11th) the one often called the hardest short hole in the World went and offered him a ten pound note if he broke the record. Syd Fairweather the Scottish golfer based in Belfast was the first to go and congratulate him before he went out and scored a 70 to secure his qualification for the championship. The paper went on to say that a 71 at the New Course ensured that Nolan commanded a certain amount of respect but when news broke that he was "..."burning up" the course his spectators suddenly grew from a band to a battalion...this dazzling stuff eclipsed everything else on the two courses". On the 17th the infamous Road Hole he played relatively safely taking a big score out of the equation but scored a 5 and on the next put his second within three yards of the flag and sank the putt. The Scotsman continues to say "The Irishman raised his cap and acknowledged the loud cheering that followed" On the day he recorded a record 67 around the Old Course his nemesis the putter relented and he went around the course in thirty putts and the hard work he had endured to improve his putting had finally paid off. Willie Nolan was to lead the Open qualifiers from Horton Smith further behind, the following year Smith went on to win the inaugural Augusta National Invitation event (the "Masters"). The qualifiers table after the second round included all players on 155 and ties with some notable names provided below:

Willie Nolan's record of 67 around the Old Course remained until Jimmy Bruen the phenomenal Cork amateur went round a new lenghtened course in 69. Incidentially the amateur record of 68 for the course was held by Bobby Jones since 1927.

In the 1936 Irish Open Championship he led the qualifiers together with S.Easterbrook and while he by no means collapsed, a score of fifteen at three of the par threes scuppered his chances and placed him in joint fifth four shots adrift of the eventual winner Reginald Whitcombe. In 1938 his ninth place finish was blamed again on his putting.

W.D. & H.O. Wills (Irish Sportsmen - 1936) No. 37 - Willie Nolan

The Willie Nolan Memorial trophy was inaugurated the year after his death and the winners were as follows:

In 1939 the Irish Golfer's Blue Book by J.P. Rooney was to be published and was advertised with contributions from various golfers and personalities including Wm. Nolan. Alas they hadn't received the transcript from him and after a lingering illness he died early in 1939 and Irish Golf published the picture as being one of the last they had on file of him taken with the Aga Khan. Lionel Hewson the editor of Irish Golf at the time and mentioned he had met him on Portmarnock practice ground the day before he went to hospital.."with a smile he said it was only a matter of diet, but it was a sad little smile". J.P. Rooney in his editor's note to the Golfer's Blue Book wrote.."I am indebted to each of my contributors. I cannot single out one for especial thanks; but I deeply regret that the contribution promised to me by William Nolan, late professional of the Portmarnock club, is not included. He intended to write it, but had to go to hospital before he could do so. [p] Here I would like to pay my tribute to the memory of "Willie" whom we all really loved...It will suffice for me to write of him that he was the ideal golfer. As the late Mr. John Edward Healy, Editor of the Irish Times wrote of his friend Professor Mahaffey, William Nolan "wore his laurels like a flower"....."