The recent release
of the 1901 and the earlier release of 1911 census figures
for Ireland provide an interesting snapshot of golf as a
profession at the turn of the twentieth century. Why would
you want to be a professional golfer? Perhaps a quote from
Andra Kirkaldy, the St. Andrew's professional, in his Scottish
brogue when proffering advise to Abe Mitchell on the very
subject might provide an explanation -
"
come ower among the boys this verra day. What's the good
o' a workin' man like you gan aboot frae place to place
spendin' yer money to win bits o' tin in the shape o'
medals and cups ? Tak' yer courage in baith hands, Abe,
and follow the siller* like every wise man."
*
money
Whatever
the reason for choosing professional golf as your livelihood
most practitioners would agree that it is better than 'office
work' which, to paraphrase one professional, is more than
just two words it's a sentence.
The chart below
sourced from 1901 and 1911 censuses suggests more prestige
was afforded a clubmaker than a professional but with the
advent of mass produced golf clubs the title of professional
moved to the fore by 1911.
It was not the
type of profession that would be lauded by a career guidance
officer, the pay and working conditions were poor similar
to that of a general labourer - a professional could earn
between ten to twenty schillings a week from the club but
expected to work ten hour days, six day weeks. However,
depending on the arrangement with their club, the pro could
make money from lessons, club repairs and club and ball
sales etc - your final remuneration depended on your reputation.
A professional, in many cases, was meant to be a jack-of-all-trades:
greenkeeper, golfer, clubmaker, caddiemaster, caretaker,
course designer and instructor. The average salary for a
general labourer back in the years up to the 1913 lockout
was between 41/2d to 6d per hour - which equated to 15/-
to £1 (or 20/-) per 40hr week. Some professionals
could only attend competitions with the aid of supplements
from club members to cover their expenses. In fact many
professionals could not freely enter the clubhouses for
which they served until the thirities and forties.
Royal Belfast
Golf Club represents the first officially organised golf
club in Ireland when it was founded in 1881. The next ten
years saw a further eighteen golf courses including: Royal
Dublin (1885), Royal Portrush (1888) and Royal County Down
(1889) and it was these golf clubs that thrived and saw
the emergence of golf as a profession. The base for these
professionals was where the game was most concentrated and
this meant the counties of Antrim, Dublin and Down, the
chart below shows the distribution of professionals in the
main golfing counties in 1901. It was still in its infancy
as a profession in Ireland and the skills needed of club
and ball making together with the ability to play golf were
not common and so newly formed golf clubs needed to search
in Scotland where the game and profession had developed
further. Collingwood, the secretary of the County GC, Portrush
, in his article for the 1888/89 Golfing Annual noted the
concentration of golf was consistent with the "plantations"
of Scottish and English settlers and that the initial slow
pace of assimilation probably related to the Irish psyche
for fast, physical sporting outlets but he still expected
it to flourish ("Floreat in Perpetuum") as it
was picking up a good head of steam.
Alexander Guthrie
Day from Musselburgh is often considered the first professional
golfer in Ireland when engaged by Royal Belfast GC in the
mid-1880's firstly as greenkeeper and then in February 1889
as their professional. While there is a record of Alex Day's
engagement another contender was Archie Simpson who, it's
suggested, was engaged by the Royal Dublin GC early in 1886
just after its foundation while based in the Phoenix Park.
While Simpson did arrive in January 1886 his tenure was
very short, if it was a professional engagement, perhaps
on seeing the 'primitive' nature of the facilities he had
second thoughts. An accomplished golfer he later became
an acclaimed course designer. Archie was the youngest of
the famous Elie golfing family and worked for his brother
Robert at Carnoustie between '1884-1891'. While he never
won the Open he was considered one of the great golfers
of that time - such was his prowess he issued an all-comers
bet of £100 a side. Nobody collected on this bet even
Willie Park jnr. the reigning Open champion, who accepted
the bet, lost by eleven holes.
Over the following
ten years up to 1901 golf clubs began to spring up across
the country with a further seventy courses appearing on
the golfing landscape. Some of the great links courses appeared
during this period with County Louth and Lahinch (1892),
Ballybunion and Rosapenna (1893) followed by County Sligo
and Portmarnock in 1894. Most of the courses continue to
this day but a number fell by the wayside like Otway, Renvyle
and Toomebridge as did the records surrounding their foundation
and demise.
By 1901 the thirty-six
professionals and apprentices, many of them Scottish by
birth, were matched by just over ninety courses. The early
Scottish professionals to cross the Irish Sea included Mungo
Park, the Open Champion from Musselburgh, joined Foxrock
GC but moved to Portmarnock GC soon afterwards but again
his stay was short. Alexander 'Sandy' Herd, the 1902 Open
champion, joined Royal Portrush as professional in 1890
but his stay was less than two years. Others who crossed
the Irish Sea set up shop and developed lucrative businesses
these included; Thomas Francis Hood,
from a renowned Musselburgh club-making family, who was
engaged by the Royal Dublin GC in 1899 but only left in
1914 when the course was taken over by the military. Thomas
Hood's brother Frank was engaged with Malahide GC but
joined his brother in his club-making business not long
afterwards but left before the 1901 census. John
Aitken at Royal Portrush and Cuthbert Butchart (Royal
Co. Down), both Scots, set up lucrative clubmaking operations
and had a number of staff working for them.
Of the Irish-born
professionals: the McKenna's, James and John; the MacNamaras',
William and John and Fred Smyth were the most noteworthy
of those listed in the 1901 census. Fred Smyth was to become
a renowned golf clubmaker based at the Royal Dublin GC for
more than twenty years after WWI. James
McKenna was a mere teen (18/19) when he was engaged
at Lahinch GC in 1893 a year before Old Tom Morris prepared
a layout for the course, which no doubt James had to mold
into the finished product. Willie
MacNamara was trained at Westward Ho!, in Devon before
returning to replace James McKenna at Lahinch GC and its
as much gambling exploits in both golf and on the stock
market as his ability as a golfer and club-maker of some
note that make him the stuff of legend together with his
eventual departure under questionable circumstances in 1927.
After 1901 golf
was undergoing significant changes with the advent of the
rubber-cored golf ball and the mass manufacture of golf
clubs placing less reliance on the individual craftsmanship
of the professional. Where once competitions for professionals
were limited with the first taking place in Royal Portrush
in 1895 or in conjunction with the Irish Amateur Championship
there were now more exhibition matches, native professionals
were now entering the Open Championship since the turn of
the century and 1907 saw the inaugural Irish Professional
Championship.
The creation of
golf courses continued unabated as the Irish discovered
an affinity for the Royal and Ancient game and by 1911,
the timing of the second online census, a further 75 courses
were littered across this small island. The notable additions
during the period were Rosslare, the Grange, Dun Laoghaire,
Douglas, Bangor and Laytown and Bettystown amongst others.
By this time up to one hundred individuals had now listed
their profession as golfers but there was a geographical
shift towards native professionals. Greenkeepers numbered
25-30 while the number of caddies was now in the region
of fifty.
The intervening
years [1902-1910] had seen Michael
Moran, James Edmundson,
Hugh McNeill, Patrick Doyle
and the O'Hare brothers from the Greenore GC join the professional
ranks. While Moran was the most promising of these his life
was cut short in WWI others made a name for themselves here
or later, as part of the diaspora who made their way to
Ellis Island, in the United States where there was a greater
appreciation of their skills. Marmaduke Montgomery Devitt
who listed his profession in 1901 to be that of a mechanic
was now a golf clubmaker at Elvery's - Marmaduke was one
of the founding members of the St. Anne's Golf Club on the
North Bull Island.
In June 1911 golfers
met at the Northern Counties hotel in Portrush and hatched
the formation of the Irish Professional Golfers Association
(IPGA) to look at its members interests with Thomas
Hood, James McKenna,
John Aitken and Alex
Robertson included in the joint committee (amateur and
professional) to draw up a constitutional framework and
by 1914 it had 40 members albeit that not many were professionals
from the North of Ireland.
Note: The above
chart reflects all golf courses founded during these years
some of which no longer exist.
The life of the
professional golfer in Ireland was through most of the twentieth-century
considered not a particularly lucrative existence with most
still attached to clubs with the idea of a touring professional
not materialising until the European Tour had established
itself in the 1970s. Despite this Irish professionals like
Fred Daly, Harry Bradshaw and Christy O'Connor Snr. notched
up some major achievements with the latter inducted into
the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2009.
The IPGA was dissolved
in 1975, sixty-three years after its formation, after 30
out of the 140 IPGA professionals attended the meeting to
vote on a merger with the Professional Golfers' Association,
moves to reform the association in 1982 were unsuccessful.
There are currently over 400 PGA professionals (not including
tour professionals) plying their trade in Ireland but not
just attached to golf courses as they have branched out
into golf academies, driving ranges, corporate entertainment,
retailing and course design.
Seapoint
Golf Club, the links course designed by Des Smyth and
Declan Branigan, hosted the premier event for homegrown
talent on the Irish golfing calendar as the Ladbrokes.com
100th PGA Irish Championship was played from 23-26 September
2010. The event has missed out on only four years (1915-1918)
since it was first played for on 20-21 May 1907 at Royal
Portrush Golf Club under the guidance of the Golfing Union
of Ireland and if you're curious how that played out - click
here. David Mortimer,
the 2006 champion, became the hundredth Irish professional
golf champion with an eagle on the final hole to snatch
victory from Damien McGrane by a single shot.
