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Voice of Midwest Golf . . . with Ivan Morris
The inescapable fact that champion golfers are becoming younger has not been missed by Munster Provincial Coach, Freddie Twomey (Muskerry).
When the Province finished flat last in the recent inter-provincial championships in both the senior men and boy's divisions, alarm bells rang and a few furrowed eyebrows were raised.
Twomey requested the co-operation and backing of the Munster Branch GUI and his PGA colleagues throughout the Province to help him begin the task of unearthing younger talent than ever before for his special attention and elite coaching.
The first step was to hold an intercounty tournament for boys under 14 at Fota Island Golf Club on September 5th last. 8 youngsters from each of the Munster counties - apart from Tipperary who inexplicably failed to field a team – played an 18-holes stableford competition off handicap with the six best scores counting.
To generate a feeling of recognition and pride, all of the players selected wore smart, team uniforms in their various county colours.
Prior to the competition, each of the county coaches (all PGA-qualified Professionals) had conducted three full day's of preparation within strict guidelines laid down by Head Coach Twomey.
The benefits of this preparation were not only clearly evident on the day but will be long lasting.
The Limerick Coach, Donal McSweeney, was extremely pleased with the performance of his charges. They finished runners-up overall, having been out first and setting a challenging target that stood firm all day until the Michael Collins-trained Cork Northeast team pipped them with a score returned in the very last three ball to finish.
McSweeney was especially proud of Adare Manor's David O'Mahony, playing of 18. David had the best individual return of the day, a whopping 48 pts.
The Clare Coach, Dave Foley said: "It was a brilliant day – well worth all the effort put in. My boys are naturally good ball-strikers but they needed to be sharper in their shot-making and scoring. We'll be concentrating more on that next year."
Twomey says: "Keeping technical instruction as simple as possible and concentrating on the grip, posture and short game is the correct way to coach youngsters.
"Competition is the best environment in which to put youngsters under the microscope; players of similar ability on the practice ground or under supervision, will suddenly appear quite different playing on their own under tournament pressure. We are looking for natural competitors who are unafraid of hard work."
The captain of the Irish Boys team, Liam Martin (Castletroy), is also Chairman the GUI's Standing Committee on Junior Golf.
He fully approves: "The Munster Branch is moving in the right direction by 'going younger.' The GUI is very supportive of what Munster is doing. It's a particularly good idea to involve professionals in both the coaching and selection process. It's in the pro's interest to introduce 'his' team to a technically correct way of playing the game while making sure that the bottom line of having fun while competing is always the case. Youngsters need technical guidance but too much instruction before they become 'proper players' doesn't help; ability to analyze shot-selection issues and course management are more beneficial in the long term."
Results of the Inaugural Under 14 Munster Inter-County Competition - Winning Team - Cork North/East - Coach: Michael Collins, Mallow; K. O'Keeffe, E. Goggin and J. Sugrue (Mallow), M. Cronin (Macroom), C. O'Callaghan (Youghal), G. O'Mahony, D. Lucey and C. Murphy (Lee Valley).
Runners Up – Limerick - Coach: Donal McSweeney, Limerick County; Rory Cunningham and Ronan Murphy (Castletroy), David O'Mahony (Adare Manor), Mark McGrath, Ronan Hunt and Gary Fitzgerald (Limerick Golf Club), Shane O'Neill and Dylan Wrenn (Limerick County)
3- Cork Southwest - Coach: Paul Kiely (Cork).
4- Kerry - Coach: David Keating (Killarney); S. Carroll (Ballybunion), J. O'Shea (Dooks), R. Kelly, D. Fitzgerald and J. Moran (Tralee), J. Lynch (Castleisland), B. Curran and N. O'Connor (Killarney).
5- Waterford - Coach: David Hayes (Dungarvan)
6- Clare - Coach: David Foley (Dromoland); D. Brennan (Shannon), Jacob Loughnane and James McNamara (East Clare), Aaron McNulty, John Dillon, Aidan Davidson and Jack Murphy (Lahinch), Edmund Moriarty (Dromoland).
Leading individual Scores: 48pts – David O'Mahony (18, Adare Manor), 46pts - D. Lucey (18, Lee Valley); 43 pts - Rory Cunningham (18, Castletroy), 42pts – M. Howard (11, Rafeen Creek); 41pts – K. O'Keeffe (8, Mallow) and D. Fitzgerald (19, Tralee) and the impressive best gross score was returned by R. Dawson (5, Faithlegg), 32pts. All names to remember, I'm sure!
Footnote: Every one pays lip service to fostering talent at underage levels but it is not always backed up by action. Many Golf Clubs are overcrowded and youngsters are often resented and restricted and not provided with the facilities to develop their games. Few Clubs provide decent practice areas, especially short game areas with bunkers.
If Clubs do not provide proper facilities, how can we expect to keep pace with rising standards elsewhere?
The Munster Branch is on the right lines instituting an U-14s tournament but in my not very humble opinion concentrating on Under 14s is only the beginning.
Twomey and the Branch will have to go younger still to catch up, let alone lead the posse, judging by what is happening elsewhere.
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