My Mentor

[Ulsterman1930]

My introduction to golf was a schoolboy during 1947 when one of our close neighbours, Mr Fred Daly won the Open Championship. Although with only a population of 500,000, Belfast had a that time it's fair share of world class sportsmen and women. To name a few, Rinty Monaghan (Boxing)
Peter Doherty (football) Artie Bell (motor cycling) Jack Kyle (rugby), Thelma Hoptkins (athletics) and then in our own street Fred Daly ! He encouraged me to be a caddy at his home club (Balmoral) during the school holidays and over the years that followed, we became firm friends until his death during 1990. He was a tremendous character, friend and golfer, always with time to help any who happened to be interested in the game. Over the years, through him, I had the pleasure of meeting and watching all of the top pros and amateurs. Fred was a superb raconteur and listening to him gave me and many others extremely happy memories of one of Ireland's finest sportsmen.

 

[shanker]

My mentor was Tony Jacklin. I started golf just after his win at Lytham. I thought he had a great swing and tried to copy it.

 

[birdieman]

Stop it Ulsterman....you're making us all misty-eyed!

Seriously though Mr Daly sounds like a top bloke, haven't heard of the other 'famous' sportsmen/women though?

 

[muttleee]

Excellent story Ulsterman. Not many of us could claim an Open winner as our mentor! I just read this quote about Daly on the Balmoral Golf Club site:

“One of the finest long iron players in the game, he could knock your hat off with a one iron at 220 yards.” - Sam Snead.

High praise indeed! Not bad for someone who never had a lesson in his life.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

My mentor was my dear Dad (god bless him). He got me started with lessons from a good teaching pro, got me into a club as a junior so I could learn the game (including the rules and etiquette) and how to compete.

He wasn't fazed when I blew most of my 5th year at school bunking off and working as the assistant (£40 per week in 1982 wasn't to be sniffed at for a 15/16 year old living at home with no outgoings).

He made sure I went back to do my exams in the January and then supported me when I said I wanted to become the assistant at my club. He bent over backwards to try and find a way of paying for me to take my PGA exams but sadly the economics of the time meant I had let my dream go.

He listened intently every time I described a decent round and gave me words of encouragement when I hacked it round. He was simply the best

RIP Dad