Artisans for golf's sake

Artisan golf is reminiscent of another era, almost a throwback to an age when it was the only way for bluecollar workers to play. In these days as the game explodes - more people playing golf than ever on more courses than ever - and the advent of pay-to-play, there is a mistaken concept that the artisans have simply integrated into more regularised golf.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the Irish Artisans Golfers' Association (IAGA) is alive and very much kicking. Although peculiar to the eastern seaboard (around Dublin and north Wicklow mainly), it maintains a rich history. There were times when an Irish team wouldn't be a real Irish team unless it had at least one artisan on it and, while that may no longer be the case, it remains that the association has some 600 members, attached to 17 clubs, who wouldn't play their golf any other way.

"Things have certainly changed over the years," admits Jim McAuley, joint-treasurer of the IAGA. "And, yet, I don't think there is a nicer or better way to play golf. We love it." Indeed, there is something immensely romantic, and pure, about artisan golf. Almost as if, in this ultimate game of honour, this is the most honourable form of all.

Joe Craddock doesn't disagree. A professional for 50 years, his introduction - and that of his famous brothers Paddy, Tom and Mick - came through artisan golf in Malahide. The family's land touched onto the old course that overlooked the estuary, and from the age of eight he started to caddie there. In many clubs, being a caddie was the traditional route to playing as an artisan.

The IAGA came about because clubs were anxious to attract more players - and the GUI were anxious that such players as Tom Craddock and Paddy Caul, who set such high standards, could play representative golf.

Although artisans had been playing since the early part of the century, using courses at off-peak times either early in the morning or late in the evenings, the situation wasn't formalised until 1953, when artisans were finally permitted to play in the Irish Amateur Open and Close championships. The parent club allowed its name to be used as a prefix for the Artisan Club, which usually comprised a limited membership of club staff, former staff and others who, as youngsters, had caddied, and they were recognised as associate members of the GUI.

Yet, confirmation that artisan golf had been around considerably longer than the IAGA's recognition by the GUI in 1953 comes in this reproduction of the Malahide Artisans' anthem, which appeared in the weekly newspaper Sport on January 2nd, 1926:

You may talk of St Andrews the great golfing seat

Where the Royal, Ancient game is played by the elite,

But for pure sportsmanship sure it cannot compete,

With the Malahide Artisans' Club.

The Malahide A's don't arrive in plus-fours,

And even no Fords drive up to its doors,

But they all "play the game" by the Broadmeadow's Shores,

Do the Malahide Artisans' Club.

There's Lynch the call George, he plays down to plus two,

There's Wogan called "Gruell" with a great follow through,

There's Owens and there's Tighe, all good men and true,

In the Malahide Artisans' Club.

There's a postman who hits the wee ball a fair knock,

And the great Alec Tierney who "plays round the clock",

O'Briens, Dolans and Pierces, all great golfing stock,

In the Malahide Artisans' Club.

There are farmhands and workers of every variety,

(For golf more renowned than for learning or piety),

But fit to "go round" against any society,

In the Malahide Artisans' Club.

Indeed, Malahide Golf Club's centenary book gives adequate recognition to the part artisans played in its early history. One of first artisan competitions was won by Willie Nolan, who went on to become the club professional at Portmarnock, and who was noted for his charitable deeds. He is the only golfer in Ireland to have a road named in his honour - the Willie Nolan Road in Baldoyle.

In many ways, there was something prophetic about that anthem, because, in the following decades, the Craddock clan - who started out as artisans - were to make an enormous contribution to Irish golf. Tom Craddock and Paddy Caul, both artisans who went on to become members of Malahide Golf Club, were picked to play on the Irish amateur team.

"They were so good," recalls Joe, "that they couldn't be left off the team. You couldn't leave off two of your best players. They were two great internationals."

Tom became the first IAGA member to receive international recognition when he was selected to play for Ireland at Royal Birkdale in 1955 and, in all, he played for his country in 12 series of Home Internationals until 1970. He also gained Walker Cup selection in 1967 and 1969.

One of Joe Craddock's outstanding memories of the Malahide artisans was the sheer quality that ran through the ranks. "There were 24 of us. The highest handicap was 16, and there were 10 fellows who had handicaps of four down," he says.

His roots are important to him. "I'm proud of my artisan heritage," he states. "We played for the love of golf. We'd be up at daybreak, five o'clock in the morning sometimes, to get in a round.

"There was a group of us played on Sunday mornings and we would have to put two shillings each into the kitty. We had a motto, `If you can't play you pay', because the winner took it all. Most of us were ex-caddies and we simply couldn't afford to join golf clubs, but had given clubs years of service. They were good times, and the thing that sticks with me is the way that everyone played golf for the love of it."

The one peculiarity about artisans golf is the way that it remained stubbornly stuck to the eastern seaboard, in and around Dublin. "I don't know why," says the IAGA's McAuley, who has been an artisan in Bray for over 25 years, "there is no real reason for it. It is just the way it is."

"We've had our ups and we've had our downs, but the IAGA is still very much there and it is an important part of Irish golf. Many artisans have had the chance to leave and join clubs but they decided to stay, purely because they love this form of golf," adds McAuley.

Indeed, the Irish artisans have also had the opportunity to play some of England's finest courses - among them Wentworth - in an annual match with the English artisans. And the reverse is true too. In fact, the two teams, comprising 20 players apiece, met in their annual international at Royal Dublin just last weekend. Another page for the annals of the IAGA.

And the characters remain, too. The IAGA's president is Sam Carroll, of Foxrock artisans, who is the oldest member of the association, and his nephew Edmond is joint-treasurer with McAuley. The secretary is Frank Doyle of Dun Laoghaire, with Greystones' Danny Nolan as captain.

There may be a great many more clubs around now than when the concept of the artisans was conceived, but it remains a rather special place in the expanding world that is Irish golf.