Ballybunion will reach a major milestone this year - even without the Clinton factor. By the end of this month, the club will pass the £1 million mark in green-fee revenue for the first time in their history. And they can expect more of the same during the coming season.
The playing visit by the US President last month generated huge television exposure internationally. "From the feedback by our overseas members, it was beyond anything we could have imagined - a priceless boost to the club," said secretary/manager Jim McKenna. "But from a financial standpoint, we may get very little out of it in the immediate future."
McKenna was referring to the fact even without the Clinton visit, they were fully booked until the end of this month, which marks the close of their green-fee season. And through their decision over the last five years to increase the gap between groups from 10 to 14 minutes, the Old Course has reached saturation point.
As McKenna put it: "We're at our maximum, but I suppose it's worth noting that despite their success, Coca Cola still advertise. So, in terms of promoting the club, we would expect all the media coverage of President Clinton's visit to deliver a useful return over the coming years."
The fact is that Balllybunion have never had it so good. Only a week after savouring the unique appeal of the Kerry links, Mark O'Meara, Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk were first, third and tied fourth in the British Open at Royal Birkdale. And by way of ensuring that his particular visit would be remembered, another American, Payne Stewart, had a hole-in-one at the short third.
It seems ironic that a visit by Ballybunion's greatest supporter, Tom Watson, in the company of twice former US Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, was overshadowed by all the comings and goings. But Watson will be there for the long haul.
"We have had preliminary discussions with him concerning remodelling plans for the Cashen Course," added the Ballybunion official. "Either way, we will be implementing his new design of the first hole (it's being changed to a dog-leg for safety reasons) before the end of the year." In the meantime, the money keeps rolling in.
"It's nice to see I'm coming through the bad spell" - Colin Montgomerie, commenting last weekend on his second tournament win in 15 days. It followed a "drought" lasting all of four months since his previous win in the Volvo PGA Championship.
An Irish player has appeared in only one Curtis Cup match since Claire Dowling (nee Hourihane) helped to regain the trophy at Hoylake in June 1992. This happened in Chattanooga two years later, when Eileen Rose Power's involvement was limited to the second day's foursomes in which she and Myra McKinlay were beaten.
But there have been compensations. Ita Butler proved to be an exemplary captain at Killarney in 1996 and again this year, despite the defeat at Minikahda, Minnesota, in August. Then there was the selection of Dowling as captain of the Espirito Sancto team in Chile next month and for next year's Vagliano Trophy line-up.
Now comes the choice of Maureen Madill as coach to the LGU elite squad. Her four-year contract means she will guide the team's fortunes in the Curtis Cup at Ganton in 2000 and at Fox Chapel, Pittsburgh, in 2002. And the chances are she will have former international colleague Dowling as captain.
Interestingly, they share the distinction of having won the British Women's Strokeplay title - Madill in 1980 and Dowling in 1986. But they never played Curtis Cup golf together, though Dowling was a reserve in 1980 when Madill played at St Pierre. A further coincidence sees an elite squad call-up for Lillian Behan, who won the British Matchplay in 1985 - at Ganton.
During the halcyon days of the Carrolls International tournament at Woodbrook, the highlight of the year for scribes with even a tenuous interest in golf, was the official press day to announce details of the event. It involved a game of golf at Woodbrook, followed by a night of unbridled merriment.
On one such occasion, the talk of the evening concerned a hole-in-one by Tom Cryan at Woodbrook's ninth. Now "The Squire", as he was known to his many friends, would not rank among the greatest of golfers, though he tackled the game with considerable enthusiasm. By comparison, my predecessor as golf correspondent of this newspaper, Paul MacWeeney, thought of himself as an exponent of much greater skill.
So it was that the official presentation to The Squire prompted a stunned reaction from MacWeeney, whom I later gathered had never experienced the joy of a hole-in-one. In fact he felt obliged to comment in his sophisticated stammer: "To- to-to think that this is actually young Cryan's third ace. Amazing."
Tom Cryan died last week- end, little more than a year into retirement from Independent Newspapers. His irrepressible sense of fun will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
Mark McCormack's appearance in Dublin next Monday, when he is to be honoured by the Legends Golf Society, reminds me of an interview I did with him at St Andrews some years ago. It was arranged for 7.30 am at his suite in the Old Course Hotel and on arriving there, I was informed that it was only 7.28: I should wait for two minutes.
As a test of patience, it was as nothing compared to the years McCormack had to wait before he could properly exploit the earning potential of his good friend, Arnold Palmer. Soon after turning professional in 1954, Palmer signed a contract with the Wilson sports goods company, which would become the source of much grief for McCormack when he set about handling the player's business affairs.
Interestingly, the contract became especially attractive to Palmer because of an affair of the heart. As a rookie professional, he looked to be a decidedly poor catch to the parents of Winnie Watzer, the love of his life. So he eloped with her and, according to McCormack, found the $5,000 per year he was getting from Wilson, very useful.
But Palmer then renewed the Wilson contract in 1957 which became a major coup for the company when he proceeded to win the US Masters in 1958 and then the double of the Masters and US Open in 1960. Try as he could, McCormack couldn't get his client's freedom. Wilson even rejected Palmer's offer to return all the monies he had earned from them, along with all the unsold Palmer clubs they had in stock, to a value of $500,000. McCormack had to wait out the final days of the contract in 1963. But he then made up for lost time - with a vengeance. Within four years, Palmer's annual earnings were in six figures while products he endorsed had annual sales of $15 million. Later, the NBC television company paid millions of dollars for a piece of Palmer enterprises. One of sport's greatest partnerships had struck gold.
Delgany's Pat Boate informs me that at a recent reunion for past lady captains, they celebrated the 87th birthday of Doris Jones, who has been an associate member for 65 years. Apparently she still plays a few holes on Tuesdays. Then there is the 1941 lady captain, Alice Murnaghan, who is a hearty 104 and "still takes a keen interest in Delgany." There must be somethin' in them thar hills.
This day in golf history . . . . On October 3rd, 1895, Charles Blair Macdonald won the inaugural US Amateur Championship on the nine-hole stretch at Newport GC, Rhode Island. There was no need for strokeplay qualifying for the field of 32 challengers, only straight matchplay. Macdonald, a member of Chicago GC, won his matches by 7 and 6, 8 and 6, 5 and 3, 8 and 7 and 12 and 11.
A year previously, he had lost an unofficial amateur tournament at the same venue. It was a 36-hole medal event and after a first round of 84, he soared to 100 the following day and lost by a stroke to W G Lawrence. Only eight players finished out of a field of 20 and Macdonald took the defeat badly, claiming among other things that the event could not be official since it wasn't matchplay like the British Amateur.
There was no national governing body for golf in America at the time but through no small effort on Macdonald's part, the Amateur Golf Association of the US - a forerunner of the USGA - was launched in December 1894 when the charter members were Chicago GC, Newport, The Country Club, St Andrews and Shinnecock Hills.
Teaser: A player's ball accidentally strikes his caddie standing out of bounds and comes to rest out of bounds. What is the ruling?
Answer: In matchplay, the player loses the hole (Rule 19-2a). In strokeplay, the player incurs a penalty of two strokes (Rule 19-2b) and, since the ball lies out of bounds, he must proceed under Rule 27-1, incurring another penalty stroke.
