There is perhaps no greater tribute to someone who has spent 65 years in sports journalism than receiving acknowledgement and thanks from a broad spectrum of people who love the game.
In the case of Dermot Gilleece, whose latest book, A Farewell to the Fairways (Red Stripe Press €19.99), hit the bookshelves this week, it was notable that the audience that attended the official launch of his memoirs at Clontarf Golf Club last week was a who’s who of the Irish game.
Pádraig Harrington may not have been there as he prepares to chase the Charles Schwab Cup Championship in Arizona next week, but the three-time major winner still took time to pen the foreword to a hugely entertaining, often hilarious, and sometimes moving tome chronicling the men and women Gilleece has encountered on the world’s fairways over the past six decades.
“He displayed a deep understanding of the game, great pride in what he wrote, and appreciated what the golf writing job entailed,” Harrington wrote. “I think he actually loved golf and the intricacies of it, which prompted him to try to get deeper into particular stories.”
That Europe’s winning 2014 Ryder Cup captain Paul McGinley took time out to launch the book in front of an audience that included the likes of Des Smyth, Paddy McGuirk, Barry Reddan, Noel Fox, Colin Byrne and media colleagues, past and present, including Seamus Smith, Greg Allen, Joe Molloy and emcee Shane O’Donoghue, speaks volumes.
“It was an easy thing for me to do, Dermot, to come and recognise you here in this small way tonight,” McGinley said. “As I was putting together some thoughts about what I was going to say, and how to address somebody of the CV and standing in the game of golf that Dermot has, I was reminded of a podcast I heard with a very successful business person a number of years ago and I think it’s very applicable tonight, Dermot, when it comes to you.
“He was an extremely successful billionaire business person and after speaking about his life, the final question was, ‘What was more fun, the journey that you were on or reaching the destination?’ And his answer was ‘neither’. It was the people I met and who were on my side the whole way along the journey. And I think it’s a really good way of describing Dermot’s memoir.
The book is a treasure trove of stories about the game and heroes past and present.
It’s apposite, perhaps that it has been published near Halloween, reminding us that the ghosts and spirits of the game live on forever in our collective memory. It will also make a terrific stocking filler for the golf lover in your life this Christmas.
Not many 84-year-olds would tackle such an onerous project but the result is terrific.
It is 300 pages of stories and anecdotes, covering everything from beating a posts and telegraphs strike in the 1970s by handing his Daily Mail copy to a business-type passenger queuing in Dublin airport for a flight to Manchester to the horrors of losing 1,200 carefully crafted words in the vagaries of new technology as Tiger Woods was cruising to a 15-stroke victory in the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach.
There are tales of the battle for gender equality in Irish clubs — The Making of Golf Ireland — in which Gilleece played a significant role.
But while there are tales aplenty about the Irish game, from our major winners to the great stories that abound in Inter-Club competition to the Ryder Cup and legends from Nicklaus to Palmer, there are also heart-warming stories about the lesser lights.
“From Family Warmth in Ringaskiddy to Tragedy in Alaska” chronicles the incredible adventures of the late James McCarthy from his days trying to make it on the mini-tours and a US Open caddying performance at Oakmont to his adventures as a fisherman in Alaska, being rescued from near-certain death by his brother Peter after being swept overboard and surviving a 20-minute battle for survival in icy waters to the tragic passing of both siblings at an early age.
In short, it’s a treasure of a book and a great addition to every golfer’s library.
Pictured above: Author Dermot Gilleece with Peter Bergin (Hon. Secretary Clontarf GC), Michael Brennan (Red Stripe Press), Paul McGinley and Gerry Cleary (Captain, Clontarf GC) at Tuesday’s launch of “A Farewell to the Fairways”.