And the basics he learned at the Made In Holywood Golf Academy at Roganstown should serve him well this week at Royal County Down and for the rest of his career.
Under the watchful eye of Tyrone man Geoff Loughrey, who trained under Rory McIlroy’s coach Michael Bannon and remains partners with the Bangor coach in this most successful and innovative golf school, Keeling has made a meteoric rise in the amateur ranks.
While Tom McKibbin has made a sensational start to his professional career, Keeling is regarded as one of the most exciting Irish prospects since McIlroy and McKibbin emerged from Holywood Golf Club.
The Dubliner shot to domestic fame in 2021, winning the Fred Daly Trophy and the AIG Senior Cup for unheralded Roganstown before adding a string of individual titles to his resumé, including the 2023 Scottish Boys Open and this year’s Irish Boys Amateur Open.
Last year, he led the English Amateur Open Strokeplay for the prestigious Brabazon Trophy into the final round as a 16-year-old before finishing tied for fourth behind Galway’s Liam Nolan.
It was a performance that helped him win a Junior Ryder Cup call-up last year, and after producing a stellar performance for Europe in their win in Rome, he has decided to accept a scholarship from Texas Tech University, where he will be following in the footsteps of European Ryder Cup star Ludvig Aberg and playing alongside another Made in Holywood product in Calum Scott, the silver medalist at The Open this year, and his Junior Ryder Cup teammate, Conor Graham.
Just last month, Keeling was the second-highest points scorer behind fellow Made in Holywood product Hugh Foley, going unbeaten on his senior international debut as Ireland claimed the Raymond Trophy at Murcar Links in Scotland.
His older brother Patrick, another product of Made in Holywood, now plays for the University of Louisville.
So, how did this small Academy, based at one of Ireland’s lesser-known resort courses in north county Dublin, manage to produce players like the Keeling brothers and Foley, who came from nowhere to win the Irish Close (2020), the West of Ireland (2021), and the North of Ireland and South of Ireland (2022)?
Geoff Loughrey
For Loughrey, it all comes down to discipline and a team ethic that is more akin to what you might expect from a top European soccer club than a traditional golf coaching structure.
“We used the same philosophy that Rory McIlroy has used for his entire career,” explained Loughrey, who took on Keeling as an eight-year-old novice, encouraging him to play in as many World Amateur Golf Ranking-approved events as possible so he could quickly climb the ladder. “We try to build a team around players.
“I’m more like a football coach, and the Academy is like a team. We have a psychologist, a fitness coach, a dietician, a clothing contract with J. Lindeberg and an equipment deal with Srixon.
“If you look at the way football clubs are run, once a player walks in the door, the club tells you what you’re going to do, what you’re going to play in, how you’re going to train, what you’re going to eat, how you’re going to think, what equipment you’re going to use and what clothes you’re going wear.
“So they take over the player and control the player’s scheduling. So you’re very professionalised around the player.
Attitude is critical for Loughrey, who won’t tolerate club-throwing or any other breaches of golfing etiquette.
“It’s probably a bit like how the successful Korean golfers are trained or how top football clubs do it,” he explained. “Our players turn up well-trained and well-behaved when interacting with their fellow players and officials.”
Loughrey is proud that he helped Roganstown, which had only a small junior programme before his arrival, not only win the Under-18 Fred Daly Trophy in 2021 but also complete a famous double by becoming the youngest team to win the AIG Senior Cup.
“The average age was 17,” he said, remarking that Roganstown now has around 100 juniors and some 30 players receiving high-level training at the Academy.
“As long as we stick to the philosophy that Michael has proposed over the years, we will always produce players.”
Keeling edged out Foley by 0.2 World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) points for this week’s Amgen Irish Open spot via a mini Order of Merit comprising four major amateur events this summer.
But Foley (26), contemplating an imminent move into the professional ranks, is another ‘Holywood’ success story.
A late bloomer, he joined the Academy with no track record and has since gone on to win four championships in three years and claim his place on the Irish team.
But there is more talent coming through at Roganstown.
Nine-year-old Mirah Mijumbi won the Irish Junior Open, the KPMG Irish Kids Golf Tour, and the US Kids Northern Ireland Tour events in her age category this year.
Keeping it simple is part of the Academy’s philosophy when it comes to the golf swing with low-spin part and parcel of the approach.
“We try and teach the simplest swing in the world,” Loughrey explained. “It’s got to be very natural, and it’s got to look like it’s never been coached.
“We like a low spin game, which means a lower ball flight ball fight and more control, which is how Tiger Woods always played.”
That could prove key for Keeling at Royal County Down this week and while he is no longer coached by Loughrey as he embarks on a collegiate career, it would be unfair to compare him with McIlroy, who had won two West of Irelands, two Irish Close titles and a European Amateur title by the same age.
It’s worth remembering that the great Jimmy Bruen was just 17 when he finished sixth in the 1937 Irish Open at Royal Portrush, while Ronan Rafferty was 15 and Philip Walton was just 17 when they pre-qualified for the Carroll’s Irish Open at Portmarnock in 1979.
Both went on to become tour winners and Ryder Cup players, but even McIlroy found the Irish Open a challenging prospect on his debut as a 16-year-old at Carton House in 2005, where he followed a 71 with an 81 to miss the cut by four strokes.
Only Sergio Garcia, who was 18 when he won in his sixth start on the European Tour in the 1998 Irish Open at Druids Glen, and Shane Lowry, who won as an amateur on his debut at Baltray in 2009, can say vini, vidi, vici when it comes to Irish golf’s premier event.
Keeling still has a long way to go to learn his trade, but Royal County Down could prove to be a big stepping stone for him on his golfing journey, just an hour’s drive from Holywood Golf Club, where McIlroy learned the same basics under Loughrey’s mentor Bannon.
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