Wanted: fit, sporty chatterboxes to be ambassadors for Ireland

A MAJOR recruitment drive is underway in West Clare to fill jobs carrying very unusual and wide ranging specifications.

Those hired will be expected to bear heavy burdens with a smile.

Candidates must have an interest in sport, be fit, able to hump goods weighing up to 80 pounds for more than five hours over up to five miles in open countryside. Uniforms must always be spick and span and operatives must be available for work during daylight hours.

The gift of the gab is also a big asset and anybody who fits the bill could make it as a caddy at Doonbeg Golf Course.

The club prides itself as having one of the finest caddy corps in world golf.

It sees their caddies as ambassadors for the club and Ireland. And like the caddies at Augusta National, home of the US Masters, the Doonbeg caddies must wear white uniforms. The work is ideal for students looking for summer work, according to Doonbeg caddy manager Mark Wade.

The club has placed ads in local newspapers as part of a recruitment campaign to cater for the big increase in visiting golfers over the summer moths.

"I am looking for 25 full time caddies to add to the 20 full timers I have at present. We have 10 part time caddies. Our caddies travel from as far away as Co Galway to work here every day," Mark said.

Each new recruit is given a two-week intensive training course, which involves learning the yardages of each hole, how to read the line of putts on the greens, the proper position of the golf bags and the dos and don'ts of golf etiquette.

And being a good conversationalist is also a big asset, as it ensures a good tip along with the fee.

Caddies get a fee of €35 per bag per round of golf. Quite often the caddy will get two bags-each weighing about 40lbs-to carry yielding a fee of €70.

Most golfers usually give a €10 tip with the fee.

Mark Wade said the financial arrangement is strictly between the caddy and the player and the club just sets the amount.

Mr Wade said: "When the caddies turn up for work each day their uniforms must be properly cleaned and they must be well presented."

Doonbeg has been one of the great success stories of Irish tourism since it opened in 2002.

A new luxury clubhouse is due to open shortly.

A round of golf costs €195 at weekends and €185 from Monday to Thursday and the bookings are flooding in from all over the world with golfers queuing up to play the course which was designed by Greg Norman.