O’Callaghan eyes new talent as Fernhill hosts young big hitters

Pádraig Harrington predicted earlier this year that within the decade, the likes of Bubba Watson and Rory McIlroy will be battling a new generation of stars who will hit the ball 380 yards — at least. 

“You are going to get guys who are going to be able to hit it... let’s see... 30 yards past Bubba,” Harrington said.

“So to win majors, Bubba [and by extension, Rory] will have to do other things as well as hitting it long. It is the nature of the game and how it has changed.”

Fernhill teaching professional Wayne O’Callaghan knows all about what the future holds, as the club where he’s set up the Wayne O’Callaghan Golf Academy prepares to host the grand finale to the Irish Junior Masters Tour on Sunday, August 31.

With many clubs still restricting membership to juniors as young as six because they fear becoming a glorified creche, O’Callaghan set up the Irish Junior Masters Tour this year to give kids access to the game.

On Sunday week, he expects up to 70 juniors from all over Ireland to tee it up in nine-hole competitions on shortened courses in four age categories — 13 and under, 11 and under, 9 and under, and 7 and under.

Having already hosted provincial events at Enniscrone in Connacht, Holywood in Ulster, Hollystown in Leinster and Charleville in Munster, he’s seen not only the huge benefits to the youngsters, but also the economic and social benefits for the host clubs, who are keen to build their junior programmes.

“We are building up the tour to encourage youngsters who can’t get mainstream golf, and there is some serious talent out there,” O’Callaghan says.

“I’m trying to build a network with other PGA pros around the country and I’ve got Jamie O’Sullivan in Charleville, David Hayes in Dungarvan, Vinnie O’Boyle in Bandon, Joe Murray in Hollystown and Paul Gray in Holywood on the advisory panel.

“Eventually they will have tournaments running in all these regions on a weekly basis that give kids access to golf. It’s also great for clubs because at one of our recent events, we had 40 kids and nearly 60 or 70 parents and grandparents and they all stayed on for dinner afterwards, which meant a few thousand euro for the club.

“Here in Fernhill, kids get free access to the golf course once they are members of the Academy. There is no age limit or time limits or restrictions on them regarding use of the course and we have a six year old a member now. In fact, we have grown membership from 90 two years ago to over 400 now because parents join with their kids.”

The golf courses the children play are set up according to age of the participants, with under 7s tackling 160-yard par fours and 60-yard par threes, and so on.

“Most of these kids don’t have handicaps because they are too young to get into clubs,” Wayne explains, “but they can really play. We had a lad, Jack Murphy, shoot 38 for nine holes in the Under 7s in the West Cork Open in Bandon recently. He has no handicap.

“My own son, Wayne, shot two under for nine holes in Dungarvan. He played in the US Kids final at Pinehurst recently and there were 1,400 kids shooting unbelievable scores. The nine-year-old winner shot 11 under for three 18-hole rounds on a course measuring nearly 5,000 yards. On a 6,000-yard course, a 10-year old shot eight-under gross in the last round.

“We took Wayne to play in the World Masters in Las Vegas the week before Pinehurst and the last hole was 250 yards, with water all down the left. We were on the green and a 10-year old in the group behind us pitched it straight in the middle of the green as we were putting — at 250 yards! It’s hard to believe. They are coming.”