by Virtual Gathering
I started playing golf in 1985 at the ripe old age of 30! A friend of my sister Marie was down from Dublin and he had golf clubs in the car and we were telling him that he was a yuppie! But his answer to us that we were fools if we didn’t play golf with the best golf club in Ireland right beside us. The perception at the time was that golf was for wealthy people.
But the first day I played on the golf course was not exciting. The small ball was sitting up there on the tee waiting for me to hit it, and it didn’t occur to me that I could miss it! I didn’t realise that the secret of it was that you had to keep your head steady at all times when hitting the ball. I had lots of “fresh airs”. Embarrassing!
But I kept at it as time went on, getting braver and braver, getting bits of advice from people, and getting to know people. My handicap improved, beating standard scratch (after going out to 21 at one time). Then Brendan Daly, my brother-in-law, and myself won a four-ball and I started improving. I started picking up small little prizes with 5ths and 6ths placings and so on, and lo and behold things started happening. On several occasions I said to myself “I’ve made it!” which was great until I went back the next day and I was back to square one. It’s like football – some days you will hit the ball straight down the middle, but other days, disaster. It’s not so much that you are playing against yourself. You are trying to beat the golf course. You are trying to get your best score but you are out there the best part of four hours and you lose concentration. You may be on a team, but you are on your own most of the time. If you don’t keep the noodle, you are gone!
Since I began playing golf, the club in Ballybunion has seen massive changes. The promotion of the club had just started in the 1980s and it’s a big business here now. There are thousands coming to Ireland every year to play golf and the Ballybunion courses are among the top places people want to play. The whole set up accommodates the touring players. The clubhouse alone is state of the art. The sheer size of it is impressive. It is very modern. Downstairs there is the spikes’ bar where the golfers can go with their golf shoes. (When I started there were metal spikes but they are outlawed now, except for professionals, and soft spikes are the norm for amateurs. Metal spikes are very severe on the greens.) There is another bar and restaurant upstairs and there is also a members’ bar where only members are allowed. That is a typical American idea.
As far as becoming a member is concerned, it has become a bit easier in the last four or five years. The demand is not what it was 10 years ago. Anybody who wants to join can go online and fill up the form. Then you get somebody to propose and second you, and if you pay seven and a half thousand euro, then you are in. The women’s side of the club is struggling to get new members in. Since women have equality in the club, they have to pay the same fee as the men. The junior girls are in low numbers also, but the junior boys are increasing by twenty members each year. There is a waiting list for them actually. The attraction for young people to join is that they can upgrade to full membership at 21 for about fifty per cent of the fee.
There have been many exciting events in my time in the club. When Bill Clinton came the first time there was fierce excitement around. The security was something else, as manholes were welded around Ballybunion and the CIA were everywhere for a week before. It was a really fine day when the US president arrived. I was fortunate that I played just two groups behind President Clinton. His security group numbered about twenty but they kept a discreet distance. In his playing group were Dick Spring, Christy O’Connor Senior, Charlie McCreevey and the captain of the day, Brian McCarthy from Ballylongford. There was a massive crowd around the 18th green as he finished and he went in to the club then and mingled with people. I shook hands with him myself and asked him to come back sometime, which he did. I had actually met him at Lisselton Cross also when he stopped there earlier in the day! He was friendly with everyone.
My road to becoming club captain began around seven years ago when I sought a position on the committee. You have to be nominated and seconded and then be elected. I didn’t succeed the first two goes but I tried again and got elected onto the committee then. There are different sub-committees then for handicapping, competitions and so on, and I was elected to the competitions committee. I became chairman of competitions and was later promoted to finance. Then Mike Barry was captain and asked me to be his vice-captain. Later then I was elected captain. I was fortunate with my job because I had the time for the job as it is very time-consuming.
Since becoming captain, I have met a lot of different people. I have met a lot of American business people. I met Donald Trump only a few weeks ago at his newly acquired course in Doonbeg. He saw the Ballybunion tops and came over to us. I recently played with a man from Sunningdale golf Club who is six foot ten in height! A small little ladeen! I also met Ed McMahon, an overseas member of Ballybunion who is a lawyer in Washington. Recently he had to defend Alqeda members recently. Another man I met was David Bates who is a member of the Congressional Golf Club where Rory McElroy won his first major. Bates is also an overseas member of Ballybunion.
Outside of Ballybunion, the best course I have played is Donegal in Murveigh. I have also played Mount Juliet and Killarney and overseas I think Congressional stands out.
My captaincy lasts till December. I would like to be remembered for treating people well, and for welcoming them to Ballybunion. There are 2,200 members in the club and I hope I have helped to create an atmosphere where all opinions can be expressed openly and fairly. I would like to think that I have motivated all to share in our common direction in Ballybunion Golf Club.
by Virtual Gathering
The Buttercup
There are about thirty six species of the Buttercup but the common type in the parish is the Meadow Buttercup. It is a perennial wildflower which means it lives for at least two years. This very noticeable bright yellow flower thrives on damp land and is in full bloom from April to October. It is often a source of annoyance to people who find that it loves to display its bright yellow magic on their lawns! The National Folklore Collection in UCD quotes a Kerry tradition which says that the root of the buttercup is a cure for toothache. A Lisselton tradition among children in the past was to place a Buttercup under the chin, and if the flower reflected a yellow tint onto the chin, it was a sign that the person liked butter! Its name may have come from its similarity to a little cup the colour of butter, or from the fact that it contains nectar. It is a popular host for bees and insects. The Buttercup was one of the wildflowers picked by children on May Eve to decorate the little May Altar in the kitchen because of its bright colour and because it was a sign of summer. It is, however, considered a bad-tasting flower by animals, ensuring its survival. Some traditions considered it poisonous.
The flower has five yellow petals and at the base of these are five green sepals which support the petals.
The Irish term for the Buttercup is Fearbán Féir.
(Catherine…put the weed article after this)
by Virtual Gathering
I did a two year course in the Community College in Tralee to train as a Special Needs Assistant. The lectures were held two nights a week. There was both theory and practice involved. Being a Special Needs Assistant is a very challenging but rewarding career. The secret of being a good SNA is being able to bond with the students in your charge. You have to be there for them and they have to be aware of that. They have to learn to trust you.
The SNA has to be able to cope with irregular behaviour and this is where the right training is important. You have to realise each individual child is different and you have to understand what causes their behaviour. A method you use with one child may not be the right method with another child. The SNA has to be flexible in approach.
As far as working with the teaching staff is concerned, the SNA is a respected member of the team and is highly regarded. The salary is also of a high standard.
Leaving Cert students who wish to train as SNAs will have to have a level five standard, will have to be patient and caring people and will have to like working with children. Traditionally it was mostly girls who pursued the career but that is changing now and boys are taking up the option.
Being a Special Needs Assistant is a rewarding career and is a viable option for young people who feel the need to help children. See your career guidance teacher for further details.
by Virtual Gathering
(Continuing the collection of nathanna Gaeilge used in the area up to recent times. See 2011 Magazine for part 1.)
Cómhairing (working in a meitheal), e.g. We were cómhairing the bog work.
Lobby (<leaba=bed), eg We had a lobby behind the house.
Caiseach ( < cos, road of wicker through bog), eg We walked on the caiseach.
Dúirnín (handle), eg Hold on to the dúrneen of the scythe.
Cláirín (scythe board), eg Edge the scythe with the cláirín.
Péist (monster), eg He hit him a péist of a fist.
Méiscre (broken skin), eg She has a méiscre on her fingers.
Míníoch (mean), eg She is very míníoch when she’s out.
Iarlais (changeling left by the fairies), eg He’s only an iarlais.
Lastar (woman of low degree), eg She’s a right lastar.
Gabhal (genital area), eg She covered her gabhal!
Loch Éireann (Lake Erne), eg He’d drink Loch Éireann dry.
Woster (bastaire=big portion), eg I ate a big woster of bread.
Trálach (sore wrist), eg He had a trálach after the slasher.
Buaileam sciath ( a boaster), eg He’s a right buaileam sciath.
Lúbán (a crooked thing), eg She made a lúbán of the bike when she crashed.
Ladhar (pron. lyre, a fistful), eg He gave a ladhar of oats to the horse.
(We acknowledge the assistance of Seán Ó Catháin, Nodie Walsh, and the many people who contacted us with phrases. Please keep them coming for part 3 in 2013)
by Virtual Gathering
I picked up ferreting as a hobby when I retired from football and soccer some years ago. I go fishing from March to September but for the autumn and winter months my sport is ferreting for rabbits.When I got interested first, I used to go out with friends of mine but then I got ferrets of my own. My great great grandfather, “Oul Joy” of Meeninard, Duagh, used to be interested in ferreting too but no one else in the family since.
I bought two ferrets from a friend of mine below in Lisnagry in Limerick. I used to go ferreting with him for five or six years. When he got married I started going to Kildorrery and Coachford in Cork and I still go ferreting there.
When you get to a location, you set up your field and set up the rabbit-runs. You can do ground burrows yourself, that is borrows out in the middle of a field where you have no ditches. What you do is put out your purse nets outside the burrows and put in your ferrets into the burrows. Then the ferrets start chasing the rabbits and you hear a thumping sound inside in the burrow and you know the rabbits are on their way out. The rabbits run into the nets then and are caught. But you have to have a second man with you if the burrows are in a ditch. You use field nets then because the rabbit won’t leave the ditch if there is cover. You let the ferrets into the ditch after the rabbits. It’s only when the growth on the ditch has died down that the rabbit will come out in the open, so you need another man to hunt him out if there are bushes and weeds growing.
Sometimes a rabbit can get “locked up” on a rabbit in the burrow, that is, he sees the rabbit and doesn’t move! In that case I have locators on the ferret which can give me his depth from a foot to eight feet. I can trace where he is in the ground and can then dig down to find him. I can put down a spike through the ground and you can hear the ferret sniffing up through the hole and then you know where he is. Nine times out of ten the ferrets will come back to you.
The ferrets eat mince meat which I get from our local butcher, Dick Behan. They drink water as well. They are very easy to keep and some people keep them as pets around the house! They are kept in cages but when you let them out they will generally stay around the yard.
The ferrets live around ten or twelve years. They can get disease but they can be immunised by medication by the local vets in Listowel, Pierce and Treacy.
Ferrets are native Irish animals and it’s their nature to kill rabbits and the like. Some people cut their teeth so that they can’t kill but I wouldn’t do that. They get on well with dogs. I have a terrier here and he plays away with them, but a cat could be aggressive to them.
As far as I know I am the only one in the parish who has ferrets. The Clancys of Ballybunion and Tommy Lyons in Listowel keep ferrets but it’s rare enough to have them. It is an old Irish custom. They are great for hunting rats and mice also.
My children have given names like Jack and Jill and Millie and Molly to some of the ferrets!
