Laid-back Don heading off into the golfing sunset

I HAVE led a relatively simple life, which is no harm at all,” says Don Wallace. In many respects, that line sums up the character of the gentleman who has been advising golf enthusiasts in Galway City for almost four decades.

An unsung hero of the local game, Wallace has been the ‘pro’ at Galway Golf Club for 37 years – a position he retires from at the end of January. He has no regrets, though, and if anything he is philosophical about the next phase in his life, noting it is something everyone must go through.

Then again, Wallace has a long and fruitful career as a golf pro. Born with a club in his hand in Newcastle, Co. Down, Wallace’s father and uncles all worked as pros in the golf industry, with his father working as the club pro in places like Adare in Co. Limerick and Dungannon in Co. Tyrone while one of his uncles, Leo was the Irish champion in 1928.

“My father Paddy and his three brothers were pros in Newcastle, Co. Down. They had a house there and they got into the golf. Some of them worked as assistants at Royal County Down. They moved around teaching a lot and my father actually worked in Gradige's (London), making golf clubs in the 1930s. So, it was kind of a natural thing for me to follow into the game.”

Indeed, young Wallace’s first job was as a golf pro in Dungannon in 1960. He worked there for seven years, but after his marriage to Cookstown native Anne in 1967, the couple emigrated to London, Ontario in Canada, where, again, the Down man worked in the local golf club.

“Canada was a great country,” beams Wallace. “The trouble was, though, that there was too much snow in the winter, which is what we are getting here now. The hard winters were terrible.

“What I couldn’t understand about them in Canada was they would come out when the ice was on the ground in March and April and then when September came – when the good weather came – they would hang up the clubs. I couldn’t believe it. That was the best time to play, it was beautiful, but that was just the way they were.”

Although he says he had “good fun” over there, the call of home was always strong. “I went home one day and I said will we go home to Ireland?” he laughs. “Anne said, ‘yes’ and that was it. So, we came home in ’72 and I got an interview for Athlone. I got the job in Athlone, which I liked.

“However, we had bought a house and there were drafts in and out of it. It was terrible and my wife didn’t like it. So, then the job came up for here in Galway. Éamon Corbett, actually, he interviewed me and thankfully I got the job. That was October ’73.”

Interestingly, the adopted Barna man took over as the club pro from his uncle Bob Wallace – “a gentleman,” he says – who had vacated the job in Adare that Don’s father, Paddy, had taken over many years previously. Confused? “Yeah, Bob went to Adare in 1938 and he left in ’46, when my father took over and we moved in. So, Bob came here in ’46 and in ‘73 he left and I took over. So, if you can figure that out!” exclaims the father-of-four.

No doubt, Wallace loves the job, be it selling golf gear in the shop, repairing clubs, or coaching. He is particularly proud of the junior section at the club. “There is a good junior programme here at the moment. You have to look after your juniors. They are the future of the club and we have over 100 young golfers, girls and boys.

“The number does thin out as the year progresses, but I think if parents are pushing them, it often doesn’t work out too well. They (those young golfers) have to do it on their own. They have to want to do it.

For more, read this week's Galway City Tribune.