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Of all the places in the golf world, Waterville is among the best. There is the town itself, quaint and quiet and located in County Kerry on the southwesternmost point of Ireland. I love the sights of the tidy stone houses there and the different blues, greens and yellows they are painted. And the sounds of the seagulls hovering over the village as waves crash across the rocky beaches. I also relish the times I get to cast flies for salmon and trout in a part of the Waterville River called Butlers Pool.
The links there is special, too, for its brilliant design and also its wonderful ambience. Recently, I have been thinking a lot about the person most responsible for establishing that ethos. He was Noel Cronin, and late last month he went on to his great reward.
Born in Waterville in 1934, Cronin (above) toiled as a gillie in his youth, guiding fishermen on local rivers. Later, he went to work as a driver, ferrying traveling golfers around the country. Then, in 1987, he became the caddiemaster at the Waterville Golf Links, and after that its general manager.
Short and stocky, Cronin always sported a Waterville tie and jacket, often keeping a lit pipe in his blazer pocket. And the Kerryman spent big portions of his days welcoming golfers when they arrived at the links. “I love to meet and greet people,” he said. “I love seeing them happy, and their good cheer makes me happy as well.”
“Noel embodied what Ireland, and Irish golf, is all about. As far as he was concerned, there were no strangers, only people he had yet to meet.”
Marty Carr
Cronin averred that “it costs nothing to say hello to someone,” and I watched him do that time and time again. But what made him truly unique was how his care and concern never ended at the front door of the clubhouse.
One time at Waterville, when I had gone out as a single, Noel came out in a cart to find me stuck behind a rather sluggish threesome. He offered to ask the group to let me through, but I did not want to put him – or them – out. Noel then suggested he drive me ahead a couple of holes, but I did not want to skip any part of that track. So, he stayed to keep me company as I played my way in.
“Noel embodied what Ireland, and Irish golf, is all about,” says Marty Carr, son of the legendary Irish golfer Joe Carr and chief executive officer of Carr Golf Group, a noted travel and course management company. “As far as he was concerned, there were no strangers, only people he had yet to meet.”
When I think of Noel, I recall a popular Irish saying, “céad míle fáilte.” It means “a hundred thousand greetings,” and Cronin no doubt meted out that many in his time at Waterville.
I also imagine St. Peter greeting Noel in that same warm way when he showed up at the pearly gates.
I miss my friend already.
John Steinbreder