MIKE POWER

 

Although the world has come to know Ireland as a producer of top class golfers in the 21st. century, the country has a long tradition of excellence in the sport that goes back almost a century, to when a small number of iconic golf courses like Ballybunion, Lahinch and Royal County Down dominated the scene (there are now more that five hundred golf courses in Ireland).

    Although Ireland produced some notable golfers in the mid-to-late twentieth centuries (people like Joe Carr, Harry Bradshaw and Philomena Garvey), they were mainly amateurs. Even as the professional ranks grew, no Irish golfer achieved anything like the present level of celebrity on the world stage. But that is not to say that notable Irish professional golfers did not exist outside Ireland, as is evidenced by the unique story of Mike Power, who died in June 2014 at the age of 90.

    Mike was born on August 9, 1923 to the late Michael C. and Julia J. Power of Ballybunion, County Kerry, Ireland. He was the 7th of 11 children, having 5 brothers and 5 sisters. 

    He attended school in Ballybunion and learned to play golf, his lifelong career, while caddying on the world-renowned links course there. On leaving school he joined the Royal Air Force and was stationed in India during WWII. When the war ended, he emigrated to Canada where he worked a 3-11 shift in a meat-packing plant. He spent his mornings practicing his game.

    While visiting a cousin in New York, he was referred by Spalding Brothers to the Springdale Golf Club in Princeton, NJ, where he was hired as assistant pro. Later, on a trip to Florida, he stopped at Yeamans Hall Club near the city of Charleston, South Carolina, to visit the course; in 1953 be became assistant pro there for the winter months, continuing as assistant pro at Springdale for the summer months.

    He lost his right leg below the knee to cancer in 1958, but he never let his handicap stop him from playing golf. Two years after losing his leg he set a course record by shooting 64 at Yeamans. 

  In 1976 he became the year-round head pro at Yeamans Hall Club. In 1978 and 1979 he won the South Carolina PGA Chapter senior division. The Summer Golf Association at Yeamans has named its club championship trophy in his honor.

    Mike died at his home in Hanahan, a city adjacent to Charleston, South Carolina on June 14 2014. He was predeceased by his brothers Bob, Teddy and Willie, and by his sisters Kitty Ollivere, Sheila O’Leary and Margaret Boyle. Survivors were his companion and caregiver, Hermeine Tovey, his sisters Mary and Bridie, and his brothers James and John, all living in Ireland, and 23 nephews and nieces. The Rite of Committal of his remains was held at a later date at Killahenny Catholic Cemetery, near the First Hole of the Old Course in Ballybunion, Ireland. In February 2015, Hermeine Tovey and a group of his Charleston friends scattered part of his ashes on the 18th. green at Yeamans Hall.