More than 200 golfers teed it up at Skerries Golf Club on Friday to celebrate 100 years of the Kinsella family’s involvement in professional golf.
Skerries professional Jimmy Kinsella was joined on the day by his brothers Billy and David and his son Bobby, the current head professional at Skerries, to mark the occasion.
The family wanted to mark their centenary in the game in a special way and recall how the patriarch, Bill Kinsella Snr, took his first job at Greystones in 1925 and after a short stint in Enniskillen, moved to Skerries as head professional in 1930.
His sons Jimmy, Billy and David followed in his footsteps as PGA professionals.
Jimmy, now 86, famously won the Madrid Open at the Club de Campo in 1972 to become the first Irish winner on the fledgling European Tour before heart trouble forced him to take a step back from tour golf in 1975..
Billy held the position of head professional at Woodbrook for 43 years before retiring in 2006 while David, who took over from the touring Jimmy as head professional at Castle Golf Club, retired after 50 years service in 2015.
Jimmy’s son Bobby is now the head professional at pristine Skerries Golf Club, which remains a wonderful parkland test.
However, the Kinsella connection with the game looks set to continue for years to come.
Bobby has been the head pro at Skerries since 2006, and his sons Calvin and Kyle, and daughter, Sophia all play the game.
Calvin was Skerries’ Junior Golfer of the Year while other members of the extended Kinsella family, the Kennedy’s and Goss’s also show undoubted talent.
“Our dad was an international player,” David told the members and guests at the post-golf dinner. “Jimmy played all around the world and played four World Cups and international matches and so forth. He won on on the tour.
“Billy was a junior international, and my claim to fame is that I played on the wing for Skerries!”
David joked how he played table tennis and skittles at Skerries Golf Club, winning a Barton Cup 60 years ago, before going on to follow in his father’s footsteps as a PGA professional.
Skerries’ captain, Michael Weldon, summed up the feelings of the club about what he described as “the Kinsella dynasty”.
“What I’m seeing is family,” he said. “A fantastic golfing family.”
