In 1986 when I came back from what I call my 5-year Harvard education working with IMG in USA and SE Asia, I was shocked to discover that the greatest golfer of all time had never set foot on our Island. Jack Nicklaus had been a great friend of my fathers since playing against each other in the Walker Cup as amateurs and he had been particularly helpful to me when I was working in the US. It was time to do something about it!
The following week I set up a meeting with Denis Smyth from Toyota, which was owned by Tim Mahony or ‘Toyota Tim’ as he later became known. Denis was a keen golfer and after our get to know you segment, I popped a question to him out of the blue; “what would be your dream golf exhibition match Denis”? to which he replied, “that’s an easy one, Jack Nicklaus v Seve Ballesteros”. I turned to him and said 100,000 punts on the Monday after the Open this year? He sat there for a minute thinking about it and looking at me with a mischievous grin and glint in his eye and said ‘yes, we’ll do it’ and the deal was sealed with a handshake. The Toyota Challenge of Champions was born.
I will never forget the excitement of that day at a time when there were not a lot of big events happening. Dublin stopped for the day to come out to pay homage to this great man, who had brought his whole family with him to play against Seve in Royal Dublin. Over 10,000 people attended, and the match finished on the last hole with Seve holding a long one to beat Jack. It was truly a memorable day which Jack thoroughly enjoyed and the start of the relationship between Tim and Jack. See: https://youtu.be/DEnNP
About three months later I got a call from Tim out of the blue. He said he wanted to build a golf resort in Ireland and asked me to advise him how to go about it. I did a study and presented him with the bottom-line conclusion; I recommended not doing it, but if you’re going to do it, you should do it within 30 miles of Dublin or Shannon airport.
A couple of months later I get another call from Tim at the crack of dawn in the morning in America, ‘Hi Roddy, I was out late last night and had a few pints and ended up buying a place for the resort’. I said, ‘that’s great Tim, where?’ ‘Kilkenny’, he said. ‘Tim, did you not read the study I gave you’? ‘Yes, but I love this place and it feels right’. When can you come over and tell me what to do with it?’.
When I saw Mount Juliet I also fell in love with the place and people. I told Tim we have to go 6 star in this location to make it work and recommended bringing in Jack in to design the golf course. As part of the feasibility, I took Tim to see the lodges at Muirfield Village in Ohio, some horse farms in Kentucky and then down to meet Jack and Barbara in their warm family home in West Palm Beach.
As you walk through the front door there is an unassuming glass cabinet on the right that holds his 18 Major titles! As we sat around the kitchen table over a cup of tea and after Jack had taken Tim around his garden to show him all the different trees he had planted, Tim turned to Jack and said simply; ‘Jack, if you promise to build me a golf course that people like me can enjoy, and I’m a 19 handicap, the job is yours’. Jack looked him in the eye, put his right hand forward and said, “I promise I will do that for you Tim”. The deal was done.
Jack visited Mount Juliet 11 times during the construction to keep his promise to Tim. I was there for every trip as was Tim and my father. It was amazing to see Jack at work with his trusted lieutenant, the experienced Ron Kirby, who later designed the Old Head. Jack enjoyed his trips to Ireland and made many friends. He delivered on his promise to Tim and delivered a product that people just ‘love’. I was sitting in Sutton Golf Club one day and a group of the ladies were chatting around a jar full of 1-euro coins. I asked, ‘Ladies what’s the collection for’. ‘Oh, we’re all going to Mount Juliet for an outing’ they replied. I asked them why Mount Juliet? – ‘Oh, we just love it there’.
The course opened in 1991 with a match between two greats, Christy O’Conor Snr. and Jack. A couple of years later Tom Watson took on Fred Couples in the famous Shells Wonderful World of Golf series. See link: https://youtu.be/ST8r-qta18A
Mount Juliet has been one the most successful parkland developments in Europe and has successfully hosted major events like the Irish Open, The Amex World Golf Championship and now the OFX Legends Tournament.
It will be great to have Major winners like Woosnam, Campbell and Laurie back in Mount Juliet as all of them have played in the above-mentioned events in the past. They, like Tiger and all the great names that have stayed at Mount Juliet in the past, will enjoy the warm hospitality and welcome they will receive and for sure there will be a few pints taken and stories told that week.
Tim and my father will be well pleased looking down.
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