“We both still get a big satisfaction from the job”

By Alistair October 28, 2023 09:00

Paul McCanny, director of golf, and Fintan Brennan, superintendent at Portmarnock Resort in Ireland, discuss how they maintain one of the best golf venues in the country and how they’ve made it more sustainable.

Portmarnock is a part of Ireland that is rich in history, and its sandy peninsula is home to a number of world-class links courses, one of which has just benefitted from a multi-million-euro investment and rebrand – Jameson Golf Links. Paul McCanny, director of golf, and Fintan Brennan, superintendent, tell us more about this spectacular resort and course which is Ireland’s newest (yet most historic) golf links.

Could you tell us about your background and your career path to your current role?

Paul McCanny: I started as an assistant pro at Black Bush Golf Club in County Meath. When I finished my training there, I went to Birr in County Offlay. I then joined Killeen Castle as head golf professional in 2011, the same year that we had the Solheim Cup. I took this role on in 2021.

Fintan Brennan: I started greenkeeping when I was 27. I won the Toro European Student Greenkeeper of the Year while attending Elmwood College, Cupar, Scotland, in 1996. I got the head job here in 1999, and I’ve been here ever since.

What do you find most rewarding about greenkeeping and what has been your biggest challenge to date?

Fintan Brennan: For me, it’s not a job at all – it’s a passion, getting to work with nature. Having the respect of the different owners over the years to do what I see fit has been a great bonus.

What advice would you give to anyone thinking about entering the profession?

Paul McCanny: You need to have a passion for the industry. Seeing the enjoyment that people have had when they come off the course, there’s a certain reward in that.

At the moment we’re seeing a huge boom in golf and we’re on a fairly significant upward curve. It’s an exciting place to be, but there are going to be challenges, too. When things do get a little bit tougher, you need to have that passion for it. We both still get a big satisfaction from the job.

Fintan Brennan: You also get to enjoy the environment that you’re in, by the beach. Even if you’re up at 6am mowing greens or raking bunkers, it’s a very enjoyable place to be.

As we enter the winter months, what for you and the team are the most challenging aspects of the job?

Fintan Brennan: Really, the biggest challenge is getting your body temperature right. When it’s windy, if you haven’t got your jacket on, you’re really cold; and if you have it on, you’re really warm. When you’re down in the bunker, you might get a little respite.

Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important subject in golf. How important is the environment in the procedures you have adopted as a greenkeeping team?

Fintan Brennan: Since I took over in 1999, we’ve reduced N (nitrogen) inputs right down to 25kgs per hectare, per annum on greens. We can do that because we are promoting fescue grass throughout the site. Fungicides, we may have one application throughout the year, but we went seven years without an application.

Herbicides – we try to do just one application in the very early spring. Insecticides, we haven’t used any for about five years. The yardstick that I have given myself was we started to keep bees right close to one of the fairways and close to the shed, so that on the way out with any spraying equipment, your first or second thought is about the bees and the other pollinators.

We maintain our cut areas only, and the uncut areas are left alone.

When I started, we were spraying wall to wall, certainly twice a year with herbicide and it’s now a last resort – we’re doing everything else that we can do instead now.

How excited are you about the work and the changes that have taken place on the golf course since you arrived at the resort in 2021?

Paul McCanny: Unbelievably so. The owners saw the potential here when they took over, and we’re starting to fulfil that. It’s always been a very popular place to come and stay and play golf, but we’re now using all the attributes that we have naturally, through the land that we have.

The advantage that we have is an undulating topography. We’ve now created a routing that brings you up, down and around on different levels and gives you some beautiful sites and sounds of the sea, as well as challenging you from a golf perspective. We’re excited to introduce more people to this location.

The Jameson name plays a big part here, but many may not know about the links between the family and the site. Can you talk to me a little about just how intrinsically linked the Jameson family is with the site.

Paul McCanny: The Jamesons played an instrumental part in the introduction of golf to this island. John Jameson built his own private course here in the 1850s, which would have been used by friends and family coming from Scotland, and it would have been one of the pursuits that they would have played.

Then, they became more connected with the community in Ireland. He sold the southern part of the peninsula, and that was where Portmarnock Resort was formed. He became their president and golf took off over there from that point.

Over on this side of the property, it fell back into family ownership and usage, until the mid 1990s when International Management Group (IMG) came along and developed the beginnings of the course that we have now.

Three of the Jamesons, John included, are buried in the graveyard to the right of the first hole, and the old house that they lived in, St Marnocks, now forms part of our hotel. There’s a lot of other history around this area, so we’re excited to share all these stories.

The course and hotel are situated on a stretch of coastline which is home to a phenomenal selection of links courses. Is your hope that the changes made to the course and the investment will lead to more visitors playing the course, and also using the resort as a base for exploring this part of the world?

Paul McCanny: Absolutely. If you want to play four or five games of golf, I don’t think you’ll find a better stretch of courses within close proximity anywhere in the world. We’re 15 minutes from the airport (Dublin), so you can come off a flight and be on the tee in 30 minutes.