Not a million miles from Oughterard Golf Club, newly-crowned East of Ireland Amateur Open champion Kate Dillon cut her teeth in the bog.
“That's the beauty of living out here,” she says of Connemara. “You have all the land and you can use it for whatever you need to use it for.”
In her case it was with a golf club in hand, “focusing on hitting onto the grass where it was specially cut in certain areas and keeping it there”, or hitting it perfectly so it would carry over streams and bogs.
Just days before her victory in the inaugural East of Ireland Amateur Open, Kate was still practising in the bog and “having fun” after returning from the USA where she studies environmental design in Arizona - the same university that John Rahm and Phil Mickelson had attended. Recruited during her fifth year at St Paul’s Secondary School in Oughterard, and with three more years to complete before she can turn professional, Kate is making the most of her opportunities to copper-fasten a golfing career.
Up against familiar Connacht team rival, Roscommon’s Olivia Costello, Kate can thank her prowess with irons on the first day. Keeping the ball in play the entire time, and with “not too many chips”, she left herself with lots of putts.
“In the end my short game, my chipping and putting, really helped - it definitely saved me.”
Dillon says the experience of winning a play-off is a real confidence boost on this long road of professional golf.
“Knowing I've only been in one play-off for a tournament, and I've won it, is going to help massively. Also knowing I can win a women's national championship is pretty big. You see people all the time coming second or whatever, but actually winning - you just get so much confidence from it - for the rest of the season and even onto my college season, which starts in September.”
Kate thanks her parents and older brothers, Eoin and Cormac, for introducing her to the game which they all play in Oughterard. Like many youngsters Kate followed her parents who, living in Ma’am, both play in Oughterard.
Her first outing was aged six, and although she did not fall in love with the game during her childhood or teens, her skill came naturally.
“Everyone had always told me I had a great swing, and I kind of thought I should probably keep it up.”
However, it was Covid that turned the tide. With team sports halted, Kate and her dad headed out to the fields, cut the grass and hit balls - orange balls that were easier to find.
“We’d go out and get them, and then do it again and again. So that is kind of what filled my time during Covid. Yeah, it is weird, but I guess that's the beauty of living out here - you have all the land and you can use it for whatever you need to use it for. I still go up there.”
By fifth year, Kate, intent on forging a career in golf, was being recruited by American colleges which visit Europe in the summer to watch players.
“College sports is such a big deal over there, and a few Irish girls went - one of them was Beth Coulter, who has just graduated, so I knew she was there. I visited four schools and I picked Arizona.”
It is the path for most pro golfers - especially on the women's side - she says, including Leona and Lisa Maguire, and Marina Joyce Moreno.
Understandably, Kate is delighted to have delivered a victory in front of old friends and family.
“It feels good - seeing the same people you used to see when you were a terrible golfer. It is nice knowing they've seen how far I've come, and even seeing the course that I’ve played so many times - and terribly a lot of the time. Now, knowing I can hit all the shots that I wanted to hit, it was great.”
With three more years study in the US, Kate has plenty of time to hone her skills before deciding on a professional career. And, she says, it makes the hard work worthwhile - practising every day for three or four hours - and that’s on top of study.
“Every day is such a long day. You're in school in the morning, in the gym, and then off to play golf from lunchtime until it's dark, so it is a pretty hectic few years, but it's good fun.
“You have bad days, but overall I never said I'm giving this up, and I never once thought that. I've always loved this, and I know it would be such a waste if I were to stop doing it. I’m so much into it now.”
Kate completed her win in dramatic fashion when she beat Roscommon’s Olivia Costello in the second play-off hole, having delivered an incredible birdie on 18. She then added another on the second play-off hole to claim victory to win the championship and picked up 325 Order of Merit points.
