55 Most people retire in or around their middle sixties, perhaps a bit later these days given the pressure on pension funds the world over. Very few are still working after their ninetieth birthday. But then, very few people have a life like Ron Kirby. From growing up in Beverly, Massachusetts, 15 miles north of downtown Boston, to 18 different homes around the world, Kirby has seen more in his life than most could possibly dream of. Golf was a part of his life from a young age. “My dad was a club pro in New Hampshire – my brother and I worked in the shop, and I didn’t care for the members, so he gave me a rake and set me loose on the golf course,” he says. “In 1950 I went to turf school at the University of Massachusetts on a Francis Ouimet Caddy Scholarship – something I’m still very proud of, and I still support the fund. My ambition was to be an assistant greenkeeper.” It wasn’t just learning about turf in those days – the young Kirby learned another skill that he has used throughout his life; drawing. To this day, he continues to sketch his design ideas to get them across to shapers and construction crews. “My grandfather was an artist, and I used to paint with him,” he says. “When I was a kid, in the winters, you could get watercolour Just turned ninety, Ron Kirby has been in the golf design business since the 1950s, and is still working – he has just finished overseeing the rebuild of the Apes Hill course in Barbados. Ron told Adam Lawrence a bit about his career and what he has learned A life in design I NTERV I EW: RON K I RBY Photo: Kristopher Streek
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