It was fitting — so poetic in a way — that Ron Kirby, Beverly’s greatest gift to the world of golf, should take his last breath not in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, his home for the past 21 years, but in exotic Copenhagen, Denmark.
After all, he had traveled the world for the past half century, most of those years with his beloved wife Sally, creating new golf courses and remodeling/restoring others in America, Europe, the British Isles, Ireland, the Caribbean, the Orient and South Africa.
He delivered the goods in his own name or in collaboration with Robert Trent Jones, Sr., Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. His work made him famous in the international golf family.
As much as he was admired and respected in the golf architecture business, he was loved even more, as Nicklaus declared at Ron’s 90th birthday last fall.
I was among those who loved Ron first and foremost for being such a caring, considerate, down-to-earth gentleman, a wonderful face and personality for the industry that made him famous and beloved; secondly for providing me with such great newspaper, magazine and book copy since I discovered him in 1972, months after I had joined The Salem News as a rookie sportswriter.
I’d discovered Ron Kirby after accidentally reading something in The New York Times about Gary Player, a member of the “Big Three” with Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, getting into the golf design business with someone named Kirby, now based in Atlanta but a native of Beverly, Mass.
I thus had my first Ron Kirby story for The Salem News.
It was one glorious ride spanning 51 years, starting with an initial rendezvous at the old Kings’ Grant Inn on Route 128 in Danvers, where Cell Signaling Technology is located today, while Ron was visiting family.
The ride ended, little did I know, when I spent the afternoon and evening this past April with Ron and his son, Ron, Jr., at the annual Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund dinner at Encore Boston.
In between, Ron provided me terrific copy of his career journey. Among the highlights:
Ron forming a golf course design firm with the neophyte (Gary) Player, which led to his laying out, with Player, the Sun City resort in his home country, South Africa.
Ron accepting a commission from Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos’s wife Imelda, to lay out a nine-hole golf course in her husband’s home town in Laoang.
Ron starting a long-time association with Jack Nicklaus as his Senior Designer based first in Monaco, then in London, leading to a collaboration with the Golden Bear on eight courses in six countries.
Ron becoming the designer of record for the world renowned Old Head Golf Links in Kinsale, Ireland, which brought him fame he should have earned years before.
Ron being introduced by this agent upon his induction into the Beverly High Athletic Hall of Fame.
Helping edit his memoir, We Spent Half Our Lives on the Wrong Side of the Road.
Attending several Francis Ouimet Scholarship Fund gala dinners in Boston with Ron, a member of the second class of scholars in 1950, especially those which honored his fellow designers — and half decent golfers — Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player.
Traveling with Ron to his beloved Ireland in 2014, after both of us had experienced serious health scares, and playing several courses he had either built or renovated/restored, including Old Head, Dromoland Castle, Castlemartyr and Skellig Bay.
Our final time together, at the 2023 Ouimet Dinner at Encore Boston, which included his son, Ron, Jr.; the several hours of which I will cherish forever.
Ron was American through and through, but he and Sally had the end figured out perfectly. Ron will have his ashes placed with wife Sally’s on the sixth hole at Old Head.
My life in golf was enriched immeasurably by my association with Ron Kirby. There will never be another Man of Golf like him; Beverly’s own.
Author and historian Gary Larrabee has covered the North Shore golf scene for more than 50 seasons. He can be reached at Gary@GaryLarrabee.com