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Jerry’s kids getting in the swing
Something of a miracle has come to Mallow, atown 17 miles northwest of Cork, Ireland. Cormac O’Brien, a bright-eyed 7-year-old with a coordination disability so severe that he had difficulty holding a pen properly, is learning to play golf.
The identity of O’Brien s angel is no surprise to young golfers in the San Francisco area. It’s Jerry Berrow, a 64-year-old driving range supervisor at the Chuck Corica Golf Complex in Alameda, Calif, who began operating a junior pro shop out of the trunk of his car in 1969. Berrow who was bartending at a private club, noticed a dearth of kids playing.
“I asked about it and was told they were only allowed to play one day a week,” he says. “I thought that was bizarre. I [also] noticed that sometimes the grown-up players would throw a fit, snap an iron and then throw it in the garbage can. I thought, ‘Can’t you fix it?’”
Berrow learned to fix the clubs, and his trunk was soon overflowing with hand-me-down gear that he donated to needy youths. He eventually turned a storage container next to the cart barn into a shop overflowing with equipment.
The complex has since become the meringue atop the city’s already sweet recipe for success with juniors. Free clinics are offered every Thursday and Saturday and kids can play the two regulation courses or nine-hole par-3 for $1 once they pass a basic test.
While in Dublin last summer for a meeting about boosting Ireland’s junior golf landscape, Berrow met Bernadette O’Brien and was charmed by her son, Cormac, who has dyspraxia, a condition that didn’t appear to allow golf as part of his regimen. Undeterred, Berrow arranged for Irish teaching pro David Keating to give Cormac weekly lessons sans compensation. Keating has gotten Cormac to the point where he can hit the ball more than 65 yards.
Berrow has linked Cormac to Alameda juniors via e-mail and shipped him clubs and gear. He’s also invited the O’Briens to visit in July. Of the 9,000 or so youths he s outfitted, this case exemplifies what his efforts are all about.
“Jerry has sent me so many things,” says Cormac. “But I think that he is great because he believes in me and is my friend.” — Susan Fornoff
