The Strabane native is also about to start a new chapter of her career as General Manager of Donegal Golf Club on the incredible Murvagh peninsula and she brings with her a wealth of expertise that will help that great links club welcome a growing number of visitors who will guarantee its success for years to come.
Donegal is experiencing a boom in golf tourism thanks to the marketing genius of the Wild Atlantic Way and the suite of incredible links courses you can play there.
With Paul McGinley making major improvements to Donegal, Dunfanaghy and Portsalon and world-famous designers Gil Hanse and Tom Doak doing brilliant work at Narin & Portnoo and Rosapenna, respectively, the northwest is reaping the benefits in terms of increased green fee income.
Ballyliffin has been the standard-bearer for a few years now under John Farren, attracting the Irish Open, the Amateur Championship, the Home Internationals and many overseas visitors to its great links courses.
McCool’s task is to help Donegal benefit from the upsurge in golf traffic at places like County Sligo and make sure those golfers heading north from Rosses Point don’t miss out on the chance to play Murvagh, which is a course she played regularly in the North West Alliance in her amateur days.
After taking up the game aged seven or eight, McCool won the Irish Under 16s, the Irish Girls and the Ulster Girls “about five times” before heading off to the University of Hawaii, where she took on the likes of Annika Sorenstam on a weekly basis in the Big West Conference.
Donegal was part of her childhood too, as aunts and uncles owned caravans and holiday homes at Narin & Portnoo, and she could spend countless hours playing that links gem during her school holidays.
She returned home after her four-year stint on the US collegiate circuit in 1993, and turned pro in 1994. She played on the Ladies European Tour that season and wonders what might have been had she not missed nine cuts by a single shot.
The Tour almost collapsed the following year and McCool decided to do her PGA apprenticeship under the legendary Michael Doherty at City of Derry, learning every aspect of the game from teaching and club repair to the fine art of making visitors feel welcomed and loved.
“He was an amazing man,” Lynn recalled at Murvagh last week when she attended the soft opening of McGinley’s redesigned 16th, 17th and 18th holes.
“He taught me so much. Back in the day, we used to fix the clubs out the back of the shop. When I went to do my exams, I had a persimmon head of a club and I had to put in a new face, insert a new shaft, do the binding and varnish it. I wouldn’t have been able to do that without Michael.
“The other side was he let me do his books for him. So I got a great insight into what the job entailed. He was also a fascinating man. Artistic. A singer of songs and a musician. He even wrote a play, which was hilarious.”
McCool has come a long way since she hopped the wall at Strabane Golf Club with her brother Liam, the Carton House professional, and started to play.
After her amateur career and her training at City of Derry, she moved to the Hilton Templepatrick Resort near Belfast as the teaching professional and soon became Director of Golf.
“It was a hub of corporate golf at the time and the only place in Belfast where that happened, so it was brilliant,” she recalled of her nine-year tenure. “It was a good time.”
From there she moved to The K Club as head professional under Director of Golf John McHenry and remained there right up until after the economic crash, enjoying the 2006 Ryder Cup and all that entailed.
Lough Erne was her next port of call, working with Nick Faldo and owner Jim Treacy as they established the Fermanagh resort as a top-class destination.
“I loved it because it was something we could sell,” she said. “We hosted the Faldo Series there for many years and matches with Rory, Shane, Padraig and Darren. It was a world-class product, and I enjoyed getting to know Faldo.
“His philosophy and teaching was so simple, even though he’d been with David Leadbetter for so many years. When he was doing the clinics for the kids, I was struck by the simplicity of it all.
“I remember him talking about the grip and saying that if you have a good grip, your wrists will set automatically. He was great and invested a lot of time in those kids.”
Glasson was McCool’s next project and she was proud to take the old Christy O’Connor Jnr design and get his old tour pal David Jones, who she knew from her Templepatrick days, to take on the sensitive redesign project for owner Paddy McKillen and spend five years creating what is now a special golfing hub and hotel resort in the heart of the midlands.
“It’s the best I’ve ever seen the course,” she said of Glasson, where she said goodbye to the staff and her friends over the past few days.
“The members are happy every day. The greens are fabulous and it’s all thanks to the greenkeeping staff.”
Now it’s time to take Donegal Golf Club to the next level and she can’t wait to get started.
“Well, first of all, Donegal Golf Club is a serious links golf course. It’s really good and it’s like coming home because I still have a home in Enniskillen,” she said. “So this is me. It is me coming home.
“I’ve worked in the top resorts — The K Club, Lough Erne, Glasson — and I know a lot of Americans, and I’m always selling to Americans. But I’ve always been selling a parkland product and this is my first links course. So I’m really excited about that.
“I was walking the course with Paul McGinley today, just listening to him and even hearing him in the room there afterwards, talking about how he’s just going to just evolve the course a little bit and when I was out in the course with him today, I could see that completely. I’m excited about that as well.”
As for the Donegal golfing boom, McCool can see it clearly and she’s keen to help Murvagh on its journey.
“That’s what I’m so excited about,” she said. “I just see a fantastic links golf course that that’s going to be heard about a lot more over the next few years. There’s going to be a bit more noise about it.
“The standard of the course is fantastic. And then it’s just about customer service and the warm welcome, looking after the members as best you can and going after that market that’s passing the door.
“We don’t want them driving past; let’s get them in and let them get to know one of the top links in Ireland.”
As General Manager, McCool will work alongside the club’s long-serving head professional, Leslie Robinson and head greenkeeper, Paul Travers, looking after everything from the bar and restaurant to the shop and the management of the links.
“It just feels right,” she said of her new role and the adventure ahead. “It’s nice when you really believe in something, and I believe in Donegal Golf Club. It’s fabulous.”
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