Success is all in the mind for Mayo golfer Burke

It has been a season to remember for Shannon Burke, the 30-year-old Kilmaine native winning not one, but three provincial championships.

She began the season in style with the Leinster Over 18 Women’s Championship before she ended a 13-year wait for a maiden Connacht O18 Women’s Championship in Bearna. She missed the Ulster Championships due to holidays before she capped off a superb season in style with a commanding victory in the Munster Over 18 Women’s Senior Championship as well as winning the Mid-Amateur Women’s Open Championship.

Burke would also represent Ireland again at the European Mid-Amateur Championships in Spain. The women’s team held the lead overnight but eventually had to settle for the bronze medal while in the individual event, Burke finished joint tenth.

One would think for all that success, every single moment of her free time was dedicated to the sport. In fact, quite the opposite. When you consider she works full-time as a lecturer in Sports and Exercise Psychology at the Department of Sport, Leisure at Childhood Studies at MTU Cork, it puts her achievements into perspective.

“I think trying to manage full-time work and playing golf, the expectations are maybe not a little bit lower, maybe not where they used to be,” Burke told the Western People. “When I suppose I go and play golf now, I'm a bit more freer and trying to enjoy it as much as I can. I think the benefit of that this year was probably playing a little bit better. I was very pleased with the year.” 

While living in Cork, she was also a member of the Douglas Golf Club women’s team who defended the Senior Cup in August. For over a decade now, Burke has dedicated her sporting prowess to golf after spending her early years playing Gaelic football with Kilmaine and Hollymount as well as soccer with Ballinrobe.

But what was it about golf that drew her to the game so much?

“I think there was an element of like, it's not all in my control, but more of it was in my control. I could go and practice whenever I wanted, wherever I wanted, to a certain degree. I think it was because my development and my performances were more within my control compared to maybe your team-based sports. I loved the fact that every day was something different. No two rounds of golf are ever the same. That was probably most of it.” 

Seeing her talent develop so quickly was a major advantage also. “When I was younger, I got good quickly, and I think I like the fact that I progressed quite quickly!” she laughed.

She cites Padraig Harrington and Rory McIlroy as her golf inspirations, the latter showing her what can be achieved after going through the ranks in Ireland, but she is glad to see younger talents now having females in the game that they can aspire to.

“We're lucky enough now that we've got some females on tour, so younger girls have some females to look up to. It's so nice to see a lot of the Irish girls gone on and have success. 

"Leona [Maguire] obviously been phenomenal. Stephanie Meadow, Lauren Walsh in recent years. These are probably girls that I would have competed with growing up, so it's nice to see them go on and have success. 

“When they were growing up, there was no female to aspire to. I think for younger generations, having that is so important.” 

Given that she competed against the likes of Maguire, Meadow and Walsh in her early years, Burke’s talent was not in question if she decided to go professional but as time went on, the demands of the game off the field were not all that appealing.

“I’m happy at where I am I think. I'm 30 now, just gone 30. When I was younger I definitely would have thought about it. Maybe in my early university years. But fairly quickly I realised I don't know if that lifestyle of being on the road, being away from home, I don't know if that would have suited me all that well, to be brutally honest.

“I'm happy enough where I am and there's definitely things that I still want to do in the amateur game before I finish up. Professional golf, I think, is not something that I see myself doing.” 

The challenges for golfers do not just centre on your choice of club or your ability to a strike a ball, but the mental strain and how one can deal with pressure. With her desire to improve her golf game, it was perhaps no surprise that she wished to study sports psychology, and she works with sportspeople in other backgrounds also to see the different demands that are required.

“When I was younger, out playing golf, there wasn't really a whole lot of [psychological support]. Even when we were on national panels and whatnot, there wasn't really a whole lot of psychological support available to us, and I always had an interest in that.

“With golf, you compare it to other sports, you've got so much time to think and that can help, but it can also be a hindrance.

“I got interested in the psychological or the mental side of golf, how that could help my performance. It was my participation in golf that definitely sparked an interest in the psychology side of things.

“I try and do as much applied work outside of lecturing as I can. I do a lot of work in golf, naturally enough, because there's a lot of contacts in that sport, but also I do a lot of work in rugby and GAA as well, and that's good, I think, being able to support people in various different sports is good.

“You get to see the different stressors, different demands that know different sports require of athletes. I really enjoy that side of it. I wish I had more time to do more of that, but it's something that I really enjoy.” 

She’ll have a busy 2026 on and off the course and she hopes it will be as fruitful as this year.

“I'm fortunate enough in my job that I have some downtime during the summer months, so I'll try and structure my season around my time off. When I'm working during term time, it is pretty busy. Events during term time aren't all that easy to get to.

“I'll play as many events as I can when I'm off. Irish Close, Irish amateur, the Inter Provincials this year playing for Connacht, had a pretty decent run. We were in with a shout on the last day, which was something we hadn't experienced probably in 10 or 15 years. Hopefully we can give that a good run next year. Outside of golf, continue with work, be that lecturing or my applied work.

“Hopefully the same as this year, hopefully plenty more trophies!”