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# John Walsh
Irish father killed in freak golf course accident in China
John Walsh, who was 39, had been working as ‘Lead Shaper’ at the Happy Valley club near Beijing since May.
A 39-YEAR-OLD MAN from Co Kerry has died in an accident on a golf course in China, where he had been working since earlier of this year.
John Walsh, a father-of-two from Kilflynn, died on Monday.
It’s believed a machine he was operating overturned into a lake at the Happy Valley Golf Club in the Huairou District, to the north of Beijing.
The Department of Foreign Affairs confirmed to TheJournal.ie that it was providing consular assistance to the family.
John had recently taken to Linkedin to post information about how he ended up pursuing his career in China.
“While working my way through Agricultural Engineering in college, I was exposed to Golf course construction in the summer of 1992 where I worked on the construction of Ballyheige Golf Club, near my home in County Kerry.
He said he had worked in Howth in Co Dublin, Bantry in Cork and in the US before deciding in 2009 that China was where he would “hang my hat”.
He said the golf industry was supposed to be just be a summer job “before I settled down to the family farm” but that twenty years later he was “speaking Chinese to my daughter”.
He had been working at the Happy Valley club as ‘Lead Shaper’ since May of this year.
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