If the sound of ironic chuckling was to be detected this week at the hullabaloo over our proposed £281 million national stadium, it was probably coming from the golfing community. With all the concern at the soccer authorities going it alone, there wasn't a word about golf which, as they say, has been ploughing its own furrow since Pontius was a pilot.

This, remember, is the alleged elitist game, which looks after only its own and has no regard for the public at large. So it seems an appropriate time to offer a few reminders of golf's contribution to the general life of this country.

We will look beyond its affect on the lives of about 400,000 players, which is a recent estimate of those who delight in taking club to ball. Instead, since it seems to be the topic of the day, the concentration will be on money - from a Government perspective.

This season the Republic of Ireland will play host to four international professional tournaments: the AIB Irish Senior Open at Tulfarris, Murphy's Irish Open at Ballybunion, Smurfit European Open at the K Club and West of Ireland Classic at Galway Bay. The four venues, all privately owned, come gratis, as far as the nation's taxpayers are concerned.

And with all the talk about major sporting events, possibly even the Olympic Games being attracted here as a consequence of the new stadium, it may be no harm to remind ourselves that the Ryder Cup will be at the K Club in 2005. And, as we have said, the K Club is privately owned.

Granted, the Government have had a financial input in this case, but at less than £10 million it falls some way short of Wednesday's largesse. And before anybody runs away with the notion that the Ryder Cup could not have come to this country without Government help, let us remind ourselves that Portmarnock went within an ace of landing it for 1993, largely off their own bat.

The great event is coming here primarily because of the huge contribution which Irish tournament professionals, and Irish golf clubs in general, have made to the game over the years.

Now let us look at the clubs. During the coming season, visitors will pay an estimated £15 million in green-fee revenues at leading clubs throughout the country. So well they might open their doors, I hear you say. But for every £1 of those fees, up to £15 will be spent in the local community. All of which means that the tourism industry will benefit by as much as £200 million from golf this year.

Given their own self-sufficiency, I'm sure most golfers will rejoice that other leading sports are to benefit from the nation's taxpayers. But independence should not necessarily be construed as elitism. In fact, for the visitor or tourist, golf is arguably the most democratic of all sports.

"The beauty of golf is that you cannot play if you permit yourself to think of anything else." - US president, William Howard Taft.

According to Royal and Ancient secretary Peter Dawson, it rises "in your face". And local professional Jim Farmer has predicted that when Jack Nicklaus sees it on his arrival for the British Open in July, he will "go off the planet". Indeed Farmer called it: "An absolute disgrace for the Old Course."

In the wake of my piece about St Andrews last week, it seems sad to be reporting an unhappy development beside the 17th, the famous Road Hole. A new, three-storey extension to the Old Course Hotel has been built, little more than 50 paces from the front of the 17th tee.

But it is claimed that the line of the drive has not been affected. This is over the black railway sheds, which were removed in 1967 and later replaced by a similar-looking structure containing a golf school. And the new block of flats? "People will get used to it," said Dawson.

Readers may have felt Christy O'Connor Jnr was exaggerating ever so slightly when he claimed recently in these pages that any player who stayed in bed until 6.30 a.m. on the US Seniors' Tour was almost certain to be last to the practice ground. But Tom Watson has since discovered it to be true.

While in Hawaii for last weekend's Mastercard Championship, Watson walked into the hotel exercise room at the crack of dawn, and had to wait his turn. Several senior colleagues, including 1999 player of the year Bruce Fleisher, were already working out.

"All those guys were exercising at 6.0 a.m. on the day of a practice round," said Watson. "The modern attitude to sport seems to be that you daren't let others have the advantage of being in better condition."

Jack Nicklaus, who admitted that physical fitness was non-existent when he turned professional in 1962, concurred. "They've made a believer out of me," said the Bear. "At my age, it's necessary to have that strength."

World number one Tiger Woods won't divulge any secrets of his training schedule, other to admit that he has added about 20 lb of muscle since turning professional in 1996, going up from 11 st 4 lb to 12 st 12 lb. "You need to get stronger to keep up," he said simply.

Craig Stadler, once described rather unkindly as "Superslob" in a headline in the Daily Mail, is another convert. The Walrus has dropped 35 lb by walking every morning with his wife and "eliminating a few links from the food chain". As he put it: "I got tired of being fat."

Padraig Harrington is probably the most active of the leading Irish professionals in this regard. But nobody has gone to the extremes of David Duval who, since last October, has worked out on 13 of every 14 days. "It makes me feel better, knowing that I'm as fit and athletic as anybody playing right now," he said.

Golf Magazine have reduced their 500 Best Holes in the World down to 100 for the February issue. And four Irish holes have made the cut: Royal Portrush - 14th; The European Club - 7th; Ballybunion - 11th; Royal Co Down - 9th.

The other 22 holes chosen from these islands are: Muirfield - 9th and 13th; Royal Troon - 8th and 11th; Carnoustie - 6th and 17th; Royal Birkdale - 12th and 18th; St Andrews - 11th and 17th; Loch Lomond - 10th; Royal Dornock - 14th; Royal St David's (Harlech) - 15th; Sunningdale - 5th; Alwoodley - 3rd; Wentworth - 17th; North Berwick - 15th; Prestwick - 1st; Royal Lytham - 14th; Royal St George's - 4th; Turnberry - 9th; Southport and Ainsdale - 16th.

Byron Nelson, who will be 88 next Friday, is enjoying the attention. "I want to thank Tiger Woods for his good play, because it makes people remember that I, too, used to play well," he said. "I think I'm receiving more publicity now than when I actually did 11-in-a-row."

All of which has to do with Woods's recent victory in the Mercedes Championship, which was his fifth in a row on the USPGA Tour, albeit in different seasons. Anyway, to complete 11, he will have to win his next six events, which are: Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the Buick Invitational, Nissan Open, WGC Andersen Consulting Matchplay, Bay Hill and the Players' Championship. Then, he can go for a record 12th in the US Masters.

And what does Nelson make of it all? "I don't believe my mark will be beaten," he said. "There are too many good players out there today."

Meanwhile, former Masters champion Jackie Burke dismisses any speculation about streaks. "We're talking this season, which means Tiger's streak stands at one," he said.

Teaser: A player's ball comes to rest against a movable obstruction. The player lifts the ball and drops it away from the obstruction instead of removing the obstruction as provided in Rule 24-1. What is the ruling?

Answer: The player incurs a penalty of one stroke under Rule 18-2a and he must replace his ball before playing his next stroke. Otherwise, he loses the hole in matchplay or he incurs a total penalty of two strokes in strokeplay.