The Americans have a saying and, considering the source, it still makes a lot of sense. "If it ain't broken, don't fix it," are the wise old words which trace their origin from the other side of the Atlantic. And, yet, a links that touches that very ocean, and traditionally features in the world's top 100 courses, is preparing to embark on major surgery.

Lahinch is steeped in tradition. Its designer, Dr Alister MacKenzie, is one of the most noted course architects in the history of the game, responsible for Augusta National, Cypress Point, Little Island and Pasatiempo in California, reputed to be his personal favourite, all a legacy to his genius.

Phil Mickelson, who was part of the American Walker Cup team that made Lahinch its base prior to the match with Britain and Ireland at Portmarnock in 1991, has publicly stated that the course is his favourite links course of all, while on a recent visit Greg Norman raved about some of its inland holes and cited the front nine at Lahinch and the back nine at Ballybunion as his ideal links course.

Of the Dell, the famous short sixth, the Shark added that no modern designer would get away with creating such a hole - but he found it a wonderful hole with a quite special charm.

At a special emergency general meeting on Saturday week (August 14th), members at the west Clare club will be asked to consider changes to the course. One main reason for the proposed changes is to rekindle the "MacKenzie spirit", in that a number of greens were flattened from their original, undulating shapes by the committee in the 1930s. Their reason for flattening the greens was the lack of irrigation to nurture them, but that can now be alleviated by modern technology.

The other principle reason for the proposed changes is to improve safety at the links, an important factor for any club in this day and age.

Martin Hawtree, who was responsible for much of the improvements to Royal Birkdale (after the 1991 British Open), has devised the changes which will be put to the members at next week's meeting.

"My brief was wide-ranging, but most critically centred on two issues: internal and external safety, and the rejuvenation of the greens to recapture the MacKenzie spirit, sadly lost some decades ago."

Not surprisingly, the Klondyke and the Dell will remain untouched in the proposed undertaking - and the safety aspect of these two holes, especially the criss-cross nature of the present fifth and 18th, has been overcome by the decision to have a man permanently placed on the giant dunes during the day.

Under the revised lay-out, the Klondyke would actually become the fourth hole, because it is intended to eliminate completely the short third hole which is considered a major safety risk. The third hole (ironically enough the place where the final South of Ireland of this century was decided when Mark Campbell won his sudden-death play-off there against Peter Martin) was not part of the original MacKenzie lay-out.

A course audit conducted by Hawtree found the most dangerous parts of the course were: (1) between holes 14 and 15, where a single fairway, blind from the 14th tee, is shared by the two holes; (2) crossing at the fifth and sixth holes by the 18th drive; (3) conflict between the 12th and 11th (a), when that hole is in use; (4) blind drives at the fourth and eighth; and (5) proximity of 13th green to the 10th green and the line of play along the 13th to the back of the 14th tees.

The external dangers were found to lie principally along the road - behind the fifth and 16th greens, and to the left of the 17th and 18th holes where the potential for a serious car accident "can't be ignored".

From the original MacKenzie design, only the ninth, 11th and 14th greens remain true to his work, and the audit identified a number of what it termed "weak" greens. Hawtree has recommended a phased programme of recontouring most of the greens (sometimes only part of the green) and also proposes continuing work, in the future, to tees and bunkers.

If the third hole is dropped from the lay-out, then it is proposed to rebuild a new hole - but one sympathetic to the original MacKenzie design - in the dunes. This new hole (which would be the seventh), was abandoned due to erosion around the green, but the cliffs have since been stabilised and those charged with the redesign are particularly bullish about the prospects for this new hole.

Another new hole would be the eighth, a dramatic short hole played over dunes to a high green (measuring 165 yards), which would also be going back to MacKenzie's design with a short hole out to the sea.

Hawtree recognises that the plan is "bold", but claims that in seeking to cure possible safety problems he is also going back to the "style and imagination" of MacKenzie with his new blueprint for the course which he claims would improve Lahinch.

Intriguingly, if the plan gets the go ahead, it isn't envisaged that the work will cause any significant problems to the day-to-day running, or enjoyment, of the course by members or visitors - and, for members, there is the added carrot that there will be no levies or such-like, because the necessary finance has been built up in a contingency fund.