Caddie's Role: It's not really worth coming back to Europe for just one week off. By the time you adjust to the time change you are likely to be on your way back again. So I decided to lurk around Miami Beach for my free week - no jet lag, just mild culture shock, writes Colin Byrne.

It was spring break in America last week. This means seemingly the entire college population of the country descends upon such hot spots as South Beach Miami. There were hoards of revelling students hanging out; fortunately they were not that keen on golf, so it gave myself and a couple of other caddies the opportunity to play Miami-style.

The previous week, at the Doral tournament, I met Dick McNeill, the head professional at the Miami Springs Golf Club. They send local pros around with the pro-am groups on Wednesday to keep the amateurs moving but more so to give them a closer look at how the top pros operate. Dick invited me to his club to play.

The Miami Springs Golf Club was the home of the original Miami Open from 1925 until 1955. Their sales pitch is "to walk in the foot steps of legends". Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Gene Sarazen, Tommy Armour and Willie Klien all played and won around Miami Springs. At 6,750 yards and with no room for expansion they are the last legends to play there - it has become extinct as a challenge to the modern pro.

It was very refreshing to play on a "normal" golf course without the pomp and ceremony of the well-promoted and high-priced modern complexes.

After the round the clubhouse had a post-golf buzz going on one side of the bar and a card game was well under way on the other side.

It is the type of place you would expect to find South Florida hustlers in high-waist-banded plaid trousers waiting for some unsuspecting prize catches on the first tee.

We were not met by such sharks when we arrived for our game. Instead we saw physically and mentally disabled children putting, chipping, and hitting shots on the range. It was the day these kids get a chance to learn how to play golf. There are three students to each teacher, so they were getting a lot of attention.

Course manager Dan Bradley came up with the idea of helping these kids last August by setting up the Children's Golf Foundation of Miami Springs. The plan is to build a three-hole course for them.

The course is already mapped out for development, consisting of a 75-yard, a 45-yard and a 150-yard hole built around a pond. The plot of land is part of the club's property. The centre will include a clubhouse, a practice tee and a putting green.

It is a state-of-the-art, first-of-its-kind facility. So while the resorts have their spas and country-club trimmings it seemed ironic to me that a small, old-fashioned public golf facility has taken the lead in trying to help these kids.

Looking at their faces after they made contact with the golf ball on the range was enough to know Miami Springs are going a long way to changing these kids' lives for the better. When they are able to compete against each other when their course is open in September, it will give disabled kids from all around the country the chance to come and play at this special facility.

As you are probably aware, the electric golf cart is obligatory in many resort courses in America. The irony being that golfers are forced to limit their exercise to jumping in and out of a cart. The cart removes the golfer from the true experience of playing a traditional round of golf.

When we played on Crandon Park, Key Biscayne, one of the most accessible public facilities in the country after Bethpage Park in New York, we were also forced to use the electric carts.

These were carts with the technology to indicate the distance to every obstacle and hazard you could possibly want to know. It also gave you the distance to the front, middle and back of the green. A good safety feature was it told you how far the group ahead were so you didn't end up hitting them. It also indicated if you were falling behind the group ahead.

Needless to say in the land of consumption, it gave you the opportunity to order food from the clubhouse as you started down the eight and 17th holes, which would be ready when you made the turn. The refreshment cart catches up with each group about six times during the round if you cannot wait for clubhouse refreshment.

Beer is the biggest seller on this cart.

I am happy the electric cart has not infiltrated golf in Ireland to any great extent.