Mary O'Keeffe proved herself to her peers in the most emphatic manner during the recent outing of the Hole-in-one Golf Society to Kilkea Castle. The Naas golfer used a five iron to ace the 100-metres fourth hole and claim the Tom Lappin Hole-in-one Trophy. Incidentally, Tom Lappin took the society's golfer of the year award and Martin O'Neill won the Kinsealy Trophy. AILTE'S promotion of golf has boosted the profile and the coffers of many Irish clubs and few have benefited more than Druid's Glen. The County Wicklow venue has helped itself by investing heavily in the course and hosting the Murphy's Irish Open for four years and it now attracts 33,000 green-fee payers per a year.

That's getting close to an average of one hundred per 100 a day and 35 per cent of those come from overseas. Scandinavians account for one third of the foreign visitors and that figure was boosted recently when the club hosted the SAS World Trophy. The tournament is for clients of the big airline who had all come through regional qualifiers around the world. The top 120 contested the finals over three days at Druid's and no doubt filled the tills in a few local bars and hotels as well.