In the wake of this week's exchequer figures, any lingering doubts about the country's current financial well-being would be removed by reports from our most expensive golf clubs. It seems there has been so much enthusiasm for golf at The K Club at £120 per round that this year's clients will have the pleasure of forking up £130.
Market forces are also in evidence at the other two leading proprietary establishments. Druids Glen, with record green-fee revenues (up to £1.15 million) in 1998, are lifting their top price from £75 to £80 while Mount Juliet ("we don't divulge our green-fee income") is raising its top figure from £75 to £85.
If these figures seem somewhat off-putting to modest enthusiasts like ourselves, we are advised to consider the current rate at Pebble Beach. Those keen to savour Pacific breezes on the Monterey Peninsula may do so at a green-fee of $246, about £170.
"As much as 65 per cent of our total green-fee business is corporate, but we had a huge increase, almost 30 per cent, in our full green-fee customers during 1998," said Paul Crowe, director of golf at The K Club. "While the home market has remained buoyant, our experience suggests that there are plenty of Americans and Britons who are prepared to pay that sort of money."
And by way of emphasising the point, Crowe went on to explain that advance bookings for this year are well up on 1998. "Even at this early stage, it is a case of looking for what days are left," he said. Meanwhile, the total green-fee revenue for last year (24,500 rounds) was a record £1.214 million.
No doubt the staging of the Smurfit European Open and speculation over the Ryder Cup have been quite helpful towards achieving those figures. Which means that The K Club can look towards a positive bonanza if they get the nod from the European Tour for 2005.
But they have heard nothing yet and in the meantime life goes on. In other words, significant amounts of money continue to be spent on the course. Only this week they took delivery of 400 trees from Belgium and Holland at a cost of £140,000.
Ranging up to 70 feet in height, the mixture of oak, beech, lime, maple and disease-resistant elm trees will enhance the 13th, 14th and 15th holes to a strategic plan suggested by their tournament professional, Paul McGinley. "We are waiting on reasonable weather to plant them," added Crowe.
Kate MacCann, the marketing director at Mount Juliet, reported: "we're happy with our business." And Druids Glen's Denis Kane enthused: "We're extremely pleased with last year's figures." All of which proves the wisdom of Mark McCormack's dictum whereby "you keep asking for more until somebody shouts stop." Particularly in a tiger economy.
"He's going to be a superstar, probably the next champion of the world." Seve Ballesteros on the potential of Spanish com- patriot, Sergio Garcia.
Leslie Nielsen, the comic actor whom I identified recently in this column as the self-styled high priest of high-handicappers, swears this story is true. It has to do with a fund-raising trip Bill Clinton made to Los Angeles during the 1992 US presidential campaign.
While there, he agreed to have a round of golf with some people from the film industry, including Nielsen, who were generously supporting his candidacy. In the event, the then governor of Arkansas stuck a few Titleists in a trouser pocket and headed for a practice green to try out a new putter his wife Hillary had bought him.
Pointing to his pants, Nielsen inquired: "Governor Clinton, what's that in your pocket?" "Golf balls," came the somewhat puzzled reply. "Golf balls," mused Nielsen, before adding: "Tell me, is that anything like tennis elbow?"
The first volume of a striking new history, Challenges & Champions - The Royal & Ancient Golf Club 1754 to 1883, was launched recently with much blowing of trumpets from R and A headquarters at St Andrews. As it happens, this country can also take considerable pride in the project.
It is the first volume of an eventual three-volume series which will be completed in 2004 to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the R and A. And in the list of acknowledgments, the authors John Behrend and Peter Lewis, express their thanks to "Colonel William Gibson, for so generously sharing his research on eighteenth century military golfers."
This is the same Bill Gibson who was responsible, in 1988, for researching and writing Early Irish Golf, the first serious history of the game in this country. And since then, the author has managed to find time to continue this labour of love, despite his recent appointment as director of personnel for the Defence Forces.
Referring to the R and A book, Gibson said: "I was invited to the launch and was able to fit in a day's research at the National Library of Scotland on the minutes of the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. The HCEG have placed microfilm copy of all of their records in the library, which is a tremendous boost to golf researchers. The only problem is the spidery, almost indecipherable writing of the early secretaries."
After receiving the prestigious Bob Jones Award in 1961 for distinguished sportsmanship in golf, Joe Carr made his ninth successive Walker Cup appearance at Turnberry two years later. So, he represented quite a scalp for American newcomer Edgar Updegraff, who beat the Irishman by 4 and 3 on the second day.
Updegraff was also in the victorious team of 1969 at Milwaukee and in the 1965 side which tied with Britain and Ireland in Baltimore, where Carr was captain. But the '63 match remains one of the two main highlights of his career.
The other is a long chat he had with Bobby Jones at Augusta National in 1962, when he was invited to play in the US Masters.
Now, almost four decades on, the 76-year-old retired urologist is to be presented with the Bob Jones Award for 1999. "This was entirely unexpected and a little wondrous," he said. "Golf has been very important to me but I didn't think I did all that much." Carr would hardly agree.
According to the February issue of Today's Golfer, Tiger Woods drives the ball with an average clubhead speed of 130 mph. This is about 30 per cent faster than a low single-figure handicap player. Kinetic energy theory (€1/2MxV2) allows us to calculate that in order to achieve the world number one's length off the tee, the low handicapper would need another 70 per cent energy and power.
This day in golf history . . . On January 9th, 1927, six years after arriving in America from his native Scotland, Bobby Cruickshank won the Los Angeles Open for his first of three US tour victories in five weeks. And a measure of his golfing longevity is that in the period 1971 to 1973 - he died in 1975 - Cruickshank bettered his age on 12 occasions.
He won a total of 16 US tournaments but is probably best remembered for a particularly big fish that slipped from his grasp. In the 1923 US Open at Inwood CC, Cruickshank was tied after 72 holes with Bobby Jones who, by his own estimation, finished "like a yellow dog" with bogey, bogey, double-bogey.
In the play-off, they matched shot for shot until the 425 yard 18th where Jones, from a sandy lie, hit a one-iron approach of 200 yards, over water to eight feet from the flag. He later recalled: "I saw the ball on the green near the pin, next thing I knew somebody was propping me up by the arm." Two putts for a four and the greatest amateur in the history of the game had arrived. The 5 ft 5 ins Scot, who carded a six, would never again be so close to a major title.
In Brief: Local athletics hero John Treacy did the honours last night at the official launch of the Dungarvan Golf Classic, a four-person team event to be played at West Waterford, Gold Coast and Dungarvan GC on May 11th to 13th. At the same function, an attractive brochure Dungarvan: A paradise for golf and leisure was also launched.
Teaser: A player marks the position of his ball on the putting green and the ball-marker is so located that it might be of assistance to the opponent or a fellow-competitor lining up his putt. Accordingly, the player prepares to move his ball-marker one or two clubhead-lengths to the side, but the opponent or fellow-competitor says he wants the ball-marker left where it is. What is the ruling?
Answer: The player is entitled to move his ball-marker to the side. The opponent or fellow-competitor may not insist on its being left where it is in view of the purposes of Rule 8-2b (Indicating line of play - On the putting green) and Rule 22a (Ball interfering with or assisting play).
