AMATEUR SCENE: Carton House in Maynooth will become the new home of the Golfing Union of Ireland from 2005 after the official signing of the contract with Carton to relocate its headquarters to Maynooth.

New offices, a golf museum and the National Golf Academy will be built to house the oldest golfing union in the world and planning application for the new complex have been lodged with Kildare County Council.

"The Golfing Union of Ireland has the proud distinction of being the oldest golf union in the world," said union president Michael O'Donoghue, "and the decision to relocate to Carton Estate and build our new headquarters and National Academy is perhaps the most significant step forward in the history of the Union."

The GUI recently appointed its first full time national coach, Geoff Dixon, former head of PGA training at The Belfry, as part of its plans to provide the best coaching structure and facilities for its National Panels members.

Meanwhile, the AIB Irish Amateur Open Championship, which has been played at Royal Dublin Golf Club since 1998, will move to Carton House Golf Club on May 7th to 9th next year, and will return to the Dollymount venue in 2005.

Royal Dublin Golf Club has embarked on a five-year course development plan under the guidance of Martin Hawtree, the internationally renowned golf architect, and work will commence on four new greens, at the first, third, fourth and 14th, in mid- to late-September and will not be completed until early May.

"We are really delighted that the Golfing Union of Ireland has selected Carton House Golf Club to host this prestigious Championship in 2004," said Lee Mallaghan, owner of the Carton Estate.

"It will be the first major event to be held at Carton House since the (Mark) O'Meara and (Colin) Montgomerie designed courses were opened, and we look forward to the leading amateurs throughout Europe testing their skills on our championship layout."

The holder of the championship is Portmarnock's Noel Fox and while many of the best players in Europe - this year's event attracted an entry of 53 overseas players - will be keen to test their skills at Carton the decision as to which course will be used has yet to be made.

The choice is between the O'Meara course, a parkland layout with excellent greens, and the Montgomerie course, which has a links-type layout and is generally considered the more demanding of the two.

Fáilte Ireland, in association with the Irish food company IAWS, are to sponsor this year's European Women's Individual Championship at Shannon Golf Club from August 27th to 30th.

This is the first time that Ireland has been chosen to host the event, which has been at the forefront of women's amateur golf for 16 years and for those who witnesses the excellent golf at the recent Vagliano Trophy at Co Louth they will get another chance to see the best in Europe test their skills at Shannon.

Ita Butler, president of the Irish Ladies Golf Union, said the ILGU was delighted to be hosting the event as it brings the top Amateur International and European golfers to Ireland.

"It is a great honour to host such a prestigious event in Ireland. We are indebted to Fáilte Ireland, who are generously sponsoring the event, and to IAWS who have also generously contributed to the costs of this Championship. Shannon Golf Club, the venue for this event, is a great test of golf and should bring the best out in the players," said Butler.

Recently crowned Suzuki Irish Women's Open Strokeplay Champion, Claire Coughlan from Cork and Great Britain & Ireland Vagliano team member Tricia Mangan of Ennis will lead a strong home entry, while another 13 that played in Co Louth will tee-up in Shannon.

Among those are Spain's Emma Cabrera, the leading qualifier in the British Girls Championship last week, Dewi Claire Schreefel from the Netherlands, Betina Hauert from Germany, and Fany Schaeffer from France.

The Delaney sisters - Karen and Tara - are expected to play a major role as Ireland attempt to end England's domination of the Girls Home International Championship which begins at Pyla and Kenfig in south Wales this morning.

The Carlow duo were a little disappointed at their failure to qualify for the knock-out stages of the British Girls' Open Championship at Newport last week and are now fired up for the bid to wrest the prestigious Stroyan Cup from England.