Twenty years ago, Henry Fonda bade farewell to a distinguished acting career with On Golden Pond, his Hollywood swansong.

But having become inextricably linked with that movie through developments at Westport golf club, Mayo's best-known golf official shows no signs of slowing down.

Most notable among the changes is a reconstructed finishing hole, dominated by a lake about 160 yards long. They call it Golden Pond after local pharmacist and club trustee, Gar Golden, who was president of the Golfing Union of Ireland in 1990.

As a group of us looked out at the lake from the new green - back and right of the existing surface - club captain Pat Kearns remarked with a mischievous grin: "It's very deep - a lot like Gar."

The key objective, however, was that category-one players would no longer be able to reduce this closing par five to a drive and a mid iron.

Meanwhile, Golden smiled at the ribbing. Perhaps he was remembering the words of William Makepeace Thackeray, who observed: "If a man's character is to be abused, say what you will, there's nobody like a relation to do the business."

And there wasn't a relative in sight.

When Thackeray visited Westport in 1842, he said of it: "The place forms an event in one's life to have seen it, so beautiful is Westport, and so unlike all other beauties that I know of."

Golden was hoping that, more than one and a half centuries on, fellow Britons would have the opportunity of becoming similarly captivated by the Western town.

But much to their disappointment, especially having staged the corresponding women's event in 1989, Westport won't be getting the men's Home Internationals in 2007, a year before their centenary celebrations.

Still, the possibility of landing the fixture lent a valuable focus to course improvements which were considered long overdue.

The club moved to its present site in 1973 and four years later gained true championship status with the staging of the Irish Close. That was the event which will be remembered for the remarkable comeback Mark Gannon staged in the final, to achieve a sudden-death victory over Tony Hayes.

And every stroke was witnessed by the late British film actor, Robert Shaw, who had become something of a local by that stage, as a resident of Tourmakeady.

Indeed as Gannon whittled away at Hayes's lead, I can recall Shaw remarking that the event was more dramatic than anything he had witnessed in a theatre.

Eight years later, the Close returned to Westport, only to be seriously disrupted by wretched weather before Denis O'Sullivan eventually captured the title. And it was back again in 1997 when Ken Kearney emerged triumphant after beating Peter Lawrie in the final.

Over those three events, spanning 20 years, two main problems with the course became apparent: certain areas didn't drain particularly well, and as a straightaway par five measuring 520 yards off the back tee, the finishing hole was weak.

So, Eddie Connaughton was brought in to spearhead the necessary upgrading. The main results of his labours are a new green at the long seventh, guarded by a freshwater pond to the right; another new green at the eighth where a pond has also been added on the right, and a finishing hole, now 30 yards longer, which has a dog-leg right configuration created by the so-called Golden Pond.

Overall drainage has also been improved significantly, with the result that the course no longer warrants its one-time criticism of being a demanding slog.

Indeed in the context of modern golf equipment, it measures a fairly average 6,670 yards off the medal tees but has been improved significantly as a golfing challenge.

Through the serious disruption of the second World War, it wasn't until 1953 that golf-course architecture became a flourishing craft once more. And the man mainly responsible for its rejuvenation was the English-born American bred Robert Trent Jones who, among other things, was responsible for popularising the use of water hazards.

Granted, they existed at Augusta National but for the most part, architects still relied on trees and bunkers as strategic aids, before Trent Jones made water a key element of his designs. Apart from creating the fear of a one-stroke penalty, they can be very pleasing, aesthetically, as is now evident at Westport.

And as a bonus, the Westport lakes are sealed by indigenous, non-porous mud.

The new hazard on the eighth is especially interesting, not least for the fact that it comes at the end of a par-four measuring 472 yards off the back tee and where the difficulty of a medium to long-iron approach is heightened by a cluster of mature trees on the right.

As it happens, the elevated 11th fairway offers a perfect view of the overall challenge of a re-shaped eighth.

Other changes include four new bunkers on the long 10th where the practice ground to the left is now out of bounds; additional trees down the left side of the spectacular, short 12th and a new tees on the par-four 17th which add an additional 60 yards to the hole from the championship marker.

But the new 18th makes the biggest impression.

Indicative of an extremely generous site of 240 acres overall is the fact that there is sufficient space between the 17th tee and the 18th fairway for a nursery containing 20,000 trees. And the entire area which now incorporates a very attractively-shaped lake, has become a haven for wildlife such as kestrels, snipe and duck.

"The decision to do this work was undertaken two years ago and we are satisfied that it has been done to the required standard," said Golden, who was also involved in negotiating a 999-year lease for the club at a cost of £450,000.

The captain added: "And the work was completed last July, within the budgeted figure of £188,000." All of which has come on top of an outlay of £500,000 on clubhouse refurbishment in 1997.

So, one can appreciate why the club is now anxious to boost their green-fee revenue of £240,000 during Millennium Year.

A key element of their marketing strategy is the series of Open Golf Weeks arranged in conjunction with Hotel Westport, which is located about half a mile down the road. And it is planned to increase the current green-fees of £25 (£28 on weekends) to £30/£35 next year.

"Business first; pleasure afterwards", Thackeray advised in The Rose and the Ring.

On current evidence, however, Westport GC seem to be combining these objectives quite seamlessly.