Philip Reidon how aspiring golfers now have real choice when it comes to deciding between scholarships here or in the USA

For years, it seemed, American colleges were light years ahead of their Irish equivalents when it came to dispensing golfing scholarships. But, in recent years, there has been a definite sea change and Irish universities - the trend first set by UCD and their initiative pretty much taken on board and followed by all the other main universities on the island - have reacted to at least give top amateur players, both men and women, a proper choice between travelling Stateside or not.

As The Clash might have put it, Should I Stay or Should I Go? It is a question for potential students that is often a vexed one. To be honest, there is no right answer. Some Irish golfers have thrived when on golfing scholarships to the US, while others lost their appetite completely or were burned out by the constant competition. And still others got so homesick that they cut short the experience, preferring to return home rather than stick it out.

Some of Ireland's top young players are following the route taken by, among others, Graeme McDowell in using the American collegiate system to marry their sporting ambitions with their academic ambitions.

Tara and Karen Delaney are in Kent State . . . Niall Turner is in the University of Minnesota . . . Cian McNamara, Séamus Power and Gareth Shaw are in East Tennessee . . . the list of good, young Irish golfers in the US runs on and on.

McDowell is probably the most successful Irish golfer to have followed the American collegiate route. When he graduated from the University of Alabama in Birmingham, he did so with the lowest stroke average in the history of collegiate golf, bettering the previous marks set by Tiger Woods and Luke Donald. To this day, the Portrush man still sports a dragon headcover on his driver, a reminder of the times he spent furthering his education in the Deep South.

"I think, for me, it was an invaluable tool to get me to where I am right now," said McDowell. "Any of the young kids I meet, I generally point them in the direction of the States. I say, 'go to college in America, you can keep your academics going, you can play sport, and you can pretty much get your game up to turn pro if that's what you want to do'."

Critically for McDowell, he had always wanted to go to the US. "It's something I had always wanted to do and, when the situation arose, I was all over it. It was a good decision in hindsight. I had a good time in Birmingham, (although) it took some adjustment. It took me a year to adjust, to be fair. I think I put on about two stone the first year. But it took my game to the next level, took me to where I wanted to be," he said.

When he went, McDowell was following a line of Irish players who decided that the US collegiate system suited them. Paul McGinley, who had also studied in DIT in Dublin, attended university in San Diego, while Eoghan O'Connell graduated from the famed Wake Forest. Others, though, had found the American system not entirely to their liking, among them Philip Walton and Darren Clarke.

Padraig Harrington had offers to go to the US on scholarship, but decided to stay at home where he studied accountancy while playing golf. When Harrington was given a scholarship to the Dublin School of Business, he was, as he puts it, "ahead of my time". But, from small acorns big trees grow, and now Harrington is very much instrumental in promoting the golf scholarships available to NUI Maynooth where the programme is named after his later father, Paddy.

NUI Maynooth are not the first university in Ireland to promote such golf scholarships. Peter Lawrie, now a firmly established figure on the European Tour, attended UCD on a golfing

scholarship and similar scholarships operate at the national universities in Cork and Galway, while the University of Ulster in Jordanstown operates college bursaries in association with the R&A.

Indeed, UUJ has recently launched a new initiative in Ireland - headed by Karl Morris - that attempts to fill the gap for those interested in a golfing career at an earlier age. The Junior Golf Academy based at Jordanstown is a two-year full-time programme specifically designed to give 16- to 18-year old golfers the chance to fulfil their potential on and off the course. The programme includes coaching from PGA professionals, as well as lectures from performance and fitness coaches.

"We recognise that, at 16, young people are starting to think more seriously about their futures and the Junior Golf Academy is designed to provide them with a further opportunity.

"Not all will want to be professional golfers: some may be more interested in leisure managament, or some aspect where business and sport can be combined," said Morris.

Harrington, for his part, is enthusiastic about what is unfolding at Maynooth where the Paddy Harrington Golf Scholarships provide access to the Golfing Union of Ireland's state-of-the-art facilities at Carton House.

"My dad always wanted to be a coach. He was very keen on junior golf and this programme is great, it's encouraging the golfers to get a good degree, to stay amateur a little bit longer. This way, they are more mature when they make a decision on what their future is going to be. It gives them options."

The opportunity to stay at home and get an education here while playing some of the top courses is something that Harrington believes in.

"I think golf scholarships in the States are great as well. I don't disagree with them . . . but I always recommend to players that they shouldn't go to southern colleges because, if you play from September through to June as your competitive season, and then you come home and play in the Irish competitive season, which is June through to August, you're playing 12 months of the year and you're going to suffer burnout," observed Harrington.

He added: "I know of many players who went on scholarships (to America) and suffered burnout, players from Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. The amount of players that came home from the States and would be billed as "the next great thing" and then wouldn't perform at all, it's because they played all year.

"You're better off going to a college in the northern states where you've got two, three months of the winter that's not competitive. You've got three months on the ground. It's the same here in Ireland. You have a period during the winter, two to three months, where you can develop by going to the gym and work on your swing, the technical things, and the rest of the season you're building up for competition."

Harrington is one of those who would encourage the option of staying in Ireland to combine developing the golfing side of a player's game with academic requirements. "By staying at home, they are going to develop their game in a much quieter environment. There's no coach going to be saying to them, come November - and they might have exams in December saying, 'come on, we have a tournament'. They are going to be saying, 'yeah, this is your winter game. You can go to the gym and work on your technique and change your swing'. You have a two- to three-month window. You can't play good 12 months of the year. So you're always better off having a development period during the year.

"Staying at home in Ireland in college I think will develop players. They can develop at their own pace. There's no pressure on them to go out and perform for 12 months of the year. There's a better development period, a better period of relaxed non-pressure."

Yet, there is always the flip side of the coin, the success story of those who wouldn't change their American experience for the world. As McDowell puts it, "I think being in America and rubbing shoulders with American people, probably the most confident people in the world, helped my own confidence. My American team-mates who were not necessarily as talented as I was, thought they could beat the hell out of me every time. That kind of confidence, that kind of psyche that American players have, it stood me in good stead."

McDowell won nine times in collegiate golf and six times alone in his last year. Perhaps it just proves that, if you're good enough, you'll succeed wherever you decide to go. At least the choice, now, is more equal. The very talented young players know that there are very good options at home to combine golf development with academic requirements, as well as in the United States.